Buffalo Grove hangs on to down Grant

With a 49-29 lead after three quarters, it looked like host Buffalo Grove was going to cruise to victory Tuesday night in nonconference boys basketball action against Grant.

But the visiting Bulldogs put together an unlikely 19-3 run to cut the Bison's lead to 52-48 with 2:09 to play as Buffalo Grove was in danger of completely squandering the big lead.

But a huge 3-pointer by Buffalo Grove's Adidas Davis (team-high 19 points) boosted the Bison lead to 55-48 with 1:36 remaining before they posted a hard-fought 59-51 victory over Grant (1-4).

Buffalo Grove (2-2) trailed 17-16 after one quarter, but the Bulldogs' offense went cold in the second quarter as they were outscored 14-1 in the period to trail 30-18 at halftime.

Except for an 11-point Grant run, the Bison also pretty much dominated the third quarter as they scored the final 9 points of the period to take a 49-29 lead into the fourth quarter.

"I was proud of our guys' effort there, and they fought their tails off to get back into it," said Grant coach Wayne Bosworth, whose team outscored Buffalo Grove 22-10 in the final quarter. "We've just got to play 32 minutes. (Chad Kiesgen) did a nice job knocking down four 3s."

Kiesgen played a huge role in Grant's late comeback as he scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. Senior Carter Kaye also had a big game for the Bulldogs with 12 points and 5 rebounds while teammate Randal Holm had 6 points and 6 rebounds. Todd Akers also had 6 points for Grant.

Buffalo Grove's Jacob Heinrich joined Davis in double figures with 15 points while teammate Kyle Grote chipped in 7 points. Six different Bison players hit 3-pointers in the contest.

"In the first half we came out with a lot of energy, the second half things didn't go our way," said Davis, who had three 3-pointers. "In the second half (Grant) got hot, we had a few bad possessions, and we were able to pull it out in the end."

Buffalo Grove's George Shiakallis and Grant's Mikel Saavedra scored 5 points apiece while Alex Beihoffer added 4 points for the Bison.

"We've got a lot of guys in new roles and we're learning how to finish games," said Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson. "Davis made that big 3, he shot with confidence, and he can do a lot of good things on the court."