December 13, 2017 By Chris Varney
Nothing is going to come easy for the Grinnell Tiger boys basketball team this season. Last night, Grinnell only trailed by 2 points at halftime to Boone but nothing went right in the second half and the Toredors stormed away from the Tigers, winning 63-50.
Grinnell struggled with their defense as Boone shot a sizzling 69% from the field in the second half. The Toredors focused their own defensive efforts on frustrating Ethan Mitchell and they did a good job of it. Mitchell worked hard trying to get open but was held to just 8 points, getting only 7 total shots.
Tiger fans have been spoiled in recent years. Grinnell made it to three straight state tournaments from 2012 through 2014 and have been close in recent seasons as well. Last year, GHS nearly upset Pella in the substate finals, coming just 2 points away from going back to the Well.
This year is different. Losing two 1,000 point scorers (Sam Allen and Cade McKnight) has been tough to deal with. Grinnell has played 2 freshmen at the point guard spot and its a lot to ask of kids to go from middle school to high school basketball. Cole McGriff and A.J. Wilkins will be good players for Grinnell but they are going through some growing pains right now. Jake Hull is a talented sophomore but has struggled with his shooting to start the season. The Little Hawkeye Conference is deeper this year then it ever has been — four teams (Norwalk, Oskaloosa, Pella and DCG) are all ranked in the AP top ten. Perhaps a 5th one should be too (Newton).
Grinnell has beaten up on some of these teams in recent years and now they will be only to happy to return the favor this year. Tiger fans will have to weather the storm together and hope that this team can improve this year. Its just going to take time.
