Grizzlies Down Raft River

The Grace Grizzlies boys basketball team had two games last week.  They first took on Soda Springs in a very entertaining game that saw the Grizzlies battle from behind to take a brief fourth quarter lead before ultimately falling by three.  You can read more about that game in this week’s article on the Cardinals boys basketball team.

Following the emotional loss to Soda Springs and facing the very real possibility of a losing season the Grizzlies need to start to stack up some wins.  Their next opponent was Raft River who the Grizzlies hosted in the Grizzly Den on Saturday afternoon.  Despite the Trojans having the better season record the fact that the Grizzly’s schedule has been more difficult and what I feel is superior athleticism I gave the advantage to Grace in this game.  However the Trojans did not make it easy on the banged up Grizzlies.  The Grizzlies have been hit hard this season with the injury bug.  They have lost two players to potentially season ending injuries as well as have several others who have been nursing lower leg injuries over the past several weeks.  This combined with an already shallow bench has put some pressure on the remaining players to step up.  Though their record may not reflect it, several of those players have stepped up and the team is starting to mesh at the right time of the season.  

As Saturday’s game got underway the Grizzlies leaned on their six foot five senior post Parker Yost.  Yost has been the leading scorer for Grace all season and he would start the game with the Trojans with a huge eleven point first quarter.  The other three seniors on the team Gavin Draper, Chase Smith, and Bodee Smith would combine for another five points and the Grizzlies jumped out to an eight point lead.  The second quarter was more even between the two teams and the Trojans actually outperformed the Grizzlies by two points to cut the overall lead to just six at the halftime break.  In the third quarter the game got physical and a little chippy.  The Trojans added ten points to their score in the quarter but sent the Grizzlies to the foul line several times along the way.  Grace took advantage of the free shots making six of them to go along with their fifteen points from the field.  The Grizzlies had opened the game up and took a commanding lead.  There was plenty of physical play in the fourth quarter, but the Grizzlies would only gain ground in the quarter.  Grace earned just their fifth win of the season pulling away from the Trojans.

This week the Grizzlies will try to add to those wins but will face two formidable opponents.  In back to back road games the Grizzlies will face two Pirates teams.  First they will head to West Side to take on a very tough Pirate team before turning around the next day and traveling to Butte County to face their district rivals.

Grizzlies 13 10 14 12 49

Cardinals 15 17 10 10 52

K. Kimball 2, G.Draper 10, B. Smith 7, C. Smith 8, P. Yost 22

Grizzlies 16 9 21 10 56

Trojans 8 11 10 6 35

K. Kimball 8, K. Edwards 5, G. Draper 5, B. Smith 6, C. Smith 7, P. Yost 25