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Grinnell College Athletics

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Coach
Marc Duebener
86
Grinnell GC 22-4,15-1 Midwest Conference
118
Winner John Carroll JCU 23-6,11-5 NCAC
Grinnell GC
22-4,15-1 Midwest Conference
86
Final
118
John Carroll JCU
23-6,11-5 NCAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Grinnell GC 35 51 86
John Carroll JCU 58 60 118

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Ted Schultz

Cold shooting plagues Pioneers in NCAA Tourney opening-round loss to John Carroll

Postgame Press Conference

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - An inopportune time for a cold night from the field spelled the end of Grinnell College's historic men's basketball season Friday at the Shirk Center.

The Pioneers shot a season-low 31.5 percent from the field and 14.0 percent from beyond the arc while dropping a physical 118-86 decision to John Carroll University in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Grinnell, the third seed in the Illinois Wesleyan University pod, finished its season with a school-record victory total of 22 versus just four losses. The second-seeded Blue Streaks, who improved to 23-6, advanced to Saturday's second round against either Illinois Wesleyan or Heidelberg University.

Grinnell started the game making just five of its first 32 field goal attempts en route to shooting 23.3 percent for the half. That included a 1-of-19 performance from 3-point land in the opening 20 minutes.

While the shooting wasn't quite there, the Pioneers did collect a season-high 61 boards in the game while limiting the Blue Streaks to 47.

The Pioneers never led in the contest, but hung close early. A jumper by Tyler Copes '29 at the 13:01 mark made it a five-point gap at 14-9 and later a layup from Nick Lundy '27 brought the Pioneers within 19-13. 

However, John Carroll answered with an 11-0 run on its way to building a 58-35 halftime lead.

Gabe Garcia '27 led the way for Grinnell in the scoring column, making 11-of-12 free throws while tallying 19 points. Zach Rosen '26 was also in double digits with 12, while Copes poured in nine.

Copes nearly had a double-double as he collected nine rebounds to go along with eight for John Vincent '26. Nick Courtney '26 and Rosen added three and two steals, respectively, while the assists leaders with two each were Rosen, Garcia and Copes.

Rosen finished his Pioneer career ranked ninth on the all-time assists chart with 306 and 11th in steals with 166. Courtney is 12th in steals at 162.

Classmates Sean Walser '26 and Sean Murphy '26 finished tied for second in career games played with 100.

On the season chart, Vincent and Copes finished sixth and eighth all-time in field goal percentage at 68.5 percent and 66.9 percent. Murphy finished seventh in free throw percentage at 87.5 percent and Copes second in blocks with 67.

As a team, Grinnell had the second-most rebounds in a season with 1,194, third-most blocks with 133, fourth-most free throws with 536 and fifth-most steals at 393.
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