Cary-Grove wins but Gregoire injured
Smothering, aggressive and effective.
Those three words aptly describe Cary-Grove's matchup zone defense Friday night.
Forcing 22 Grayslake Central turnovers and holding the Rams to 15 field goals, the Trojans were able to post a 48-39 win in Fox Valley Conference boys basketball crossover action in Cary.
"Our defense was outstanding tonight," said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle. "We had our hands on a lot of passes and got a lot of deflections. We limited their high post touches and were able to get some turnovers off our defense which turned into layups."
Justin Blair celebrated Senior Night with 17 points which included a 7 of 10 effort from the floor.
"A big win for us on Senior Night," said Blair. "This is one I will remember for a long time. Our combo defense was really good tonight. We made them take tough shots all night."
The only negative for the Trojans was the ankle injury to senior standout Jason Gregoire, who suffered the setback in the fourth quarter. Cary-Grove's all-time leading scorer tallied 8 points with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
The senior forward's status for Monday's Cary-Grove Class 4A regional opener against Round Lake is unknown.
In game a that was close throughout for three quarters, the Trojans (15-11) finally seized control in the fourth quarter.
Nursing a slim 29-27 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Trojans went on a pivotal 10-0 run. With Blair scoring 8 points, connecting on 4-of-4 shots from the field, the Trojans turned a 2-point lead into a 12-point 39-27 advantage with 2:30 left in the game.
The Rams, who were held scoreless for nearly 4 minutes, finally broke the scoring drought on a layup by David Kienzle off a feed from Joey Mudd with 2:20 remaining in the contest to make the score 39-29.
The closest the Rams got was 8, 43-35, on a putback by Kienzle with 1:22 remaining.
The Trojans sealed the win by making 4-of-4 from the line in the last 42 seconds. Adam Loch and Nick Bianchi each made 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Grayslake Central, which made 15-of-50 from the field for 30 percent and 2-of-10 from 3-point range, was led by Sam Ruhlmann with 15 points which included a pair of treys. Jack Beckman scored 8 points with 9 rebounds for the Rams.