Eventually, Waukegan takes it to Grayslake Central

Grayslake Central’s boys basketball team was in its comfort zone for awhile Saturday night.

The Rams were on cruise control into the second quarter — but then host Waukegan changed things up in a hurry.

And just like that, the Bulldogs rolled past Grayslake Central 78-57 in a nonconference game.

“For 12 minutes we played some great basketball,” Grayslake Central coach Brian Moe said. “After that, we had a group of kids that haven’t played varsity basketball and forgot how to play varsity basketball in a hurry.

“(Waukegan’s) speed and quickness wore us out quickly, got us out of our comfort zone. Then they got a lead and built on it to the end.”

The Rams (1-8) jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes as Jack Spicer (team-high 18 points) hit a short-jumper. Grayslake Central was playing its preferred style of game.

“We just kept the tempo where we wanted and didn’t let (Waukegan) get out on transition,” said Moe. “We were able to make shots and were patient on offense. We just made them work defensively so we could get the shot we wanted.”

Grayslake Central held a 15-13 lead going into the second quarter and led 24-20 on Matt Spalding’s off-the-bench 3-pointer with 3:25 left.

That’s when Waukegan (7-5) woke up and started rolling. The Bulldogs won on a 15-2 run as Devonte Taylor dropped in 8 of his game-high 28 points. Waukegan led 35-26 at halftime.

The Bulldogs really took things over in the third quarter with another 17-4 run, extending their lead to 52-30 with 4:24 remaining.

Jordan Johnson had 21 points for Waukegan.

“(Grayslake Central) runs some good motion offense,” said Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw, whose team came up with a big win over Maine South on Friday. “It was some things that were a little difficult to guard on short prep time.

“I thought our kids bounced back and recovered pretty well. We were able to do things that we wanted to do after that.”

Danny Reed also added 16 points for the Rams.