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Grizzlies win one, lose one

Top Wrenshall in 114-59 beatdown at North Woods

David Colburn
Posted 12/21/22

FIELD TWP- After a hard fought but losing effort against Northland last Friday, the North Woods boys basketball team got back on the winning track in a big way Monday with a merciless home beatdown …

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Grizzlies win one, lose one

Top Wrenshall in 114-59 beatdown at North Woods

Posted

FIELD TWP- After a hard fought but losing effort against Northland last Friday, the North Woods boys basketball team got back on the winning track in a big way Monday with a merciless home beatdown of Wrenshall, 114-59.
The outcome against the overmatched Wrens was never in doubt, as the Grizzlies led 36-12 just nine minutes into the contest and 74-28 at the half. Steal and score was the overall theme as North Woods defenders had little problem separating the Wrens from the basketball and converting those turnovers into fast break buckets. The Grizzlies’ 6’2” Jonah Burnett had numerous opportunities to showcase his leaping ability, collecting the first of several dunks on the third possession of the game, delighting the somewhat sparse home crowd.
The rout gave Head Coach Andrew Jugovich ample opportunity to work his bench players into the mix for extended periods of play, and the Grizzlies barely skipped a beat. One reserve who made the most of his opportunity was sophomore forward Talen Jarshaw.
“We gave him a shot and he really did great,” Jugovich said. “He’s a quick defender with strong hands, and he’s got a nose for the basket. We’ve just got to fine tune a few things with him, but seeing him and the improvements he’s made, I like him a lot.”
Junior Luke Will has been a consistent starter for the Grizzlies who has been a strong contributor on the defensive side of the ball, but against Wrenshall he had the chance to step up his game on offense.
“He’s a very lengthy kid,” Jugovich said, “and with him taking one dribble he can get to the rim, one dribble and he’s there. I was glad to see him actually taking that because when we’ve played other teams, he hasn’t realized he can do that half the time.”
It’s often the case that in the midst of a rout a team will ease off the gas a bit, but Jugovich was pleased to see his squad mostly keep up the pressure throughout the contest.
“The boys stayed hungry, the entire game their intensity was up,” he said. “Our second-half defense was a little lackluster, but that’s because we got comfy. I want them to keep the mentality that it’s 0-0 whether we’re up by 40 or down by 40. I want them to keep going as hard as they can.”
Burnett scored from everywhere on the floor in racking up a game-high 41 points, leading an onslaught in which nine Grizzlies tallied scores. Jared Chiabotti knocked down 20 points, Will notched 12, and Brenden Chiabotti dropped in 10.
Northland
The contest against Northland had all the air of a post-season playoff tilt, as the Grizzlies faced off against an equally matched foe in a tight first-half battle with multiple lead changes. By halftime, North Woods had carved out a 44-36 advantage, and the Grizzlies extended that lead to as many as 13 points early in the second half. But the Eagles refused to go away, trimming the deficit to 69-62 with over nine minutes still remaining.
And then, in a feat rarely seen at any level, suddenly a Northland team that had fired mostly blanks from three-point range couldn’t miss from behind the arc. On six consecutive possessions the Eagles connected on trifectas, and after skipping a trip they added a seventh, a 21-point deluge the Grizzlies were powerless to stop or match. With five minutes remaining, the North Woods lead had turned into an 85-76 Grizzlies hole.
Northland kept the Grizzlies at bay the rest of the game, tacking on four points in the last 20 seconds of the game to win 93-83.
“At halftime with that eight-point lead, I said (Northland) can change that in three possessions,” Jugovich said. “It took them awhile to get hot, but they were catching it in rhythm, and we were giving them two to three feet of space. The boys were tired and they were doing what they could, but after going back and forth and back and forth, Northland had more will to win in my eyes.”
Jugovich knew going in that Northland had the potential to cause problems.
“We are a much more physical team inside and can get to the rim better, but they can shoot from anywhere, 25 to 30 feet they will put it up, and they can make seven in a row as we saw,” he said.
Jared Chiabotti scored 31 points in the contest, almost double teammate Louie Panichi’s 16. Brenden Chiabotti and Burnett were the other two Grizzlies in double figures with 13 points each.