FIELD TWP- North Woods boys hoops fans probably don’t have West Coast musical comedy duo Tenacious D on their Spotify playlists, but they’re going to get more than enough tenacious ‘D’ from their Grizzlies this year, as evidenced by season-opening road smackdowns of South Ridge and Bigfork.
The taller Panthers had neither the speed nor agility to solve a withering Grizzlies’ man-to-man defense that forced an astonishing 41 turnovers in a 77-54 North Woods win on Dec. 3. The Grizzlies nearly equaled that scoring total in the first half on Tuesday against hapless Bigfork, riding a huge 74-13 halftime bulge to a 105-30 win that could have been far worse had North Woods Head Coach Will Kleppe played his starters more than three minutes in the second half.
While the Grizzlies are going to have to work to replace last year’s productivity of departed senior Darius Goggleye, Kleppe has everyone else back. Familiarity gives the Grizzlies the edge on defense as they work on their half-court offensive flow.
“Darius was a huge part of our team last year, and his leadership and his performance on the floor are hard to replace, but we do have a lot of experienced guys,” Kleppe said. “We hit the ground running when we came to practice. These guys were familiar with what was going on and what the expectations were. Everything we do starts with our defense.”
South Ridge
The Panthers scored first in the opener, but after buckets by T.J. Chiabotti and Jared Chibotti ignited a 10-0 run, the Grizzlies never trailed again. Davis Kleppe hit the team’s first three of the season as the Grizzlies’ lead grew to 20-10 on the strength of steals and scores by Alex Hartway and Jonah Burnett. Brenden Chiabotti picked up eight points with two treys in a run that put North Woods up by 20, 34-14, but the Panthers wouldn’t go down quietly, cutting the lead to 42-28 at the half.
Hartway drained the Grizzlies’ first three buckets of the second half, a trey by T.J. Chiabotti put North Woods back up by 20, 55-33, and the Grizzlies rolled on from there for the win.
“We definitely didn’t want to get in a half-court game with a team that had 6’10”, 6’7”, and 6’4” players on the floor,” Kleppe said. “We came out with a lot of energy, put some ball pressure on, and forced some turnovers which gave us some easy baskets. That really boiled down to the difference in the game.”
The Grizzlies’ first win left the team with plenty to work on, however. While they feasted on shots close to the bucket, North Woods only got off three mid-range jumpers in their half-court sets, all of which missed. They were a lackluster 7-for-33 from three-point range and made just six of their 12 free throws.
“We certainly took what their defense gave us, so we got a lot of open threes,” Kleppe said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t shoot the percentage we want to shoot, but there’s going to be games like that, and that’ll improve. As long as the defense keeps playing with the energy they had on Friday, that will cover up some of our shooting woes.”
Brenden Chiabotti topped Grizzlies’ scorers with 19 points, knocking down three treys and all four of his free throw attempts. Hartway was 7-for-10 from the field for 14 points, and T.J. Chiabotti and Jared Chiabotti were the other Grizzlies in double figures with 12 each.
Bigfork
The Huskies came into Tuesday night’s game without the athleticism necessary to keep pace with the Grizzlies. Center Sean Morrison scored two of the Grizzlies’ first three baskets, and in only eight minutes North Woods already had a 30-point lead, 39-9. Bigfork scored only one more field goal the rest of the period, as the Grizzlies’ bench got a good first-half workout and maintained the pressure.
Reserve Bryce Chosa scored the bucket that put the Grizzlies over the century mark with 30 seconds to play, and Jonah Burnett scored two final breakaway baskets to finish out the 105-30 win.
Eleven Grizzlies scored in the contest, with five of them hitting for double digits. Brenden Chiabotti led the way again with 17, and T.J. Chiabotti was close behind with 16. Jonah Burnett tossed in 14 points, Morrison had 13, and Jared Chiabotti chipped in 10.
The Grizzlies have a string of three home games coming up, including Friday’s home opener against Hinckley-Finlayson. On Tuesday, Dec. 14, North Woods will host Nashwauk-Keewatin, and round out the homestand with a Thursday, Dec. 16 contest against Moose Lake-Willow River.