Antioch turns it up, tops Grant

There was a loud celebration in Antioch's locker room Friday night. Lots of cheering, hooting and hollering.

"I could hear it all the way down the hallway," Grant basketball coach Wayne Bosworth said softly and dejectedly.

The visiting Sequoits were celebrating at the expense of Bosworth's team. They haven't been on the winning side very many times this season, so they wanted to make sure to soak this one in.

Antioch hustled its way to a 66-60 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division victory over Grant. It's the Sequoits' seventh win of the year and just their second in division play.

Now, 7-16 overall and 2-10 in the Prairie Division, Antioch has won both of its divisional games in February.

"It was loud (in the locker room after the game)," said Antioch senior guard Anthony Marsiglio, who scored a team-high 17 points on three 3-pointers. "We were ecstatic, we were pumped after this win.

"This helps us a lot. We're playing better than we were earlier in the season."

The Sequoits played well from start to finish against Grant, opening with a 16-12 lead in the first quarter and outscoring Grant by 10 points in the fourth quarter.

"I thought Antioch played harder than us pretty much the entire night," Bosworth said. "It's an effort thing for us and that's embarrassing. And they're over there like they won the state championship."

Antioch went on a 9-0 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter to take a 5-point lead. Senior guard Hamza Abdellatif hit two big 3-pointers.

But then Grant (11-11, 5-5 Prairie) stormed back and went on an 8-2 run of its own to regain the lead, 54-43 with about three minutes left.

Then Antioch scored the next 10 points, thanks in part to two 3-pointers by Marsiglio, to take firm control.

"We're playing loose right now and with a lot of confidence," Antioch coach Jim White said. "We talk a lot about being resilient in our program and what to do when it feels like the world is against you, and it's felt like that at times this season. It felt like that (when Grant made its runs in the second half). But I thought you saw a lot of resiliency out of us on the court today."

In addition to Marsiglio, Kyle Gofron and Abdellatif also scored in double-figures for Antioch. Gofron had 16 points and Abdellatif had 15 points.

For Grant, Mike Burns tied Marsiglio for game-high scoring honors with 17 points. He had three 3-pointers. Steve Dunning added 14 points and Ryan Noda had 13 points for the Bulldogs.

"As a team, we made some errors," Burns said. "I think we (overlooked Antioch). We got out-played. We had spurts, but overall, they out-hustled us. And in the end, that cost us."