Buffalo Grove edges Wauconda
When Buffalo Grove guard Kam Craft opened the season by dropping 31 points on Grayslake Central, it's fair to say that Grayslake Central might have been caught a little by surprise.
Craft is just a freshman, after all. Probably not a lot of game film on him at the time.
Craft wasn't, however, quite as stealth with his coaches and teammates.
They saw him coming from a mile away.
Make that two years away.
When Craft was a seventh grader, he had the high schoolers intrigued.
"When you've the varsity kids talking about you when you're in seventh grade, that's something," Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson said. "Our guys at the time knew all about Kam even though he was a seventh grader and they would ask all about him."
Craft, a 6-foot-4 lanky sharpshooter with impressive jumping ability who dazzled, was pretty much a no-brainer to make varsity this season. And he lived up to those expectations with his outburst against Grayslake Central.
Averaging more than 20 points per game this season, Craft has stayed consistent and added another big game to his freshman resume on Monday.
Craft poured in a game-high 26 points to lead Buffalo Grove to a 79-71 nonconference victory over visiting Wauconda.
Craft hit 4 of Buffalo Grove's eight 3-pointers in the shootout in which Wauconda hit nine 3-pointers.
Buffalo Grove extended a 34-27 halftime lead by turning up defensive pressure and forcing 6 Wauconda turnovers.
Nick Rinchiuso topped Wauconda with 20 points.
"That freshman from Buffalo Grove is a really nice player. He was tough to guard," Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager said. "But I still liked the way we played tonight. I liked the pace and I thought we shot the ball well. We just made some mistakes taking care of the basketball."
Boys basketball
Antioch 59, Badger (Wis.) 50: Dan Filippone was honored for scoring his 1,000th career point and then went out and scored 15 points, as the host Sequoits won in nonconference action. Antioch (6-1) also received 10 points from Ben Nauman and nine from Jack Gillespie.
Deerfield 39, Grayslake North 35: The host Knights led 17-14 after one quarter of the nonconference game but trailed 22-20 at halftime and 35-27 after three. Grayslake North fell to 6-3.
Girls basketball
Grayslake North 49, Grant 46: Savannah Guenther led all scorers with 21 points, as the Knights won their third game in a row, while handing the Bulldogs their first Northern Lake County Conference loss. Grayslake North (3-8, 2-3) also received 8 points from Margaret Stanfel, seven from Faith Standerski and six from Jordyn Gerdes. Grant fell to 6-4 and 4-1 in the NLCC.