Freshmen Knights Win First Battle but Rams Take the Second

During a recent battle of the freshmen basketball teams of the two Grayslake high schools, it was an even split. The Freshmen “A” team of Grayslake North defeated the Central “A” team by 37-26. The Central “B” squad came back to beat the North “B” boys with a 40-23.

The stands were packed with friends and family who sat together and enjoyed the games. While the competition among friends on the court for town bragging rights was intense, the relaxed conversations and smiles in the stands among friends and family was also evident.

North "A" Coach Scott Ewen had his team well prepared to defend their home gym and avenge a previous 44-30 pasting at Central back in January. The Knights took the lead from the start and held it for most of the game. At the 4:30 mark, the visiting Rams of Coach Chris D’Amico went up 24-23, but then the Knight defense stiffened and held the Rams to 2 points the rest of the game.

Defensively the Knights were led by Austyn Ruback and Nathan Dodge. Offensively Aaron Hall, Brandon Tepper and Austyn Ruback were huge for North. The Rams were led offensively by Kevin Orozco, Matt Loeffl and Nathan Cerquone. The big glass cleaners (aka rebounders) for Central were Jake Vargo and Alex Lennartz.

The "A" team Knights evened up their record to 9-9 while the Rams "A" unit dropped to 8-10 on the season.

In the second game of the evening, the Knights "B" squad of Coach Tim Hough took the home court with a record of 11-3. The Rams Bombers of Coach Mike Hueser marched to center court with a 12-2 record.

The home team Knights bolted out to an early 6-0 lead after one quarter and were led offensively this evening by Aaron Hall, Anthony Anzelmo, Ryan Bruder, Andrew Mikusa and Nebojsa Markovic. Freddie Williams and Drew Piggot played tight defense and made things difficult for the visitors offensively.

The end of the second quarter saw a reversal of fortune as the Rams took a 12-9 that they would not relinquish. Dontell Strickland had a monster night with 14 points hitting inside and out with a variety of spin moves and added a bushel of rebounds and steals. Kyle Clark played huge at both ends while Jacob Swearingen played bombardier from the perimeter. Malcolm Reed ran the offense and played in your face defense that caused numerous North turnovers.

The Knights "B"-teamers are now 5-5 in conference play while the Rams Bombers are a perfect 11-0 in Fox Valley Conference games.