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When Iowa-Grant boys basketball coach Ryan Hill was shaking hands with Kickapoo coach Dennis Vinger after a 68-58 hotly contested battle he learned something about his young team.
"You are much better than your 6-15 record," Vinger told Hill after picking up the win in WIAA Division 5 Regional play Tuesday.
Hill had to agree.
"We play in a pretty tough conference,"Hill said.
No one would argue about that as two of the SWAL teams--Mineral Point and Fennimore--spent much of the season in the state rankings. Add in dangerous Darlington, the defending state runner-up, and it is hard to pick up wins.
Making it harder is the youth that Hill put on the court night in and night out. With a freshman and a pair of sophomores starting with a junior and a senior along with a sophomore as one of the top reserves the Panthers could have easily run the table in Junior Varsity play.
Hill is hoping the experience the youngsters received this season will pay off in the future.
"I am hoping it will pay off for them in the long run," Hill said. "We made gains as the season went on and with some work in the off season they will only get better.:
The strength factor ended up to be the difference. Kickapoo had the advantage on the boards and Wyatt Davis caused the most damage with several offensive put-backs in his 27 point total.
"We held their leading scorer to one backet and another top scorer to eight points but Davis was too much for us," Hill said.
The Panthers were trailing by a dozen points before a defensive switch followed by a hot streak pushed Iowa-Grant to a three point lead. Three pointers by freshman Isaac Hill, Kruz Kitelinger and Jackson Vigen got the Panthers their lead.
But as with all hot streaks things can cool off again and for the Panthers that is what happened. A few I-G misses and a few Kickapoo makes made it necessary for the Panthers to foul.
"They hit their free throws and that was it," said Hill.
Vigen had 22 points to lead the Panthers while Michael Winders contributed 11 and Isaac Hill 10.
Supporting Davis's 27 was Scott Turgasen with 15.
SCORE BY HALVES
Iowa-Grant 22 36 58
Kickapoo 31 37 68
BOX SCORE
IOWA-GRANT 58: (fg-ft-tp) Vigen 8-3-22, Hill 3-1-10, Winders 5-1-11, Kuhls 2-0-4, Kohlenberg 1-0-2, Velte 0-0-0, Paradis 0-0-0, Barr 0-0-0, Kitelinger 3-0-9, Spurley 0-0-0. Totals 22-5/11-48. Fouls-19. Fouled out-Winders
KICKAPOO 68: Wagner 2-0-4, Wiegel 0-0-0, Caufman 2-2-6, Turgasen 5-2-15, Q. Alexander 1-0-2, Svede 4-0-8, J. Alexander 4-0-8, Davis 11-5-27. Totals 26-12/22-68. Fouls-13
3 point goals:
I-G-Vigen 3, Hill 3, Kitelinger 3
K-Turgasen 3, J. Alexander 1