Dominic Jankowski had the best game of his young Grayslake North career on Tuesday, and the freshman guard couldn’t have picked a better night.
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd, the 6-foot-1 Jankowski scored a career-high 30 points in carrying the Knights to a 47-39 Northern Lake County Conference win over rival Grayslake Central.
Jankowski scored 26 points in the second half, drilling four 3-pointers in the third quarter. His fourth came at the buzzer and gave the Knights (7-13, 2-5) a 30-18 lead over the Rams (12-9, 6-2), who led 11-10 at halftime.
“When my teammates know I’m hot, they just keep feeding me the ball in the corner,” Jankowski said. “And I just keep shooting.”
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Knights, who lost all three games by double-digit margins. Grayslake North dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Rams 25-12.
Senior center Grant Hardy scored 23 points for Grayslake Central, which dropped into a three-way tie with Wauconda and Round Lake atop the conference. On Tuesday, Wauconda routed Grant 72-40, and Round Lake edged Antioch 54-53.
“We knew it would be a fight every possession,” Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. “The teams know each other very well. I don’t think (there had been) one time in my 14 years of coaching where we went into halftime with 10 points, and I was very, very proud.”
Before the summer practice period in June, Grayslake North players said they knew of Jankowski. Playing for a feeder team in eighth grade, Jankowski scored 53 points in one game. But there are times in basketball when the reputation of a newcomer exceeds reality. That was not the case with Jankowski.
Senior forward Joe Swanson said he knew from the first summer practice that Jankowski could play on the varsity team and excel.
“We heard about (the 53-point game), and when he came in for the summer league, he was hooping, he was getting buckets,” Swanson said. “He acted like he’d been here before.”
Grayslake North led 40-31 with 57 seconds left in Tuesday’s game. But Grayslake Central junior guard Amarion Coleman and senior guard Dillan Dumanlang hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it 41-37 with 28.7 seconds to go.
Grayslake Central was forced to foul, and the Knights hit 3 of 4 free throws to close the game out.
“We knew that Grayslake North’s record isn’t a reflection of how good they are,” Rams coach Brian Centella said. “When they are on, they are as explosive and talented as any team in the conference. There is so much emotion in a rivalry game, and all the credit goes to Grayslake North. They really brought it to us.”
Jon J. Kerr is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.