BOYS' BASKETBALL: GRANT HOLDS OFF N.H.; LANCERS' LEADING SCORER ARENAS IS QUIET, EXCEPT AT THE FREE-THROW LINE : GRANT 57 N. HOLLYWOOD 54.

Byline: Gerry Gittelson Daily News Staff Writer

The free-throw line was about the only place Gilbert Arenas did not have two guys guarding him, so the Grant High basketball star was keen to take advantage.

Arenas converted five free throws in the last two minutes to help the Lancers stave off East Valley League rival North Hollywood 57-54 before a raucous sold-out crowd Friday night at Grant.

Otherwise Arenas was quiet, scoring just 17 points, a season low after totaling 42, 47, and 46 the last three games.

The Arizona-signee came in averaging 36.8 points.

``The points don't matter. We won the game,'' said the 6-foot-3 Arenas. ``We had lost to North Hollywood here last year, but this time we all came to play.''

Ricky Urbina was among the North Hollywood defenders who did as good a job as possible against Arenas, who spent six minutes on the bench during the second half after picking up his fourth foul.

``I just tried to keep the ball away from Gilbert,'' Urbina said. ``That's about it, just deny him the ball. This was a difficult loss.''

The game featured 10 lead changes. Daniel Tarr's two free throws put Grant ahead for good with three minutes, 10 seconds remaining.

``I thought Grant definitely came through at the end,'' North Hollywood coach Rob Bloom said. ``We did as good as we could have done against Gilbert. We really limited his points in the half-court game. If we could have gotten a couple breaks our way, we might have had a chance. I thought we battled. It was a heck of an effort.''

North Hollywood (11-9, 3-3) has lost its last three, and the team's nine-game winning streak preceding the slide is starting to look like a distant memory. Meanwhile Grant improved to 17-4, 5-1 and appears likely for a high playoff seed, something that has not happened at the Van Nuys school for a long time.

Arenas did not get off a shot for the first three minutes, then made his own breaks with a pair of steals and slam dunks, the latter giving Grant an early 13-7 advantage.

Arenas had another breakaway dunk in the second quarter - a reverse jam that had the fans stomping - but Grant was otherwise unproductive in the quarter, as Tarr's 3-pointer accounted for the only other points.

Arenas was twice called for charging in the third quarter and was pulled. He returned with five minutes remaining and Grant up by one point.

``I was scared of Gilbert and just tried to hold him down,'' said North Hollywood's Richard Sherman. ``He really scared me.''

Defensively, Arenas had five steals and three blocked shots.

``This was a real battle,'' Bloom said. ``That's the way it is any time North Hollywood and Grant get together. Last year it was us, and this year it was them.''

Jason McKissick led North Hollywood with 14 points. Dominick Johnson scored 12, as did Urbina, who was subbing for injured leading scorer Rahnell Johnson.

Grant's Krisha Evans scored 15.

The fourth quarter featured 32 free throws. North Hollywood made 11 of 14 and Grant made 10 of 18.