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Meskwaki boys dominate in home opener

Senior point guard Terrell Grant fires up a three over a Wolverine defender. The Meskwaki boys cruised to a 71-24 win over GMG on Friday, December 4 Chronicle Photo/Drake Cherveny

Fresh off a 32 point road win over Timothy Doering’s Waterloo Christian Regents, the Meskwaki Warriors (1-0) hosted the GMG Wolverines (0-1) on Friday, December 4th. A rebuilding GMG squad was no match for a Warriors team with an eye set at a conference title as Meskwaki skated to a 71-24 victory.

Starters for the Warriors were as follows: Jonas Bear, Terrell Grant, Allis Tahahwah, Jairus Bear, and Francisco Lasley-Santos.

The Wolverines new look starting lineup was: Jacob Burt, Evan Espenscheid, Conner Stonewall, Stone Schossow, and Josh Hass.

The game had a feel of a total mismatch even before the opening tip. GMG came in with just one returning starter from last season (Burt). The Wolverines graduated their top three leading scorers from last year in Bridger Clausen, Bryce Newcomb, and Matt Carlon. The trio along with Burt and Austin Cox led GMG to a winning season at (11-10) overall. With the trio gone and Cox sidelined, Burt came into the game as the only player on the roster with varsity experience and it showed.

The Warriors came out firing from the git-go. The scoring duo of Grant and Tahahwah is a miss-match for any opposing back-court let alone a sub-par GMG squad. The two combined to tally 12 of Meskwaki’s 21 first quarter points. The Wolverines could muster just nine points despite using nine different players.

Meskwaki kept their foot on the throttle in the second with five different Warriors finding the scoring column. The depth and experience of Meskwaki was just absolutely overwhelming for GMG. Even while sitting their starters for most of the quarter Meskwaki managed to outscore GMG 20-6 heading into the intermission.

More of the same ensued in the second half as the Wolverines couldn’t match the Warriors speed and athleticism. Jacob Burt, who averaged (7.7 ppg) last season was held to just four points all game as he was blanketed on defense by Allis Tahahwah. Speaking of Tahahwah, he and Grant combined for 11 more points in the third to lead Meskwaki to a 58-20 lead heading into the final quarter of action.

With the game well in hand, the Warriors emptied their bench with Jairus Bear the lone starter still in the lineup. Bear took advantage of the opportunity with seven more points in the fourth to lead all scorers. Tate Bear and Kade Brown also got in on the action with six points combined.

The victory improved the Warriors to (2-0) on the season. Following the win, Meskwaki edged a stout Janesville team and dominated conference foes North Tama and Don Bosco. Now standing at a perfect (5-0) record the Warriors will face another test as they hit the road to take on a Dunkerton Raiders squad (3-1) who are coming off a 70-38 blowout loss to Janesville. The game will take place at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15th. Until then, the scoring leaders for this game were as follows: Grant (17), Jairus Bear (16), Tahahwah (15), Brown (8), Tate Bear (7), Jonas Bear (5), and Lasley-Santos (3).