GALESBURG, Ill. – After some tough luck on the road to start the season, the Grinnell College men's basketball team has hit its stride.
The Pioneers won their first game of the campaign away from Darby Gymnasium and stretched their overall winning string to five with a 115-93 victory at Knox College Saturday afternoon. The victory boosted the Pioneers to 2-0 in the Midwest Conference and 5-3 in all games.
Jackson Qualley '21 led the charge for Grinnell, scoring a career-high 31 points to go along with five assists.
Patrick Simms '22 also hit double-digits with 23 points as well as a career-best nine rebounds.
For the second game in a row, Grinnell blocked 11 shots as a team, which ranks seventh in program history.
Brad Geiman '21 had seven of those swats, which is eighth-best at Grinnell. Geiman now ranks fourth in Pioneer history with 110 blocks as he passed Keith Chamberlain and Kale Knisley on the list.
Geiman added nine boards,
Zachary Stice '21 and
Adam Phillips '21 scored nine points apiece,
Christian Brookens '22 came up with four steals and
Will Bebee '22 blocked two shots.
Grinnell trailed by seven midway through the first half before making a charge, eventually taking a 32-31 lead on Kogelnik's 3-pointer with 6:03 left.
The teams went back and forth after that and the contest was deadlocked at 43-all before a jumper by Simms put the Pioneers up to stay.
Grinnell led 51-47 at intermission and later by six before delivering the decisive blow, a 13-2 run over a minute-and-a-half span. Simms began the charge with a traditional three-point play, Brookens hit a jumper and Qualley a 3-pointer to put the Pioneers up by 14.
After a Knox basket, Phillips connected on a 3-pointer and
Will Dubow '21 sank a jumper for a 78-61 lead at the 12:17 mark. Grinnell never looked back on its way to posting its third in a row over the Prairie Fire. With the loss, Knox fell to 0-2 in the MWC and 2-4 in all games.
The Pioneers close out their pre-holiday slate Wednesday with a home game against non-conference foe Central College. Action in Darby Gymnasium begins at 7 p.m.
