Before the turn of the century, Wade Grinde – the young Spring Grove head boys basketball coach – said the most important statistic was defensive shooting percentage or in other words, how difficult did the Lion defense make it for the opponent to take good shots – and score. In Grinde’s 27 years at the helm, his Lions of 2022 posted the second-best season for both field goal defense and scoring defense as well as fewest turnovers on offense – all second by extremely thin margins.
Photo by Lee Epps
The result – these Spring Grove boys (24-5) won 24 games. Only two of 19 teams in Section 1A enjoyed that many victories – the Lions and section champion Hayfield. In 73 seasons of Lion boys basketball, only 10 teams have won 24 games, and it has now happened eight times in the past 11 years. In 14 Southeast Conference contests, the Boys in Black went undefeated to claim their 16th East Division championship in the last 19 years, all under the guidance of Grinde.
On the offensive end of the floor, Spring Grove did it with extraordinary ball-handling and pretty good offensive rebounding. The 2022 Lions averaged only 9.8 turnovers per game – edged out only by the 9.7 average in 2017. In the 41 years for which turnovers have been recorded, those are the only two Lion squads to average single-digit turnovers. This season, the Grove guys had single-digit turnovers in 18 of their 29 games. They were able to overcome two of three high-turnover games with wins against La Crescent-Hokah and Kenyon-Wanamingo. Amazingly, six of the seven most-used players had more assists than turnovers. The team’s 1.30 assist-to-turnover ratio tied for sixth-best in the record book (since 1983).
When the Lions shot and missed, they were able to collect almost four out of every 10 rebounds. SG averaged about four more O-boards per game than did the opponents. In 29 games, SG was outrebounded only seven times.
The opponents
Spring Grove won all five games against schools with considerably larger enrollments: Waukon and New Hampton in Iowa and Minnesota Class AA Dover-Eyota, St. Charles and La Crescent-Hokah, the latter finishing with a 17-8 season record. The win over Waukon was the 500th career win for Grinde, all in Lion Land.
The Lions faced the top-ranked team in two states. After Iowa No. 1-ranked North Linn defeated the Lions in mid-December, the Lynx (27-1) went on to win the state championship. In Minnesota, defending state champion and currently state-ranked No. 1 Hayfield takes the top seed into this week’s Minnesota Class A State Tournament. Spring Grove also traveled to Martin County West, which at the time was state-ranked No. 4 by the media and No. 1 by the computer. Those were three of the Lions’ four losses.
Another setback came at Rushford-Peterson, which before reaching the section semi-finals, finished ranked No. 8 by the press and No. 9 by the computer. Those four opponents had a combined record of 101-13 with Hayfield still playing. Grinde’s guys did not lose at home (but did go to overtime once). Four losses were on the road and the fifth at a neutral site (Hayfield in a section semi-final).
The only surprising loss came by one point in the regular season finale at Fillmore Central. The Class A Falcons, who play about half their schedule against Class AA squads, finished at 9-18 after playing very well against Spring Grove. The Lions’ 11-game winning streak in 2022 came to an end as did their 11-game, 11-year winning streak against Fillmore Central.
Winning streaks
The Lion boys extended their winning streaks to 45 games versus Grand Meadow, 34 straight versus LeRoy-Ostrander, 25 against Mabel-Canton, 18 against Lanesboro, 15 versus Glenville-Emmons and nine against Kingsland. The boys have taken 59 of the last 61 games versus Houston, 35 of all 38 games against Lyle/Pacelli, 23 of the 25 against Schaeffer Academy, five of the last six against Waukon and four the last five versus La Crescent-Hokah. Spring Grove dropped a seventh straight game versus Rushford-Peterson.
The scores
There were only six games that were decided by single-digit margins; the Lions won four, dropped two. There was a four-point win over Grand Meadow (44-40) plus three-point triumphs versus New Hampton (45-41) and Waukon (55-52) along with a two-point overtime victory over SEC West champion Lyle/Pacelli (39-37). The latter was the most prestigious win and the most dramatic with Elijah Solum’s buzzer-beating 3-point basket forcing overtime. The Athletics finished at 23-5. The two tight losses came against state-ranked Martin County West (41-33) and Fillmore Central (55-54).
The Lions went 7-2 in games with final margins from 10 to 16 points. There were also numerous blowouts. The lone runaway loss came at North Linn (69-33) while the Lions dominated a dozen opponents by margins from 30 to 65 points.
Looking at those scores, there were no high-scoring shootouts. The four highest-scoring Spring Grove shootouts all came during the mid-1990s. In 2022, it was rare to win while giving up 70 or 80 points. All of the close, competitive contests were defensive duels. The Lions’ most successful opponents all emphasized defense, and many others defended well, too.
The best way to score a lot of points was with fast breaks. But teams with good ball-handling, rebounding and defense do not often give up transition points. The Lions surrendered the most points (69) in their only lop-sided loss. North Linn was the only opponent to rack up a lot of fast-break points. The Lynx scored 30 of their 69 points in transition.
Likewise for the Lions – when they could run the floor, there were runaway wins over Houston (72-24), Mabel-Canton (87-22), Glenville-Emmons (91-34), St. Charles (74-19), Schaeffer Academy (64-22) and Lanesboro (70-34).
A dozen games were half-court defensive duels. Patient on offense themselves, the Lion lads forced opponents to work long and hard for a shot. The outcome often came down to one scoring run. Whether it came early in the game or during the second half, SG was able to do it nine times out of 12. Twice the Lions used a scoring spurt to separate against Southland. Single scoring bursts allowed SG to defeat New Hampton, Kingsland, La Crescent-Hokah, Waukon, Lanesboro and at section versus Kenyon-Wanamingo. For instance, the Lions’ 10-point win over Dover-Eyota followed a 10-2 run.
But three times, it was the other guys – Rushford-Peterson, Martin County West and Hayfield – who came up with a decisive scoring streak. R-P used a 14-2 run to win by 12.
The shooting
The boys shot 42.0% from the field, better than the opponents’ 35.9%, but far from being among the best-shooting Lion teams. Among Grinde’s 27 seasons, these boys ranked 21st in shooting accuracy. The big number was that low number. The opponents’ 35.94% shooting was just one-hundredth of a percentage point off the SG defensive program record of 35.93% (2016). That included the opposition’s 24% from 3-point range – their worst since that became a separate statistic 23 years ago.
The result was a second straight low-scoring season – for both Spring Grove and the other guys. The average score was a 58-37 Lion win, one season after an almost identical 58-36 average. The past two seasons are the two best scoring-defense results for Spring Grove defenders during the Grinde era.
And it was defense with discipline – defending without excessive fouling. The boys’ 12.3 fouls per game ranks as the third best among the 41 years for which stats are available. Grove shot a pretty good 63.3% from the foul line. But the opposition was half a percentage point better at 63.8%. But it was much more a matter of how often you shot. For the third time in four years, the Lions made more free throws (297) than the opponents attempted (246). SG finished with a 140-point scoring advantage at the free throw line. The opponents attempted only 8.5 free throws per game, the second fewest in the 42 seasons for which statistics survive.
Despite so-so 42% shooting from the field overall, Spring Grove was more impressive with a good 33% from 3-point range. The Lions sank a season-most 15 treys during an 82-49 rout of LeRoy-Ostrander, a team that finished with 16 wins.
The summation
Few teams shoot well all the time, but good defense can be consistent. While winning 24 times, Spring Grove kept many games close with defense and rebounding until the offense supplied enough points to prevail. All the younger Lions closed with winning records as well. The B-team went 16-6, the freshmen 3-1-1, the eighth graders 7-6 and the seventh graders impressive at 15-2. Both junior high squads split with Class AA Caledonia.
With only one senior in 2022, there should be plenty of quality experience for 2023. And speaking of experience, the three varsity coaches – Grinde, Al Lochner and Tom Vix – have a combined 98 years of experience.
The emphasis in this article is on the team. Achievements of individual players will follow in upcoming postseason awards coverage.
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SEC Boys BB 2022
>>EAST DIVISION
Spring Grove* 14-0 SEC (24-5 season)
Lanesboro 9-5 SEC (16-11 season)
Schaeffer Aca. 6-8 SEC (11-167season
Mabel-Canton 3-11 SEC (8-19 season)
Houston 1-13 SEC (1-25 season)
*division champions
>>WEST DIVISION
Lyle/Pacelli* 13-2 SEC (23-5 season)
Southland 12-3 SEC (18-7 season)
LeRoy-Ostrander 9-6 SEC (16-11 season)
Grand Meadow 7-8 SEC (11-16 season)
Kingsland 6-9 SEC (11-16 season)
Glenville-Emmons 0-15 SEC (1-25 season)
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Spring Grove Boys Basketball 2021-’22
24-5 (14-0 SEC, champion)
W vs. New Hampton, Iowa 45-41
W vs. Houston 71-22
L at North Linn, Iowa 36-69
W at Southland 59-37
W vs. Lanesboro 70-34
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L at Rushford-Peterson 41-53
W vs. Dover-Eyota 44-33
W at Mabel-Canton 67-32
W at Schaeffer Academy 58-14
W vs. Kingsland (non-conference) 50-35
W vs. Grand Meadow 44-40
W at Houston 72-24
W at La Crescent-Hokah 56-41
L at Martin County West 33-41
W at Madelia 53-23
W at Kingsland 63-38
W vs. Waukon 55-52
W vs. Mabel-Canton 87-22
W vs. Glenville-Emmons 91-34
W at Lanesboro 54-40
W vs. Southland (non-conference) 51-38
W at LeRoy-Ostrander 82-49
W vs. St. Charles 74-19
W vs. Schaeffer Academy 42-38
W vs. Lyle/Pacelli 47-43
L at Fillmore Central 54-55
Section 1A Tournament # 4 seed
W vs. #13 Kingsland 62-27
W vs. 5 Kenyon-Wanamingo 51-35
L vs. #1 Hayfield 40-54
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B-team Boys Basketball 16-6 (12-4 SEC)
W vs. Houston 45-14
L at Southland 34-51
W vs. Lanesboro 49-33
L at Rushford-Peterson 31-59
W vs. Dover-Eyota 44-33
W at Mabel-Canton 47-30
L at Schaeffer Academy 33-34 overtime
W vs. Kingsland 32-19
W vs. Grand Meadow 49-15
W at Houston 48-23
L at La Crescent-Hokah 39-43
W at Kingsland 48-36
W vs. Waukon 51-29
W vs. Mabel-Canton 39-35
W vs. Glenville-Emmons 58-25
L at Lanesboro 47-51
L vs. Southland 31-38
W at LeRoy-Ostrander 55-16
W vs. St. Charles 61-39
W vs. Schaeffer Academy 42-38
W vs. Lyle/Pacelli 47-43
W at Fillmore Central 66-56
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Freshmen Boys Basketball (3-1-1)
W at La Crescent-Hokah 36-20
T at Kingsland 36-36
W vs. Mabel-Canton 29-19 (played only one half)
L vs. Southland 27-42
W at Fillmore Central 52-35
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8th Grade Boys Basketball (7-6)
W vs. Houston 27-23
W vs. Caledonia 30-20
L vs. Lanesboro 21-40
W at Mabel-Canton 54-41
W at Houston 34-21
L vs. Mabel-Canton 17-36
L at Lanesboro 31-49
L at Caledonia 31-43
W vs. (Lansing) Kee 34-23
L at LeRoy-Ostrander 27-32
L vs. South Winneshiek 25-47
W vs. Schaeffer Academy 40-25
W at Fillmore Central 34-33
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7th Grade Boys Basketball (15-2)
W vs. Houston 44-8
W vs. Caledonia 19-16
W vs. Lanesboro 39-16
W at Mabel-Canton 60-11
W at Schaefer Academy 43-2
W vs. Kingsland 42-18
W vs. Grand Meadow 44-11
W at Houston 51-9
W vs. Kingsland 39-26
W vs. Mabel-Canton 38-16
W at Lanesboro 35-20
L at Caledonia 33-34
W vs. (Lansing) Kee 40-32
W at LeRoy-Ostrander 54-14
W vs. South Winneshiek 51-19
W vs. Schaeffer Academy 48-26
L at Fillmore Central 27-45