Crystal Lake South tops Grayslake Central to earn spot in Hinkle Holiday Classic championship game

ALGONQUIN – Grayslake Central forward Chris Jaimes took a lob pass from guard Eric Brum and put it away for a two-handed dunk, cutting Crystal Lake South’s lead to six points with five minutes remaining in the second quarter.

As exciting as the play was for Central, it was the quick response from South – and senior guard AJ Demirov, in particular – that essentially determined the outcome of Thursday’s first semifinal at Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic.

Demirov scored the next three field goals – first on a turnaround jumper in the lane, followed by a 3-pointer and, finally, a drive and score – for the Gators, who grabbed control and cruised to a 64-30 victory over the Rams to secure their spot in the 16-team tournament championship.

South (11-2), winner of six games in a row, will play Waubonsie Valley in the title game at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Grayslake Central (9-3) will meet Barrington at 6 p.m. for third place.

The Gators never have won the Hinkle Holiday Classic. They took third last year and were runners-up in 2022. Demirov, who finished with a game-high 15 points, eight assists and four steals against Grayslake Central, was on both of those teams that came up just short.

“We learned a lot about ourselves last year,” Demirov said. “There’s a lot of hard games in the tournament. We learned a lot about our 1-3-1 [trap defense], and that’s our biggest weapon now. You’ve seen it our last two games.”

South held the Rams to five points in the first quarter, 11 in the second, 12 in the third and – with a running clock – only two in the fourth.

Demirov scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, while also looking to get his teammates involved early. Cooper Buelna (six rebounds) finished with 14 points and two 3s, Carson Trivellini (five rebounds) had 11 points and three 3-pointers, and Tony Santarelli (five steals) and Ryan Morgan (six rebounds, four assists) each had eight points. Nick Stowasser tossed in six points on two 3s in a balanced scoring effort for the Gators.

“They found a groove offensively and we couldn’t settle it down,” Rams coach Brian Centella said. “We turned it over a million times that led to easy baskets. You give a team like that easy baskets, and that rim just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

“They’ve got some really talented scorers, and it felt like there was stretch where they were raining down 3s on us. They put it on us.”

Leading 16-10, South ended the first half on a 13-6 run. To start the second half, Morgan, a 6-foot-4 freshman, scored two straight buckets followed by a putback from Buelna. Later in the quarter, Buelna knocked down his first of two 3s to give South a 44-20 lead with 4:40 left.

South outscored Central 27-12 in the third and took a 56-28 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“Going into the second half, we know that’s a really good team, so we couldn’t let up and take it easy,” Santarelli said. “We had to really jump on them and put them away.”

Central was led by Jaimes with 12 points and Cole Halverson with nine. Halverson had five points in the first quarter and all nine of his points in the first half. Alex Granville, Halverson and Max O’Gorden each hit a 3 in the loss for the Rams.

Despite Thursday’s loss, Centella was excited to see his team make the Final Four of the tournament. The Rams beat Boylan 60-47 to start the tournament and upset Geneva 63-53 to reach the semifinals.

“It was really important for us to get on the winners side of the bracket,” Centella said. “Then we know we’re playing teams like Geneva, Crystal Lake South, Barrington and Waubonsie [Valley]. That’s really what we want out of this, so it played out exactly like we wanted. Tonight we didn’t answer the bell, but we’ll have another chance tomorrow against another really good team.”

South coach Matt LePage said his team has found a nice groove, as well. The Gators finished with 19 assists as a team Thursday.

“I like the way we’ve played the last two games,” LePage said. “We just want to continue to share the ball and play real tough defense. We’re excited for the opportunity. Hopefully we can take advantage of it.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/2024/12/27/crystal-lake-south-tops-grayslake-central-to-earn-spot-in-hinkle-holiday-classic-championship-game/