Tigers Outlast Lions

Swineheart hits for 30, Naffziger 29
By Ken DeLaat
Photos By Catalpa Photography
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Grant 70 Newaygo 64
It was a typical game between these two long time rivals with the teams battling each other for the lead. Early on it was all Newaygo as Manchip opened with a score and two from the line before Mitch Karrip zapped in a three to stake the Lions to a 7-0 lead, Carter Case stopped the bleeding with a three of his own but a combination of outside shooting and finding room on drives in the lane led to a 22-8 advantage after one.
The Tigers began chipping away with Tyler Naffziger leading the charge and  Frederick Hull finding ways to distribute and score. By halftime the Lion lead had shrunk to a lone point with turnovers hurting efforts to score inside.
After intermission and a Newaygo stop Patrick Lancestremere gave Grant their first lead of the night with a knock from the wing. Cooper Heinzman split at the line for the tie. The Newaygo offense went cold with one exception. Swineheart put the team’s offense on his back and scored the final 11 points of the quarter to hold off the charging Tigers and enter the final frame with a 50-46 lead.
Longcore scored for Grant and Naffziger took a steal all the way to knot the game again. Swineheart answered but Naffziger tallied again then off another steal then  Longcore scored and was fouled. His conversion made it a 7-0 Grant run and delivered a 5 point lead Newaygo finally scored when Swineheart hit but Naffziger and Hull connected for Grant and the Lions were finding no other offensive answers. With less than 3 minutes Swineheart hit a triple to get the Lions to within 3. Carter and Cole Chase each hit and Carter Chase sank a pair down the stretch when Newaygo was being forced to foul.

When Karrip hit a triple with 14 ticks left on the clock it was the first time a Lion other than Swineheart had scored since the Heinzman free throw in the first minute of the second half, a 22 point run.
I would be lying if I said i wasn't disappointed, but when this tournament starts you can't have a night where you don't play your best basketball,” said Newaygo Coach Joe Barrette. “  I thought we came in ready winning 9 of our last 10 games, but in the second and fourth quarters Grant made more winning plays than we did.”
“I give a lot of credit to the boys for the way they  hung with it and kept fighting,” said Tiger Coach Matt McCorkle.
Swineheart finished with 30 points and on the other side of the floor Naffziger fired in 29.
Other Newaygo scorers included Schmidt (13) Manlick (10) and Kade Bhuyan (6)
Carter Chase (12)  Longcore (9) Lancestremere (8) Cole Chase (6) and Hull (4) provided offense for the Tigers
Grant will move on to Wednesday’s game against the Black Knights of Belding.beginning at 730pm at Tri County High School.
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