Grayslake Central downs Round Lake to take NLCC lead
Midway through the fourth quarter of a key battle for first place between Round Lake and Grayslake Central, Rams head coach Brian Centella was faced with a dilemma. One that no head coach would want to face in a tight game.
Rams senior guard Dillan Dumanlang picked up his fourth foul with 4:15 to play and Grayslake Central leading 51-36.
"When he picked up his fourth foul that was a tough pill to swallow to send your starting point guard to the bench," Centella said. "But we trust our guys and they did a really good job holding serve until he came back in."
When Dumanlang came back he split the Round Lake defense not once, but twice with a pair of layups to help the host Rams pull away to a 55-46 boys basketball win Friday night. The win is the fifth straight for Grayslake Central (10-8, 4-1) while Round Lake (13-8, 3-2) dropped its fourth straight.
"(Dillan) does such a nice job handling the ball for us," Centella said. "That little lift he gave us - the little blow he got and came back in, then hitting those two layups was huge for us."
Dumanlang was part of a whole team effort on offense and especially on defense where Grayslake Central held Round Lake leading scorer Devauntey McNeal to no points it the first half and just 11 total for the night.
"We are so fortunate to have really good defenders in Ethan Boelens and Amarion Coleman but it's not just one or two guys that can stop players the caliber of McNeal and Hakim Williams," Centella said. "Even when we were up 12 you knew that with the scorers Round Lake has that they are never out of it."
To get to the double-figure lead, Grayslake Central closed out each of the first three quarters to pull further and further away. The Rams closed the first quarter on a 12-3 run to take an 18-10 advantage after one quarter.
A run of 12-2 to close the second quarter sparked by back-to-back steals from Daniel Rogers (9 points) and Coleman built the margin to 33-19 at the half.
The third quarter ended with slick passing from Dumanlang and a pair of long 3-pointers from Tyler Tiffany (6 points) that built the lead to its biggest point at 46-30.
"That was so much fun," Dumanlang said of the end of the third quarter. "When guys start hitting 3s like that it gets contagious and it's fun to be a part of."
Round Lake had a run that Centella expected as the Panthers closed the deficit to 51-41 with 3:32 to play. But the Panthers just couldn't close the gap any further.
"We are really in uncharted territory as a program," Round Lake coach Jay Iden said. "(Grayslake Central) is a tough team that executes so well. That's where we have to take pride in our game and execute better."
Following a timeout, Dumanlang split the Round Lake press for a layup with 2:47 to play. His second such basket less than a minute later sealed the win for the Rams.
"I just knew we were up somewhat big," Dumanlang said. "I had one-on-one with the defender and I just took it to the basket."
Williams lead all scorers for Round Lake with 20 points. Nicholas Pierre added 10 for the Panthers.