Boys Basketball: North Chicago still leads conference after downing Grant

Updated: January 27, 2012 10:04PM

Down 23-15 midway through the second quarter, visiting North Chicago outscored Grant 44-14 over the next 11 minutes, 39 seconds and went on to beat the Bulldogs 81-70 in a key North Suburban Conference Prairie Division game.

The Warhawks (14-3, 8-0) played without 31-point per game scorer Aaron Simpson, who was suspended for the contest. He’s expected to play on Tuesday at Vernon Hills.

With Simpson out, Marzhon Bryant (22 points, nine rebounds), JaVairius Amos-Mays (18 points), Kevonte Curry (16 points as the starter for Simpson), Kurt Hall (12 points) and Tyrone Linder (nine points) all came up huge.

“Simpson’s been our leader for so long, they weren’t used to him not being out there,” said North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman. “Once they realized Simpson wasn’t coming in, they really played well.

“We went into the game saying we were losing 30-35 points (Simpson’s) average. We can’t make up for it by firing shots up. We have to tighten up defensively.

“(Grant coach Wayne) Bosworth does such a great job, but they went into too much of a hurry when we pressured them.”

In the Grant locker room, Bosworth agreed with the coach he used to serve as an assistant under.

“It’s frustrating. We’ve played much better ball,” Bosworth said. “We got tentative when the press came.

“Give North Chicago a lot of credit. They’ve got great quickness and were able to take advantage of it.”

For the game, North Chicago was 26-of-44 at the foul line compared to 12-of-16 for Grant.

Grant had three starters foul out as the quicker Hawks drove the lane and drew fouls.

Jared Helmich (23 points, eight rebounds), Alan Lewis (15 points, five assists) and Sean Wells (10 points) led Grant (13-7 overall, 4-4 in the division).

North Chicago led 30-26 at halftime and outscored the Bulldogs 29-11 in the third quarter. In the final period, Grant got within nine but that was it.

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