Grant Gives Freely in a 50-40 Loss

During warm-ups for the second half of Friday night’s game against North Hollywood High, Grant Coach Howard Levine kept one eye on his players and the other on the stands.

“If you find anybody in the stands that can handle the ball,” Levine said, “let me know.”

Levine’s point was that the Lancers were hurting at point guard. Levine found no takers in his search for a replacement, but he found plenty of givers in his own backcourt as North Hollywood’s press forced 17 Grant turnovers in a 50-40 victory over the Lancers in an East Valley League game that earned the Huskies a share of first place.

North Hollywood, which improved to 9-6, 4-1 in league, moved into a tie atop the East Valley standings with Poly, which it defeated last week, 56-52.

“It may not have been pretty,” said assistant coach Eli Essa, “But it was a ‘W.’ We’ll leave pretty to the Miss America contest.”

The North Hollywood press, however, was a thing of beauty. Grant guards Danny Enowitz and Mike Sutton were dogged throughout the game as the Huskies poured on the pressure and Grant handed out the turnovers.

Grant committed eight turnovers in the first half to contribute to a 21-point second quarter by North Hollywood as the Huskies a built 31-20 lead at halftime.

As if Grant’s trouble in the backcourt wasn’t enough, center Jason Schirn was on the bench for most of the first half with foul trouble. Grant was forced to pack the key on defense to offset a North Hollywood height advantage inside, only to be burned by Huskie guards Danny Klein and Peter Nappi from outside. Klein scored eight of his 13 points in the second quarter, and Nappi added four of his team-high 15 as North Hollywood built its lead.

“We tried to force Enowitz to go to his right,” Peter Nappi said. “He doesn’t move well to that side.”

But Enowitz, a left-hander, made amends for most of his ball-handling trouble by scoring seven of his game-high 16 points in the third quarter as Grant managed to pare the North Hollywood lead to 39-34 heading into the fourth quarter.