November 23, 2013
Junior trio leads Grove City past Mount Aloysius
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Junior J.T. Schwartz (Pittsburgh,
Pa./Shaler) poured in a career-high 25 points and fellow juniors Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan
Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's)
Sophomore Steven Tam (Hamilton, Mass./Hamilton-Wenham) also reached double-figures for the Wolverines (3-1) with a career-high 13 points. The game was the highest-scoring affair for Grove City since a 96-85 win over Thomas More on January 23, 2010.
Mount Aloysius (2-2) jumped out to an early 15-10 lead but Marmelstein would hit consecutive field goals to make it 15-14 with 13:59 remaining. The Mounties would take their largest lead of the first half at 25-18 with 11:46 left, but Tam and Giesler would hit consecutive threes- two of 10 Wolverine first-half treys- to cut the deficit to 25-24 and Giesler would hit another at 27-27 at the 10:43 mark.
After back-to-back Mount Aloysius layups, the Wolverines would go on a 17-5 run, capped by consecutive threes from Schwartz and Marmelstein, to take a 44-36 lead with six minutes remaining. The Mounties cut the Wolverine lead to three on a pair of Shawn Greenfield free throws and a Dillon Bender three-pointer, but Grove City would score the final eight points of the half to take a 52-41 lead into the break.
Marmelstein led the Wolverines with 18 points on 8-9 shooting in the first half while Giesler had 17 and Schwartz 10. The Wolverines shot 54 percent from the floor and hit 10-18 from three point-range in the period while Mount Aloysius shot 50 percent and 6-13 from beyond the arc.
Grove City started the second half strong, taking their largest lead of the game at 58-43 following a Schwartz three-point play with 18:04 remaining. The Mounties would use a 13-4 run to cut the Wolverine lead to 62-56 with 14:55 left and drew closer to 68-63 on a Bender three with 10:55 to play.
The Wolverines, however, continued their hot shooting, as Giesler and Schwartz would hit consecutive threes to push the lead back to 11 at 74-63 with 10:20 remaining.
The two teams would trade baskets over the next five minutes, and a pair of Tam free throws would put Grove City up 86-74 with 5:22 left on the clock.
Bender would keep the Mounties alive with a trio of threes as part of an 11-2 run that cut the Wolverine lead to 88-85 with 2:55 remaining. Mount Aloysius would have a chance to tie the game, but junior Josh Patterson (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) stole the ball, following a timeout, Giesler would make a layup to push the Grove City lead back to five at 90-85.
A Greenfield jumper made the score 90-87 with just under a minute to play, and a Wolverine missed layup would give the Mounties a final chance, but Greenfield's jumper missed and the Wolverines would hit three of four from the foul line to seal the victory.
Schwartz was 9-12 from the floor and 5-8 from three en route to his career night, also adding a team-high six rebounds and a game-high five steals. Giesler finished the game with six three-pointers, tying the Grove City single-game record, while Marmelstein added five rebounds, a game-high six assists and two blocks to go with his 23 points.
Bender hit nine threes and scored a game-high 33 points to lead Mount Aloysius while Greenfield added 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Wolverines shot 51 (33-65) percent from the floor, 52 percent from three point range (16-31) and 79 percent from the foul line (11-14) in the win.
Grove City travels to Franciscan on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. non-conference contest.
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