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Grayslake North needs overtime to subdue battling Lakes

Based on the first quarter, no one could have predicted that Friday's nonconference boys basketball game between Lakes and Grayslake North would have finished with drama and intrigue.

Yet, that's exactly what happened.

Grayslake North pulled out a 46-38 overtime victory over Lakes after the two rivals completely stymied each other early.

At the end of the first quarter, Grayslake North led Lakes 6-2 as the missed shots and turnovers piled up for both teams. By halftime, with Grayslake North up 21-13, the visiting Eagles were shooting just 14 percent from the field and had rolled up 10 turnovers. Grayslake North was at 31 percent and had 10 turnovers as well.

"When we play Lakes, it seems like it's like this every year," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "We obviously love playing Grayslake Central, but (Lakes) is really our kids' main rival. They've gone to (middle) school with a lot of the kids from Lakes and a lot of times, it's a low-scoring game because the kids know each other and know each other's their games and the defensive intensity is outstanding."

Grayslake North (2-5) pulled ahead by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but Lakes chipped away in the third quarter and the Knights could never pull away.

The Eagles (4-2) actually took a 35-34 lead on an Ethan Sage putback with 30 seconds remaining in regulation. But then Grayslake North forward Aidan Einloth got fouled and hit 1 of 2 free throws send the game into overtime.

Guard Dom DiProva scored 6 of the Knights' 11 overtime points as Grayslake North ended the game with a 7-2 run.

"We knew (Lakes) would come back. I just kept telling my teammates that we couldn't break down and we had to keep our composure and we did that," said DiProva, who scored a team-high 15 points. "We kept the energy going, our defense really stepped up and we finished the game strong."

For the game, the Knights held Lakes to 14 percent shooting from the field and forced 18 turnovers.

"Putting up 2 points in the first quarter was a pretty big hole to dig out of," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. "To our credit, we came back, but we didn't maintain that. We were missing a lot of shots. It's kind of been the theme this season. We're playing hard, we're competing. The ball going through the hoop is just a struggle right now."

Grayslake North wasn't much crisper on the offensive end, shooting 36 percent from the field and rolling up 20 turnovers.

"We came out flat in the first half but we picked it up in the second half," said Balliu, who finished with a team-high 15 points and scored all three of Lakes' points in overtime. "We played good defense the whole time, and we knew that if we kept doing that, our shots would start falling and we'd be right back in the game. We stuck with it and that's what happened."

Lakes also got 8 points from Haviland and 7 points from Sage while Grayslake North got 9 points from Bobby Krebs and 6 points from Einloth.

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