Grayslake Central 55, Grayslake North 53

ESPN Radio has "Mike and Mike in the Morning."

Grayslake Central has "Mike and Mike at Night."

Mike Brumm and Mike Davis came up huge for the Rams Friday on rivalry night in Grayslake.

In front of a spirited, standing-room-only crowd at Grayslake North, Brumm scored a game-high 19 points and Davis hit 2 free throws in the final eight seconds to lead Grayslake Central to a thrilling 55-53 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division victory over its sister school.

The win moves Grayslake Central, which overcame a 23 percent first half shooting effort and a 5-point halftime deficit, to 13-5 overall and 2-1 in the Fox.

Grayslake North, which drops to 4-13 and 0-3 in the Fox, officially split off from Central in 2006. As freshmen, the seniors on both teams attended classes together on the North campus and played basketball together on the same team.

"It's a great rivalry game because everyone's friends and stuff," said Brumm, whose 19 points included 3 three-pointers. "It's even more intense with all the fans. Every time we play these guys it's a close game. They come out ready, we're ready and we both play our hearts out."

The game had a heart-stopping moment in the waning moments.

With just 8 seconds to play, guard Brandon Schroth drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to cut Grayslake North's deficit to 2 points at 53-51.

But on the next possession, the Knights needed to foul and that's when Davis coolly made both of his free throws.

"Mike Davis is always clutch at the free throw line," Brumm said. "Always."

Davis nailed 4-of-5 second-half free throws and finished with 10 points, as did teammate Kevin O'Rourke.

"It's just a free throw, just a free throw," Davis said, explaining the refrain he tells himself when he steps to the line in tense situations. "I missed a free throw earlier in the game, so I knew I had to come through in the clutch for the team."

Grayslake North also got a couple of clutch performances.

Center Tony Herman pushed his way inside to score 12 of his 13 points in the second half. He was instrumental in helping the Knights recover from a 7-point deficit (39-32) at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

"I knew I had to be big for the team," Herman said. "I thought we were able to scared them a little bit and put them on their heels. It was fun.

"I wish (the atmosphere and crowd) was like this every time. It would be awesome. I felt like I was in the NBA."

Meanwhile, junior guard Grant Henricksen looked like a pro, too. He scored a team-high 17 points for the Knights, which helped compensate for an unusually quiet night by his older brother Clay, who scored 4 points.

He was being guarded by Davis.

"Clay is such a team player and he was doing a lot of other things besides scoring," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "But he also had a tough defender on him. You have to give credit to Davis. He and Brumm are the two best defenders we'll see all year."

Players and coaches from both sides were already happily talking about the next time they would see each other and get to experience such an electric environment.

"Someone asked me (at school), 'So what's (Grayslake North's) record?'" Grayslake Central coach Tim Bowen said. "And I said, 'It doesn't matter because in this kind of game, everyone's going to play well.' All 10 kids on the floor are going to be excited. And anything can happen. It's a great game to play in."