Grant gets it done against Thomas, Grayslake North

The Michigan transplant had quite the night Tuesday.

Grayslake North senior point guard Jamal Thomas passed 1,000 points in his brief career for the Knights against visiting Grant, as he set a school record with 39 points.

But Grant won the game 83-75 to improve to 15-8 and 10-1 in the Northern Lake County Conference game.

Grant led 20-7 late in the first quarter, but by halftime that lead was gone. Grayslake North (15-7, 7-4) went on a 38-12 run to close out the first half and led 45-35.

Mike Huff hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points for Grant, while inside threat John Kerr had 27 points. "I'm usually a streaky shooter," Huff said. "But 39 points from Jamal. He's just an amazing player. I know him from AAU. He's all basketball."

But what's with all those wild scoring bursts by both teams?

"We came out so well that we thought the game was over," Kerr said. "We just came out harder in the second half. We couldn't contain Jamal tonight so we tried to stop everyone else."

As fast as North erased the first Grant lead, it was just as impressive how Grant dominated the third quarter. The Bulldogs got a boost off the bench from Andy Kaye (8 points). And on Huff's fifth 3-pointer, the game was knotted at 54-54.

"Our man to man wasn't too good tonight," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "But Grant had tons of weapons. We had a tough matchup with Kerr. Halftime came too early for us. We had to rally for 10 minutes."

Kerr felt his team clamped down on Thomas' scoring in that third quarter. The North star was held to 5 points.

"I think Grant wanted it more than we did," Thomas said. "They came out with a chip on their shoulder. Plus, Kerr is a great defender in the middle for them."

Thomas opened the fourth quarter with a personal six-point run. Grant had reclaimed the lead but it was still close as the lead was just a single

basket at 65-63.

"That's a good Grayslake North team," Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. "Our guys came out in the second half and really dug in."

Thomas didn't score his first points of the game until there was less than three minutes to play in opening quarter. He and teammate James Connolly (18 points) had 17 of the Knights' first 22 points. On Connolly's 3-pointer, the double digit lead by Grant was down to 25-22.

"Our defense was lacking," Huff said. "We weren't getting rebounds."

The second quarter clearly belonged to the Knights. And on a 3-pointer from Jack Van Reck, the Knights had turned this game around midway through the second quarter. On a rebound bucket from Thomas, the Knights took that lead to the halftime break.

Despite the loss at home, Thomas was feeling a little better knowing what he had accomplished in two seasons.

"I started here with zero points," he said.

Grant left town with a big road win.

"We have 11 seniors and four juniors," Bosworth said. "We have been here before (conference race). We just need to improve our defense."