By the end of Monday night’s game, the bandages wrapped around the right wrist of Brother Rice’s Zach Grabowski could not hide the blood inside them.
The senior guard had to get the wrist retaped in the closing minute. He’s been dealing with the injury for a couple weeks, and while he acknowledged it has impacted his shot, he’s made the proper adjustments.
“It feels weird,” Grabowski said. “But now I’m just going downhill. I’m playing that game because I’m not shooting as good right now, so I have to take advantage of my athleticism and get to the basket.
“I have to try to attack.”
Grabowski did that pretty well against Andrew, with most of his 10 points coming on drives to the basket. He also pulled down seven rebounds as the host Crusaders toughed out a 37-31 nonconference win over the Thunderbolts in Chicago.
Aiden Henderson led Brother Rice (14-8) with 12 points. Charlie Wizgird added seven points and seven rebounds, while JJ Manos contributed eight rebounds.
Justin Freeman finished with 12 points and six rebounds for Andrew (10-13). Ryan Dinnon delivered eight points and a whopping 18 rebounds, while Titus Payton chipped in with five points.
Grabowski, meanwhile, hurt his wrist in a Jan. 13 win over Aurora Central Catholic.
“I went for a layup and had a really bad fall,” he said. “Thankfully, I didn’t break it. I was out for maybe a week and missed two big games against St. Laurence and Loyola.
“Now, it’s just pushing through it. It’s a lot better now.”
On a night when everyone on the floor struggled to make shots, the 6-foot-3 Grabowski’s willingness to go to the basket against a bigger Andrew team made a major difference.
“I might be smaller than some of these bigger guys, but at heart I don’t feel like that,” Grabowski said. “I feel like I can compete with any bigger guy. It’s my senior year and I’ve got to give it all I’ve got.”
Brother Rice coach Rick Romeli has been pushing Grabowski to attack the basket more often.
“He’s probably one of the better athletes on our team,” Romeli said. “Sometimes, I think he needs to go in and crash those offensive boards more and try to get some easy ones around the basket.
“When he’s a little bit more aggressive offensively, it makes us much more effective.”
Monday’s game was a nip-and-tuck affair throughout. The largest lead of the night was the final margin of six.
Andrew moved ahead 17-16 at halftime and there were five lead changes in the third quarter before Brother Rice locked things down, holding the Thunderbolts without a field goal in the fourth.
“I don’t like playing a game in the 30s, but you might have to win a playoff game like this,” Romeli said. “It wasn’t the most pretty game, but I thought we did a good job defensively.”
Henderson knows the Crusaders can always count on Grabowski on that end of the floor.
“Zach plays tough defense all the time,” Henderson said. “And he knocks down 3-pointers. He’s also being a really good leader for us as a senior.”
Grabowski played sparingly as a junior, scoring just 21 points. But he learned plenty from being on a team that finished as the Class 3A state runner-up.
“What I took away from those guys was knowing how to play through adversity,” he said. “Last year, we had a tough stretch where we lost the Christmas tournament and lost like three games and we were all down. But we all came together as a team and learned to grit it out.
“That’s what I’m trying to bring to this team this year. We need that toughness and grit.”
