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There were a lot of questions that needed to be asked about both the Iowa-Grant and Dodgeville boys basketball teams in their non-conference opener Tuesday.
First, how would the Dodgers react to new coach Matt McGraw and to playing without their leading scorer, Trent Jones, who is sidelined with an injured hand.
Second, who would pick up the scoring void Jones' absence left?
Third, how would the Dodgers stop Isaac Anderson and Brayden Johnson, destined to be two of the top scorers in the area this season
For the Panthers it would be how would they perform against a team the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook picks to win the SWC and how would they handle playing an experienced team.
While the list of questions could go on and on, the answer was found at the second half when Dodgeville hung on for a 71-63 win in a game much closer than the final score.
After a 16-0 run by the Dodgers after halftime with some hot three point shooting it was Iowa-Grant's challenge to get back into the game and to their credit they found a way to do it.
"It sure wasn't because we hit our threes," said Iowa-Grant coach Toby Tripalin as the Panthers were only four of 16 from beyond the arc.
It was more of a case of the Dodgers moving the ball and hurrying their decisions.
"We started to force things a little," McGraw said.
Soon the score got to 55-53.
Senior guard Jordan Larson had been fairly silent when it came to scoring with three first half points but he found the range again and again and for good measure, again to rattle the rims for 19 second half points and a trio of three pointers.
He wasn't the only one who sprang to life in the final 18 minutes as Isaac Nagel had nine with a pair of threes and Bryce Prochaska add eight.
"It was nice to see our young players come through like that," McGraw said
Larson finished with 22 points, Nagel 17, Prochaska 13 and Josh Shepler 10. Prochaska and Shepler are sophomores.
Anderson and Johnson had 20 and 11 second halves. Anderson had been shadowed by Jordan Olson the first half and was held to six but the second he got the ball and made 11 straight free throws, and 20 points, 26 for the game. Johnson finished the night with 20.
McGraw said he was proud of his team.
"You never know how playing without your best player will affect you but the kids responded well," he said.
For Tripalin it was a step he wanted to see his team take.
"We were down but we fought back. Dodgeville is a good team and now we know we can play with the good ones," he said.
SCORE BY HALVES
D 22 48 71
IG 21 42 63
INDIVIDUALS
DODGEVILLE 71:(fg-ft-tp) Shepler 4-0-12, Yeager 0-1-1, Nagel 4-3-17, Sullivan 1-0-3, J. Olson 2-0-3, Stanek 0-0-0, Prochaska 4-5-13, Larson 9-1-22, Gollon 1-0-2 Totals 27-7/11-71 Fouls-16
IOWA-GRANT 63: Reeves 1-0-2. Johnson 8-1-20, Anderson 7-11-26, Hill 2-3-7, Price 2-2-6, Coppernoll 0-0-0, Stuckey 0-0-0, Richards 1-0-2, Raimer 0-0-0 Totals 21-17/21-63 Fouls-13
3 point goals
D-Shepler 2, Nagel 2, Sullivan 1, Olson 1, Larson 3
IG-Johnson 3, Anderson 1