Marengo setbacks for Grant, Wauconda
Jumping out to a quick, 9-0 lead Monday, the Grant boys basketball team was on a familiar pace.
But Woodstock found a way to throw the Bulldogs in reverse and slow them down. Way down.
Woodstock dealt the normally high-scoring Bulldogs a 52-47 loss in the Marengo Holiday Tournament.
“After we got out to that start, they dictated the tempo from there,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. “They went to a 2-3 zone, slowed us down and we couldn’t get the tempo back up to where we wanted it.
“Games in the 40s and 50s, don’t suit us.”
Grant, which is averaging just under 70 points per game and is coming off of back-to-back performances in which it has run up 30-plus points in a single quarter, drops to 5-3 with the loss.
The Bulldogs got a team-high 12 points out of senior guard Rayvon Jones.
“We just didn’t push tempo. We had guys up ahead (in transition) and we didn’t pass the ball up,” Bosworth said. “And we weren’t aggressive against their 2-3 zone. We’d just pass the ball around the arc.”
Marengo 50, Wauconda 44: Long before tip-off of Monday night’s holiday tournament game in Marengo, Wauconda head coach Scott Luetschwager knew it could be a rough shooting night.
“During walk-through, you could just tell we weren’t ready to play,” Luetschwager said. “Our shots weren’t falling. We weren’t getting anything going.”
That carried over into the game against host Marengo.
The Bulldogs shot just 37 percent on regular field goals and 20 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and Marengo took advantage.
“They played very good defense, and we also just weren’t able to get into a rhythm,” Luetschwager said. “We missed layups early and it just kind of went from there. Between their good defense and our poor shooting, we weren’t doing much of anything.”
Dion Head was the only player to reach double-figures for Wauconda. The senior guard had 12 points. He also pulled down 9 rebounds.
Carmel 58, Crystal Lake Central 28: Forward Jack George scored 19 points and Mike Barr added 11 points as Carmel got a decisive win in holiday tournament action at Jacobs.
Lakes 85, Tilden 44: Tramone Hudson scored 21 points and David Milostan added 17 points as Lakes got a win in holiday tournament action at Jacobs. The Eagles improve to 3-7 on the season.