Chicago, IL – The Tigers day didn’t start off well on Saturday and went down hill from there. The Tigers dropped a 71-62 decision to Moody to close out the regular season and end up at 19-10 overall.
The Tigers had bus problems to start the day and arrived at the gym just in time to get dressed and begin warm-ups. “It wasn’t the way we wanted the day to go,” said Coach Gary Bailey. “We were set to stop and have a nice lunch and arrive at the gym in plenty of time to have some shoot around time before the game. Instead, we skipped lunch and had to drive from Green Bay, WI to Chicago, walk in and play. It was extra difficult playing an overtime game at Northland the night before and then driving almost four hours back to the hotel in a snowstorm. The players didn’t get much sleep and then all of this. When we get to Moody, we walk into a buzz-saw. They are a very good team. At this point in the year we can’t use excuses. We have to be better than this.”
The Tigers were led by Matt Kurtz’s 14 points. Ryan Krombeen and John Oostema also scored double figures with 12. Kurtz also led Grace with 7 boards. Cory Jamieson dished out a game high 6 assists.
The game was close throughout with Grace leading by 7 late in the second half. Moody’s Steve Harrison made a long three as the shot clock expired that started an Archer’s run. Moody took a 3 point lead late and the Tigers were forced to foul. After two trips came up empty for Grace and the Archers continued to make foul shots the Tigers fell by 9.
“When we lost to Kuyper a few weeks ago, the guys were upset more about the loss of the winning streak rather than the loss,” said Bailey. The second loss to Kuyper made us realize that we have to get better and we had two great weeks of practice and beat three very good teams. Tonight, the loss was difficult because of the day we had and Moody is a tough place to play. But the guys seemed angry after the game about how we have been going about our business on the court. As coaches, we haven’t seen that since the first half of the season. Hopefully it has arrived just in time for the Tournament.”
