Grayslake North overcomes slow start

Discussions in the Grayslake North locker room concerned whether or not it was a dunk.

The consensus was negative. Which means Knights junior James Connolly will have to wait for another game to get his slam.

In the meantime, the Connolly boys - James and his freshman brother Ryan - will have to settle for their dazzling start to the basketball season.

James (25 points, 6 rebounds) and Ryan (19 points) helped erase a quick Lakes 10-2 lead in the Eagles' gym on Saturday night. It was still anyone's game at halftime with the Knights up a basket at 31-29.

But Ryan Connolly had three 3s in the second half and North (5-1) pulled away from the Eagles 70-57 in a Northern Lake County Conference opener.

The ringleader for Grayslake North is senior Jamal Thomas. No, he didn't have a triple double on this night but it was darn close: 24 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds.

This compliment of Thomas came from Lakes 6-foot-6 senior Jack Christensen: "He's just a heck of a player.''

So, what happened to that Lakes' early lead? On Kyle Rohr's drive to the hoop, it was 10-2 Eagles halfway through the first quarter.

"We weren't running our offense,'' said North coach Todd Grunloh. "And Lakes was doing a good job of getting the ball to the wing."

Talk about streaky. Thomas had his team's first 8 points of the game. And then James Connolly stepped up for the Knights. He had back-to-back 3s in a personal 9-point run that helped to erase the Eagles' lead in the second quarter.

"Lakes was clearly bigger than us,'' James Connolly said. "We just needed to box out and get our transition game going."

Christensen (8 points, 12 rebounds) was disappointed to see his team's early lead disappear so quickly.

"We started to break down,'' Christensen said. "But Grayslake North is a great transition team."

On a drive from 6-5 Ian Haflinger, it was tied at 33-33 midway through the third quarter. Haflinger (14 points, 8 rebounds) was a force inside for Lakes (3-3).

"He's as good a post player as we've seen this year,'' Grunloh said.

Once again the Connolly brothers stepped up. The brothers connected on back-to-back 3s and the Knights had built up a 43-36 lead late in the third quarter.

"James and his younger brother stepped up and they were hard to stop,'' Christensen said.

North had just three scorers at halftime. Thomas and James Connolly had 28 of the team's 31 points.

Despite the loss, Christensen remains confident about his Eagles' chances this winter.

"We have a ton of of returners,'' he said. "And we have Kyle Rohr to run the

point and Michael Behrendt had 4 3-pointers tonight."