GMG senior guard Kaleb Gill, right, pressures North Tama’s Jared Dvorak during last Saturday’s Iowa Star Conference South Division basketball game in Garwin. Gill scored 13 points coming off the bench for the Wolverines, who won 63-56. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

GARWIN – GMG boys basketball won a back-and-forth battle with North Tama at GMG High School last Saturday afternoon, rounding out a hectic week of play with a trio of wins.

The Wolverines first took to the hardwood last week on Tuesday in a road game against the Baxter Bolts who are undefeated in the Iowa Star South. GMG dropped the game 62-45.

On Thursday, GMG was back at it, hosting BGM for the first of three wins.

Against the Bears, Rider Kupka scored a team-leading 12 points, while Kaleb Gill added 11 points, Anthony Waters scored 10, and both Jabari Woodbury and Colin Teske tallied nine apiece to lead the Wolverines to a 61-53 victory.

The next night GMG notched a second win, beating Belle Plaine 61-56 on the Plainsmen’s own court.

Wolverine Jabari Woodbury takes one of 28 free throw opportunities his team had against North Tama. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Teske, Woodbury, and Kupka, again led the offense for the Wolverines, racking up 12, 11, and 11 points, respectively. Woodbury also dominated GMG’s defense with 12 rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Jonas Buchanan backed him up with seven rebounds off the bench.

But the Wolverines weren’t done yet and on Saturday afternoon they faced the rival Redhawks in a rescheduled game from the week of the January big snows.

After quickly scoring the first layup, GMG trailed North Tama almost the entire first half despite a superior defensive game. Much of that oppressive energy and defensive pressure came from Wolverine Grady Dieleman.

With roughly six minutes remaining in the second quarter and GMG down 22-17, Dieleman lunged for an offensive save and crashed into the corner of a door frame in the southeast corner of the gym, causing a large gash to open on the front of his head.

While Dieleman initially stood back up, he seemed to be struggling with pain and laid back down causing the game to be paused. Medical attention was quickly administered.

GMG sophomore Jonas Buchanan (22) shoots in front of North Tama defender Brayton Cibula (40) during the Wolverines’ 63-56 win over the Redhawks last Saturday in Garwin. All eight GMG players to take the court scored, including Buchanan’s four points. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Grady was definitely our spark plug during the first quarter,” GMG head coach Tammy Woodbury told the Sun Courier in an email. “If it was up to him, he would have wanted to continue to play in the game, but with head cuts they often don’t stop bleeding for quite some time. They were able to control the bleeding and he joined us on the bench [later in the second quarter].”

Dieleman returned with a large bandage wrapped around his head. Coach Woodbury said once their teammate was back, the momentum on the court seemed to shift in GMG’s favor.

“I feel him returning to the bench gave the boys a sense of relief that he was okay. Every single player stepped up after the injury and that helped gain ground in the [second] quarter.”

In the waning moments of the first period, freshman Ethan Klemesrud – in for Dieleman – sank a 3-pointer off the bench to tie up the game.

Shortly thereafter, GMG regained possession and with less than two seconds remaining, Teske – after accepting the inbound pass from Woodbury – lobbed a full court throw to Kupka who in turn dropped a crowd-pleasing buzzer beater to pull the Wolverines ahead 29-27.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

It was a wild way to end what had proved to be a brutal first half for the Wolverines.

“Saturday was our third game in a row,” Coach Woodbury said. “[Thursday and Friday’s] games were both physical games and I believe it just took us a while to get our legs back under us and get into the rhythm of the game. North Tama is always a physical game and we really wanted to win that game, especially since we lost to them by [one point] in our previous meeting this season.”

In the second half, the Wolverines never looked back. They led for most of the third quarter before pulling away for good in the fourth and even leading by 10 at one point.

The Wolverines won the game 63-56, making 16-of-28 free throws with a good portion notched during the final, tense quarter.

It was a superb way to close out an exhausting week.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Kupka led the Wolverines against the Redhawks with 14 points. Kaleb Kill added 13 points while Woodbury contributed nine points and a team-leading 10 rebounds.

Closing out the regular season

This past Monday, GMG closed out the regular season with a loss 84-71 to East Marshall but not before giving the Mustangs one last good run.

Just before the halftime horn, Teske dropped in a bucket to put GMG within one at 39-38.

The teams then traded runs in the third before East Marshall got some distance with a 14-3 closing sprint leading to a 61-51 lead heading into the final quarter.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

The fourth was a 19-5 flurry that gave the Mustangs a solid win.

“We got out hustled,” Coach Woodbury said, in part, after the game. “Didn’t have our feet under us.”

Teske led the Wolverines Monday night with 16 points. Gill added 14 points and Woodbury contributed 11.

Like they have all season, the tight knit team from Garwin shared the load and kept it cohesive.

“Something great about this group is the unselfish play of each individual, they just want to win and they have all embraced their role on the team. This mentality [has shown] in our games as scoring is usually pretty well distributed between players. It is fun to see the excitement they share when another teammate does well in a game.”

After a frantic end to the season, the Wolverines – now 10-11(6-6) and fourth in the Iowa Star South – can rest up for next Monday’s district opener at Colo-NESCO, a team the Wolverines split with this season.

“We like to run the court, so we just have to run the court, take care of our passes and limit turnovers,” Coach Woodbury said. “We want to stop them on defense too, and we didn’t get a lot of stops tonight, which is something we’ll have to work on …”

“I know this group of boys will work hard in practice and be ready.”