Grayslake Central comes back to beat Antioch

Trailing visiting Antioch by 7 points early in the fourth quarter was definitely not the position the Grayslake Central boys basketball team wanted to find itself in Friday on Senior Night.

But the Rams answered the bell just in time as a huge 11-point run helped catapult Grayslake Central to an exciting 44-41 comeback victory to keep its hopes alive in the battle for the Northern Lake County Conference championship.

With the win, the Rams (16-12, 9-4) have not been eliminated from at least a share of the NLCC title with co-leaders Round Lake and Wauconda with one game left.

After losing the first meeting at home 49-32 on Jan. 28, Antioch (12-15, 4-8) was poised to give Grayslake Central a much tougher battle right from the get-go as the Sequoits and Rams played to a 12-12 deadlock during a cold-shooting, defensive struggle in the first half.

But both teams got rolling offensively in the third quarter as Antioch junior Kobe Kriese (game-high 19 points) scored all of his 13 points up to that point in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers in about the final two minutes of the period.

The Sequoits outscored the Rams 18-15 in the third before tying their biggest lead at 34-27 on Jared Wolf's inside hoop with 6:11 to play.

But Antioch's momentum was stopped in its tracks at that point as a free throw by Central senior Daniel Rogers capped the 11-point run for a 38-34 lead with 2:45 remaining.

"We've got four 1-point losses on the season, and probably another four like that one right there," said Antioch coach Tim Bowen, whose team will face the Rams again at regionals. "He (Kriese) is very capable of that every night. He was guarding the big kid (Central's 6-foot-7 Grant Hardy) too, and he does a better job when he's challenged like that."

Central senior Dillan Dumanlang broke free for a layup and a 40-36 lead with 1:13 left before 2 free throws by Kriese cut the lead to 40-38 with 49 seconds left.

Then Rogers scored on an open drive for a 42-38 lead before Hardy hit 1-of-2 free throws 13 seconds to go.

The Sequoits refused to fold as Alexander Kutcher (8 points) somehow banked in a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 43-41 with 6.5 seconds left before Dumanlang hit 1-of-2 free throw with 4.6 seconds left for the 44-41 edge.

But Antioch's hopes of forcing overtime ended when Ethan Boelens stole the inbounds pass in the back court to seal the big win.

The Rams had a very balanced scoring effort with Dumanlang, Rogers, and Boelens scoring 10 points each while Hardy scored 8, and Griffin O'Gorden 6.

"We knew we had to lock it in, and clamp down big down the stretch," said Rogers, whose team forced 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter. "We just really pulled together as a team, and the 11-point run was big."

Wolf wound up scoring 9 points, including a rare 4-point play to give Antioch a 7-0 lead right out of the gates. The Sequoits were a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line while the Rams hit 10 of their 13 attempts.

"Antioch is always going to be well prepared with coach Bowen, and they really slowed our offense down in the first half," said Central coach Brian Centella, whose team closes out the regular season at Grant next week. "(Rogers) was huge down the stretch, he's a senior, and he's been rock-solid for us all year. That was our ninth conference win, and if we can go 10-4 in the conference that would be a big accomplishment for our team."