The Antioch boys basketball team defeated the Grayslake North Knights with a final score of 66-54 the afternoon of Saturday, January 12. The Knights are one of the best teams in the conference which caused the game to be challenging for the Sequoits. The Sequoits needed to make some early adjustments defensively after the Knights sank four three-pointers at the start of the game.

“We knew we were the better team at this point,” senior Elias Vanderwagen said. “We just had to prove it.”

The boys had a rough start to the game, but they did not give up. A stellar opening from the Knights caused the Sequoits to start the game down 21-14 at the end of the first quarter. Senior Daniel Filippone began to close the gap throughout the rest of the game, with 34 total points. Although they were close, the Sequoits were still down 30-26 at half time.

“We had to close out and focus more on getting stops on the defensive end,” senior Austin Andrews said. “We had to be more patient on the offensive end.”

Luckily, the boys made these adjustments and began to pull ahead with a score of 49-41 at the end of the third quarter. The Sequoits continued to play a great game, pulling out with an important conference win.

“This win was a big confidence booster,” junior Gavin Eldridge said. “It gets us closer to our goal of winning conference.”

Antioch is having an impressive season with an overall record of 11-5 and they are 3-1 in the NLCC conference. They hope to keep their winning season going as they take on cross-town rival Lakes on Friday, January 18.