With Huff, Grant's 'D' is tough enough

Recently in practice, Grant senior guard Michael Huff has been playing defense like he plays offense.

With exclamation points.

Huff can put up big offensive numbers, particularly from 3-point range. He routinely hits handfuls of 3-pointers in games, and has hit as many as seven 3-pointers in one game.

But over the holidays and into early January, Huff couldn't put an exclamation point on anything. He made a bad choice and was socked with a six-game suspension for disciplinary reasons by the school.

"It was driving me crazy having to sit on the bus for an hour and then watch a game that I couldn't even play in but that I should have played in," Huff said. "That made me work so much harder (in practice). I wanted to make it up to everyone so I wanted to work 10 times harder to get way better so I could help out even more when I got back and do whatever I could to help us win. I was using that as a motivation."

Huff, who could still participate in every practice during the suspension, put his focus on defense, an area that he says is sometimes considered a weakness in his game.

But it didn't seem like much of a weakness during those practices.

"Those two or three weeks that he was out, it was a Huff I've never seen before in practice," Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. "He was on another level defensively. He attacked on defense with that same attack mentality that he usually has on offense. He was on the second team, and he was just killing us in practice with his defense."

Perhaps Huff's defensive tenacity has caught on with his teammates.

On Friday, Huff, playing in his third game back from suspension, led Grant to a 56-42 Northern Lake County Conference over host Wauconda that was a defensive lockdown by the victorious Bulldogs through the first three quarters.

Grant held Wauconda to just 23 points through the third quarter and was most dominant in the second quarter. Wauconda scored just 2 second-quarter points, and was held to no field goals for the entire eight minutes. The host Bulldogs were 0-for-12 from the field in the second quarter.

"Coach (Bosworth) said that was our best defensive quarter of the season so far," said Huff, who did his usual part on offense, too, pouring in a game-high 21 points on three 3-pointers. "He just tells us to really buckle down and be between our man (and the basket) at all times. He says that defense wins games and that we have to play our hardest on D and he tries to find the five guys each game who can do it.

"We were able to get the win tonight by doing that."

Wauconda had just 3 field goals in the entire first half, and was down 28-11 at halftime.

"We just didn't make shots, and we had some good looks," Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager said. "There was some pressure (from Grant) and Grant did a great job of packing it in and forcing us into a jump-shooting team. They took away a lot of our drives and we forced a lot of shots.

"Just one of those games where the ball didn't go in. We haven't had a drought like that this season. When that happens against an athletic team like Grant, it's going to be a long night."

Wauconda did finally get some offense out of sophomore forward Donovan Carter in the second half.

He scored 14 of his team-high 19 points, including three of his four 3-pointers, after the break. Carter was the only Wauconda player to score in double-figures. Jimmy Ott had 8 points.

"Normally, I don't shoot that much, but I've been encouraged to shoot when I'm open," Carter said. "My coaches believe in me. They tell me if I have any room, just shoot it. I just need to believe in myself to shoot those shots. I've been working on that more."

Besdies Huff, Grant also got double-figures from Henry Kusiak, who finsished with 11 points. Matt McGraw added 8 points.

Grant, which struggled over the holidays without Huff, is trying to get back on track with him back in the lineup. The Bulldogs are now 6-10 on the season and 3-2 in the Northern Lake County Conference.

Wauconda drops to 6-13 overall and 3-3 in the league.

"It killed Mike to be out. He loves basketball, he loves to play, he loves to be out there," Bosworth said of Huff. "It was a tough time for him. But he'll be fine. He's a great guy. This was a one-time thing and he's good now. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he's getting back into it."