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Grant tries to take winning lesson from loss to Waukegan

Hypothetical questions usually don't yield quick answers.

But Grant boys basketball coach Wayne Bosworth didn't hesitate with his answer to an interesting hypothetical on Tuesday night.

Would Bosworth rather have his team be 2-0 right now with wins over a couple of cupcakes, or would he rather be 0-2 having faced two extremely tough teams, including one that is ranked in the state's top 10?

"Oh, that's easy. This way, for sure," Bosworth said after his talented young team dropped its second straight game and fell to 0-2 on the season with a 77-71 loss to Waukegan on the second night of the Grant Thanksgiving tournament.

Waukegan is ranked ninth in the state of Illinois.

"I'd rather be 0-2 playing teams like these guys all day long," Bosworth said.

Grant dropped its season opener to a speedy and athletic North Lawndale team on Monday. The assignments don't get any easier either as Grant will face two other tough teams, Rockford Boylan and then Carmel, when the tournament resumes on Friday and Saturday after today's Thanksgiving Day break.

"You know, this is a good tournament. The last-place team in this tournament has gone on to win a regional title the last two years (Grant and Hoffman Estates). It's crazy. With experiences like this, against competition like this, we'd much rather learn from experiences like this because they're much better teaching lessons. Playing against teams like this will really get us ready for the rest of our season."

Grant made a run at the end thanks to some key buckets by Michael John Smith, but had been down by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Waukegan, now 2-0 and playing without star guard Ja'Dyn Brown (ankle), got a balanced offensive effort with inside action from Bryant Brown (28 points) and strong perimeter play from Jordan Brown (20 points).

Grant cut its deficit to 4 points with under a minute to play, but Waukegan kept pushing back with clutch free throws.

"We're doing a pretty good job of staying together," Bryant Brown said. "When they went on a run at the end of the game, it just kind of shows that we can play together towards the end when things get rough."

Waukegan also got 9 points from Jaylin Cunningham and 8 points from Eric Doyne.

Meanwhile, Grant got double-figure scoring from four players, led by Hunter Waszkowski with 20 points. Michael Huff added 18 points on four 3-pointers while Smith and Henry Kusiak each had 10 points.

"We have some accolades going right now (being state-ranked), but we can't just roll it out there," Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw said. "Those accolades don't do anything to help you win games. As a matter of fact, they often hurt you.

"We can't just show up and play because we're not that kind of team. But we do have the chance to be really, really good. We've just got to (close out games). And we faced that in situational basketball today. To be a true ninth-ranked team, things can't be done sort-of right. They've got to be done exactly right."

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