Boys Basketball: Spring Grove Grinds, Surges into Section Finals

The Spring Grove boys (2-seed, 26-1) advanced into the Section 1A basketball championship game with a 39-24 low-scoring quarterfinal win versus Randolph (7-seed, 16-10), followed by a 57-46 semifinal decision over two-time defending state champion Hayfield (3-seed, 23-6). The quarterfinal was a grind with no offensive rhythm as the Lions and Rockets combined to score only 63 total points – the fewest involving the Spring Grove boys in 73 years (since 1950). It was season-low scoring for both squads. The semifinal was a state-ranked matchup with the Lions #7 in the Class A poll and the Vikings at #8. The upcoming section final versus top section seed and #1-ranked Goodhue will be Spring Grove’s fifth appearance in the title game after losses in 2008, 2016 and 2018 before seizing the section crown in 2019 (including a semi-final win over Hayfield). At 28-1, these current Lions achieved 28 wins for the second time in program history (28-2 in 2016). There were many similarities in the two Lion playoff wins last week. Grove began each game with a turnover but as usual, finished with single-digit turnovers – nine against Randolph, seven versus Hayfield – far fewer that the Rockets’ 24 turnovers and the Vikings’ 15. A flow of turnovers by each opponent resulted in Spring Grove grabbing a first-half lead they would not relinquish. As usual, the Lions defended aggressively with few fouls. Randolph attempted only four free throws, Hayfield only six. Ironically, foul trouble caused a Spring Grove starter to sit out much of the first half in each game. The Lions won despite being outrebounded by seven against the Rockets and by nine versus the Vikings. Both opponents had a post player with a double-double. In both contests, there were about as many three-point shots as two-point attempts, but accuracy from downtown varied greatly. Randolph and SG both shot well from the free throw line and from two-point range, but both shot a woeful 13% beyond the three-point arc – the Lions 3 for 24 and the Rockets 2 for 16. Spring Grove, with 15 fewer turnovers, prevailed not by shooting better but by shooting more often. Three days later in the same gymnasium, the Grove guys hit 41% of their trey tries (9 or 22) while Hayfield shot a so-so 26% (5 of 19). After five early lead changes in the

Randolph game, and the Rockets bogged down with 17 first-half turnovers, the Lions scored 13 of the last 16 points heading into halftime. Due to foul trouble, Grove played the last half of that first half without returning all-conference and 1,000-point career scorer Tysen Grinde. But the Lions’ other returning All-SEC and 1,000-point scorer, Elijah Solum, drove into the lane to score six points during that 13-to-3 tell-tale scoring run, which also featured five points and back-to-back steals by Caleb Griffin. Solum would finish with a team-high 12 points while Griffin added nine points and Grinde eight. Jacob Olerud (4 pts) would match a career-high with six steals, and Griffin would come away with four thefts. Jaxon Strinmoen (4 pts) led Lion glass-cleaners with 7 rebounds. The Rockets (16-11), who used an all-senior, six-player rotation, had size inside where 6-foot-5 Trey Thielbar had team-highs with a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double and 6-4 Tyson Cooreman 9 rebounds. Down 21-12 at halftime, the Rockets would take better care of the ball following the break, but shooting remained disastrous. Randolph, after not scoring during the last 4:26 before halftime, went scoreless for the first eight and a half minutes of the second half. After leading early 9-8, the Rockets scored on only one of their next 23 possessions. By that time, the Lions led by 15 points (27-12) and went on the win by 15 (39-24). Against Hayfield, Grinde hit 7 of 13 shots from

the field, including 4 of 7 beyond the three-point arc on the way to a team-high 20 points plus 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Griffin added 11 points, and despite sitting out more than seven minutes in foul trouble, Strinmoen also had 11 points to go with 4 rebounds and 5 assists with no turnovers. There were 5 points each from Solum, Ethan Crouch and Olerud – the latter with a team-high 6 rebounds plus 2 steals and 2 assists with no turnovers. The Vikings (23-7) scored first, but the Grove guys answered immediately with a deep three-ball from Grinde and five treys later, led 26-10 to the delight of a large following of fans. Hayfield scored the next four points to make it 26-14 at halftime. The Vikings would hit 10 of their first 12 shots after the break to get back within six points (44-38) with 5:47 to play. In the second half, Hayfield scored 32 points after only 14 in the first half but only outscored Spring Grove by one point, 32-31, after halftime. Hayfield’s second-half challenge came with a dominating performance from 6-foot-4 center Zander Jacobson, who scored 16 of his game-high 22 points after intermission. With 17 rebounds, he was a rebounding force all afternoon. Meanwhile, 6’2” Isaac Matti scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half. That senior duo combined for 40 of the Vikings’ 46 points. This was one year after Hayfield had won a section semi-final game versus Spring Grove on the way to the Vikings’ repeat state title. It will be Wade Grinde’s #7 Lions (2-seed, 28-1) versus #1 Goodhue (1-seed, 26-3) for the 1A title.