The Grundy Center basketball teams each won at Aplington-Parkersburg Tuesday, as aired on 99 The Wave and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel. The #6 (2A) Spartans won the boys game 74-69 and the #10 (2A) Spartan girls won 49-34.
In the first-ever head coaching meeting between Aaron Thomas and Owen Thomas, the son got the win over the father. After the #9 (2A) Falcons made a surge for a 19-16 lead at the end of the first quarter, Grundy Center regained a lead they never gave up. They extended the lead to as many as 14 points, but the Falcons responded. AP got to within two after a Grundy Center technical foul, and had a chance to tie in the closing minutes. But AP had a crucial turnover that allowed the Spartans to seal the game at the free throw line.
“Brayden Davie hadn’t been scoring it like he’d like, to but instead of getting frustrated and shying away, he stepped up to the big moment, played very well,” Head Coach Owen Thomas says. “We preached all week that this is a very good team, this is a team that works very hard, so those 50-50 balls are going to determine the game. And then you see it down the stretch. Missed free throw up two. And Pete Lebo comes flying in, gets the rebound, gets fouled, makes the free throw, put us ahead. And then again, 50-50 ball. Eight seconds left. The ball’s rolling around. Jace Fryslie comes up with it, goes down, gets fouled. So we had guys step up, and the 50-50 balls were key tonight. I’m just proud of our team, proud of how we fought. We had a big mishap down here. Game comes back to four. Felt pretty in control. Game comes back to four. And then all the credit to our guys. They’ve got that winning sense in them. That’s something that I can’t teach them as a coach, or none of our assistants can teach them. I’m just proud of the fight they had and I’m proud of coming away with this win.”
Brayden Davie led the Spartans with a career-high 29 points and Judd Jirovsky added 19.
“I think we just had some mental breakdowns, a couple rebounds off free throws, not finding the shooters that we needed to,” AP Coach Aaron Thomas says. “We got some bunnies, some ones that they just didn’t go in. But it wasn’t a lack of effort. I was proud of our kids, our fight. But we do got to increase little things. Because this is a game of inches in a game like this. And I thought they were a little sharper than we were. And it starts with me. We’ve got to work on some things, small things but we’re right there. And Grundy’s as good a team as there is, and for our guys, we can’t now stub our toe, we have to use this to fuel us as we move forward and we gotta keep getting better.”
Tyler Wedeking had a career-high 30 points with 21 added by Benny Waller.
In the girls game, Grundy Center had control the entire way, due in large part to holding AP to five points in each of the first two quarters. AP’s shooting heated up in the second half, but the Spartans were patient in getting good looks on their possessions, holding off any rally. Kali Aldrich had a career-high 20 points to lead the Spartans, and AP’s Kolbie Wangsness led the team with 13 points.
Returning to action Friday, AP will be at Dike-New Hartford on 99 The Wave and Grundy Center will host Sumner-Fredericksburg.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACA1BpLDoP8?si=Wjsf1e8ZhDk3WP1n&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67cdlxyMe6s?si=tdmbWmmjH1LlVJOS&w=560&h=315]
