Tigers End Season at District Semis

Photos by Amanda Louck-Booth
Story by Ken DeLaat

Boy did I get this one wrong or what?
In the preview of this game I wrote,”I’m thinking a rout but it is, after all, the tournament and while odd things can happen, I don’t foresee this one being close by the second half."
While currently on the 30 day DL I couldn’t make it to the game but I’d watched this Tiger team in action and knew what they were capable of. DeLong, Phillips, Hatch, Booth, Rider, Swanson and more took the floor 22 times during the regular season and delivered 20 wins. 20 wins and an outright conference championship.
Granted there had been no opportunity to see the Panthers in action but in looking at their record I saw they had won once in November, went 0 for December, then collected another win in late January before taking out Tri County on Monday.
And then in the semi they pulled off the win over what has been a really tough  Tiger team.
Grant has had a great season and no one can take that away from them. They gave their fans a lot to cheer for and Coach George has been masterful guiding them to their season-long success. In the end they might have come up short but to put it in perspective there are 755 high school teams playing basketball in the state and there are only 4 who don’t end their season with a loss.
Coach George: “"We needed to be better tonight in several areas, probably including my coaching, but I'm very proud of these guys and the season we had. We will continue to get better. 
“On behalf of the team and my coaches I want to thank the families and members of the Grant community who supported us all year. You're the best."
Blake Rider led the Tigers in scoring with 15, Zaiden Phillips hit for 14 and Jack Swanson finished with 10.