Wolf, Antioch tough out win over Grant
As Jared Wolf lay on Grant's basketball court, his mouth bleeding and his upper lip swelling, Antioch coach Tim Bowen finally barked at his player, “Get up!”
An errant elbow had wounded Wolf. While the injury wasn't severe, it kept the junior guard on the bench for the remainder of Saturday's Northern Lake County Conference matinee in Fox Lake. The score was tied and only 3:18 remained in the game.
Bowen felt bad afterward for getting on Wolf.
“I was hoping he just got the wind knocked out of him,” Bowen said with a sheepish grin. “I didn't want him to be hurt.”
That's because Bowen knows how valuable Wolf is to his young Sequoits.
Antioch responded with a go-ahead layup by Jackson DeVaughn off an inbounds pass and closed the game with a 9-0 run for a 45-39 victory.
Antioch improved to 6-6 and 1-2 in the NLCC under first-year coach Bowen. Grant, which got a game-high 19 points from freshman point guard Chad Kiesgen, fell to 3-13 and 0-3.
Wolf's fourth-quarter 3-pointer tied the score at 39-39 after Kiesgen knocked down his fifth 3 to give his team the lead with 3:58 left.
“He's clutch,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said of Kiesgen, who's been starting since Day 1. “He's going to be a heck of a player by the time he's done. He's got a long way to go. He's got a lot to learn. He's just got to learn how to play at [varsity] speed a little bit more. He'll get there.”
Wolf, who also scored on a putback in the fourth, finished with 7 points (all in the second half), 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
The win made his fat lip feel better.
“The gums are the worst part,” Wolf said. “My face was pretty numb, at first, when I got hit. It doesn't feel that better now, either.”
A first-year varsity player, Wolf attempted only 6 shots, making half of them. His 3 was the only one he took all game. He's been starting all season.
“He doesn't know how good he can be,” Bowen said. “He's got a beautiful jump shot, and he does a lot of nice stuff screening to get people open and get himself open. He's just not aggressive enough [offensively]. We want him getting to the free-throw line and shooting more shots.”
Kobe Kriese, one of four juniors who started for Antioch, scored a team-high 12 points (two 3-pointers). Senior Gavin Eldridge added 7 points and 11 rebounds, while Athan Kaliakmanis had 7 points and 8 rebounds. Kaliakmanis joined the team late after his football season ended early due to a shoulder injury.
The 6-foot-5 junior, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the Sequoits' win over Vernon Hills earlier in the week, has provided a rebounding presence.
“Anything off the glass that kid grabs,” Bowen said of the Minnesota-bound quarterback. “He's strong, and he does a nice job of running our offense. He's got that in his mentality anyway. Sometimes when we need someone to be a little bit stronger up top, he can actually go out there and do that for us.”
Antioch led by as many as 11 points in the first half and held leads of 20-16 at the break and 29-28 after three. But a Kiesgen steal and layup gave Grant its first lead at 33-31 with 5:38 left in the fourth.
Kaliakmanis (layup) and Kriese (2 free throws) helped the Sequoits finish off the win in the final 30 seconds.
“We have these stretches as you saw in this game, like in the second and third quarters, where we can do better,” Wolf said. “We just need to play hard the whole game and run our stuff.”
“I've seen what we can do when we play well, and sometimes I think we forget what that looks like and feels like,” Bowen said. “Sometimes we take a little bit of a lead, and we lose our focus. That's the hardest thing with this group right now, because they can do some stuff.”
Mikal Ashley (10 points) was Grant's only other double-digit scorer. Luke Bedrosian grabbed 8 rebounds, but the Bulldogs allowed 9 offensive boards.
“We struggle rebounding the ball,” Bosworth said. “We don't box out very well. We need to get better at just going to get it. We'll look at film and we'll shoot the ball, and we'll have four guys standing and watching sometimes.”