Another long-range display lifts Vernon Hills

All that was missing were the ball racks.

Other than that, it was like a 3-point shooting contest was taking place at Grant on Friday night.

Vernon Hills and the host Bulldogs weren't shy about launching from long range. The two teams combined for 21 total 3-pointers, and Vernon Hills' 14-7 advantage in made 3-pointers was essentially the difference in the game.

The Cougars shot their way out of a 4-point halftime deficit to get a 69-52 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division boys basketball victory over Grant.

The 14 3-pointers by Vernon Hills, which improves to 14-2 overall and stays in first place in the Prairie Division at 6-0, is a school record.

"Everybody on our team can shoot 3's," said Vernon Hills senior forward Matt Weaver, who hit 2 3-pointers and finished with 15 points. He also had 10 rebounds and scored most of the rest of his points hustling for putbacks. "We shoot a lot of 3's after practice. We have to make 100 as a group in 10 minutes. And it goes down by 25 seconds each time we do it. We practice it a lot."

Vernon Hills opened the game by hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers in the first quarter.

But Grant was matching the Cougars from deep. The Bulldogs also had 5 first-quarter 3-pointers, as well as a 21-19 lead heading into the second quarter.

Grant kept up the pace and took a 35-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.

"We played a great first half. We knocked down shots, we had only 6 first-half turnovers. We did everything we needed to do to stay in the ball game," said Grant coach Wayne Bosworth, who was down two starters and a key reserve (Logan Lewis, Jason Kaye and Pierre Bailey-Gutierrez) due to illness and injury. "But in the second half, I think we just couldn't keep up.

"That's been an issue all year. We just have a few minute stretch here or a few minute stretch there where we just aren't playing the way we want to. Today, we kind of fell apart in the second half."

Vernon Hills out-scored Grant 25-6 in the third quarter. The Cougars continued with their long-range onslaught, hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers in the period. They also forced Grant into 6 of its 17 total turnovers.

"We have a lot of guys that we give the green light to and we have good shooters," Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. "Another big part of it is that we move the ball and share the ball so well and when you do that and pass up a good shot for an even better shot, you're getting really good looks from 3-point range."

Senior guard Robby Nardini drained a game-high 4 3-pointers and finished with 15 points. Senior guard Bo Manso had 3 3-pointers en route to a game-high 16 points. Senior guard Cory Levin also had 3 3-pointers. He finished with 11 points.

For Grant, which is stuck on just one win for the season, junior forward James Mobley had 3 3-pointers en route to 11 points while senior guards Jacob Hanlin and Mikel Graves each had 2 3-pointers. Graves and Hanlin had 10 and 9 points respectively. The Bulldogs also got a team-high 13 points from Ben Kusiak, who was starting in place of Kaye.

"We just need to keep the same intensity the entire game," said Graves, who started in place of Lewis. "We were moving the ball early on and finding the open man. But in the second half, we just let it all go. The intensity wasn't there."