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For Iowa-Grant to finish the SWAL conference season with an unblemished record the final-game win didn't come easy.
"It was a battle and that was no surprise," said Iowa-Grant coach Toby Tripalin. "Dan (Burreson) had his guys ready. They played great defense and they executed their offense well too."
He was speaking of his I-G boys' final regular season foe the Mineral Point Pointers who took them to the wire in a 48-42 final.
The Pointers, led by a 23-19 margin at the half thanks mainly by a 15 point outburst by guard Chance Wendhausen. The Pointer sophomore finished the night with a game-high 24 points.
The game was knotted at 38 and then the Pointers went up by two when Panther Brayden Johnson nailed a three pointer. After a Pointer miss, Isaac Anderson hit five of six free throws to put the game away.
Anderson finished the game with 19 and 14 points respectively. Johnson hit 10 in the second half while Anderson had 13 at that same time.
"Brayden and Isaac came through for us in the end," Tripalin said. "Also Jack Reeves did a heck of a defensive job on Warrick (Pointer 6'5" post) holding him to just two points. His defensive effort was a big key to the win."
"Wendhausen was on a terror," the I-G coach said."He's only a sophomore. I'd hate to see what he will do by the time he's a senior."
It was Senior Night for the Panthers.
"They (seniors) have worked really hard since middle school," Tripalin pointed out. "They deserve everything they get. They have earned it."
The Panthers have a Tuesday first round bye in tournament play and will host the Belleville/Lancaster winner Friday night.
In speaking about the tournament Tripalin said, "Now is the fun time - the tournament. The regular season is just an appetizer. Hopefully we can keep it up in the post season."
Mineral Point coach Dan Burreson spoke highly about his team's effort.
"I was really pleased with our effort. I thought everyone worked really hard defensively and we had an opportunity down the stretch to pull out the win, but they made a few more plays than we did."
"I thought we had a great job by Chance Wendhausen on the offensive end. Lance Steffes shot the ball well especially early. He played well defensively and pulled down 6 rebounds. Justin Toay gave us a spark off of the bench especially on the defensive end. Jack Warrick continues to have a big year on the glass adding 8 more rebounds tonight."
"It was a tough loss against a very good team, but I'm really proud of our guys.," Burreson concluded.
SCORE BY HALVES
MINERAL POINT 23 19-42
IOWA-GRANT 19 29-48
BOX SCORE
MINERAL POINT 42 (fg, ft, tp) Wendhausen 9-5/6-24, James 0-0-0, Gorgen 0-0-0, Pfaff 1-0-2, Steffes 2-2/2-8, Warrick 1-0-2, Toay 0-2/4-2, MacGilvra 2-0-4. Totals 15-9/12-42. F-10 FO-Steffes. 3-pointers: Wendhausen 1, Steffes 2.
IOWA-GRANT 48: Reeves 1-0-2, Johnson 5-0/1-14, Anderson 7-5/6-19, Hill 1-0-3, Price 5-0-10, Stuckey 1-0-2, Richards 0-0-0, Raimer 0-0-0. Totals 20-5/7-48. F-13. 3-pointers: Johnson 2, Hill 1.