Grizzlies Begin Tournament Play

GRACE – On Monday night the Grace Grizzlies opened up district tournament play at Thunder Ridge High School. Before the district tournament could start however there was some unfinished business that needed to be taken care of to determine who the number one seed would be. This was settled Saturday evening in Grace. The Grizzlies hosted district rival the Butte County Pirates for the final regular season finale. The two teams were tied in the district entering Saturday night’s game. The winner of this game would earn the top seed in the upcoming district tournament while the loser would go in as the number two seed. In the small four team district this seemed like a small formality however with Alturas Prep dropping out of the tournament this meant that the number one seed would get a first round bye and the number two seed would have to turn around and play a dangerous Challis team just 48 hrs later. 

With it being senior night for Grace, combined with the bitter history of these two teams the gym was packed.

Although these schools are rivals in all sports the intensity of the rivalry seems to elevate to another level for boy’s basketball. In recent years Grace has gotten the better of the Pirates, winning twelve of the last fourteen games. However Butte was able to get the victory in Arco earlier this season when they beat the Grizzlies by ten back in December.

As things tipped off on Saturday things didn't look good for the Grizzlies early on. Butte came out as the aggressor and quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead. Grace would take a second to catch their breath and calm their nerves as they would come roaring back passing the Pirates on the scoreboard and take a 19-12 lead to start the second quarter. As things got going in the second Grace would see a couple of their starters get into foul trouble and head to the bench. The quarter would feature lots of fouls and turnovers by each team as play began to get a little sloppy. The Pirates would cut into the Grizzly lead and head to halftime with a score of 29-24.

The Grizzly struggles would continue in the third as they would be forced to call a timeout three minutes in, leading by just a single point. Things would continue to stay tight and low scoring with Grace entering the fourth leading by the slim margin of 38-36. Grace would call their next timeout at the 4:30 mark with the game tied at 42. The teams would then take turns calling timeouts while the scoring stayed close. Grace would get to a three point lead before another timeout and then Butte would go on a five point run taking the lead 49-47. Each team would score a basket and the time would tick down to under a minute. Grace, still trailing but running out of time, would need to start fouling. With their team fouls only at two the Grizz would need to foul fast. They would quickly get to the bonus but at the cost of Joe Clegg who would foul out in the closing seconds of the game. Butte would go two of four from the foul line in the last minute and get just enough of a lead to make the last second desperation shot by the Grizzlies futile. Grace loses a close one 53-49. Perimeter defense was an issue for Grace as 30 of Buttes 53 points came from behind the arc. Scoring for Grace: K. Clegg-16, Lloyd-7, Jorgensen-7, Kimball-7, Smith-6, Sorenson-2, J. Clegg-2, Mathews-2.

With the loss the Grizzlies would be the number two seed and face Challis in the opening round of the district tournament. Before things got rolling Monday night the teams took a minute to recognize the academic honors conference players from each team. After a small ceremony and a quick photo op play got underway for the Grizzlies and the Vikings. Challis had done enough in conference play to make sure nobody was going to overlook them in the tournament.

In the two regular season matchups between these two teams Grace had come away with large victories. However in both games the first half was very competitive as Challis even led going into the half in one of them. This time the Grizzlies were not going to leave the door open for the Vikings. Grace came out with a suffocating press right off the get go. Challis struggled to get the ball up the court and had several turnovers. Even with the Grizzlies shooting woes they were able to capitalize enough to get a 14-3 lead at the end of the first. The Grizz would not let up in the second and Challis would begin to get in foul trouble trying to slow down the fast pace that Grace was playing at. Again even with several missed shots on offense the Grizzly defense was dominant in the first half and took a 29-7 lead at the break. The third period the pace would continue to be fast. The Grizzlies would make their fair share of mistakes and get in a little foul trouble of their own. Challis would have their best scoring quarter of the game but the size and speed of the Grizzlies still outpaced them and we headed to the fourth with Grace still leading 47-20. Grace would finally slow the game down a little in the fourth and with a thirty point lead Coach Lloyd would send in the backups. The last four minutes several different Grizzlies would get some opportunities to get on the floor for some playing time. Grace would come away with the 54-30 victory and advance in the district tournament. 

Scoring for Gace went as follows: K. Clegg-20, Lloyd-9, Kimball-6, C.Smith-6, Sorenson-4, Mathews-3, Jorgensen-2, Draper-2, Rindlisbaker-1, J. Clegg-1.

Grace will now travel back to Thunder Ridge High School to face Butte County in the semi final game on Wednesday February 14th at 7:00 p.m.