U-G-L-Y, Tigers Got No Alibi

Story and photos by Mike Gesler
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Grant 46   Big Rapids 75

Grant has been a hit-and-miss team all season. The Tigers can either light up the boards for seventy plus points a game, or they struggle to put up 55 points. Because of that, they are sitting in the middle of the conference with a 7-5 (9-7) record with four games to go. However, last week was a big week for the Tigers as they beat both Newaygo County rivals. First they went to Fremont, and played spoiler to the Packers probability of a shared conference title. Next, they came home to put a ninety-two point bruising on Newaygo. So while tonight’s game against the Big Rapids Cardinals, who are sitting first in the conference, wouldn’t mean a whole lot except to Fremont; a win would be a huge confidence booster for the Tigers especially before going into the playoffs. The last time these teams faced each other was up in Big Rapids, and it was a night that the Tigers struggled to find the net. Tonight, however, the Tigers were on friendlier confines.

Let’s be honest because truthfully there is not a lot to say here. The first quarter, and maybe the fourth quarter, there was a game. The two quarters in between…not so much. The Tiger’s confines turned out to be not so friendly. The difference in the first quarter was a couple three pointers from Big Rapids, some bad turnovers from Grant, and some missed layups that Grant probably should have made. Even then, the Tigers only trailed by four. “We needed a couple of those buckets in the first quarter to go, and first half to go, to be in the game,” stated Coach Schuitema.

The second quarter and especially the third quarter conversely were not the Tigers finest hour. As I stated up top, this team has been hit-and-miss all season. Tonight however was not that team. It was something different. It was like the karma gods came out in vengeance to give Grant a taste of what they did to Newaygo this past Friday. Big Rapids shot the lights out and owned the boards while Grant couldn’t put one in to save themselves. It didn’t matter if they were standing under the net or shooting a short six foot jumper. The. Ball. Wouldn’t. Drop. And while Carr and Barnhart battled hard on the boards, the ball always seemed to take that little extra bounce sending itself into Cardinal hands. Nothing, absolutely nothing, went Grant’s way.

Credit to Grant. The players never gave up. They were exasperated, but they didn’t quit. By the time the karma gods finished with their little spirited spree, it was all these Tigers could do but to shake their heads in disbelief and humor themselves. Let’s hope that is the last we will see of these vexatious sprites.

“To Big Rapids credit, they showed why they are the league champions. They shot the ball kind of like we did last Friday,” stated Schuitema. “They’ve got a lot of shooters. They work really hard on defense. They put a lot of pressure on you. So as you can see with us, we had to work really hard to get even an open look. And even at that open look, you still kind of had to hurry your shot. I think that definitely impacted us. The guys kept working, kept their chins up, and we have to have a short memory on this one and just move on.”

​Two Tigers shot double digits tonight. Seth Schuitema with eighteen, and Sawyer Carr with twelve. Mason Woodard put up five, Zach Barnhart shot four, Lucas Swanson hit for three, and Chase Geers and Giovanni Fallador both added two. The Tigers will hit the road for their final conference game on Friday to face Central Montcalm before returning home next Tuesday in a match up against West Catholic.