Never a Doubt

Never a Doubt
Tigers flex muscles in rout of rivals

Grant 92 Newaygo 31
In our preview article Thursday  we mentioned that the Lions had to have a lot go their way for them to keep this one close.
It didn’t and they didn’t. 
In a contest that seemed to be decided in the opening minutes the Tigers dominated every aspect of the game, controlling the boards, winning the turnover battle and scoring at will as they continued to hold the top rung of the Red Division with the victory.
Zaiden Phillips opened the scoring with a triple, Blake Rider knocked down a deuce, Sincere Hatch got fouled and dropped a pair from the line then Phillips hit off a rebound and it was 9-0 Tigers. Ethan Reyburn finally got the Lions on the board with a 3, but the hosts ran off another 9 in a row before Reyburn honed in from distance again. Ethan DeLong, Phillips, Hatch and Owen Chesebro each scored before the end of the quarter and the board read 30-6 Tigers.
The second quarter saw no relief as the Lions had no answers for their hosts. Grant was collecting offensive rebounds on those rare occasions when their shots didn’t fall and by halftime the Tigers had built a 56-17 lead. Soon after intermission the game went to a running clock.
Coach George: "It always warms a coach's heart when every guy to the bottom of the bench executes what we practiced the last two days. In that respect, this may be the best game we have played all year."
Hatch led the Tiger scoring parade with 24 points, Phillips canned 22 and DeLong finished with a dozen.
Reyburn led the Lions with 12 points and Isaiah Miedema added 7.
Grant (7-0, 13-2) Plays Fremont Saturday in the Newaygo Showcase then will travel to Montague on Tuesday.
Newaygo (3-4, 5-9) will play Hesperia in Saturday’s Showcase then they will visit Hart Monday.