Memorable season ends for Pilot Grove

BOLIVAR — A record-breaking season came to an end Saturday afternoon for the Pilot Grove boys basketball team.

The 10th-ranked Tigers fell 51-45 to the eighth-ranked Fair Play Hornets in the Class 1 quarterfinals on the campus of Southwest Baptist University.

The historical run for Pilot Grove ended with several records including most wins in a season (25) and best defensive average for a single season.

Pilot Grove knotted the score at 44 with 1:28 remaining in the game but turned the ball over twice in less than a minute as Fair Play capitalized for the victory.

“I’ve never been able to fault my kids’ effort,” said an emotional Pilot Grove coach Rick Grunden. “Some nights the ball just doesn’t go in the way you want it to go. But the effort is always there. My kids play super hard.”

Fair Play took an early first quarter lead as Jonny Lipe started to work on the Tigers’ 5-foot-4 freshman Jacob Schuster in the post.

The lead reached 10-5 until Pilot Grove senior Nick Haller rebounded his own miss, made the basket and got fouled.

Haller made his free throw, and Pilot Grove trailed 12-8 at the end of the opening quarter.

Pilot Grove capitalized off the Hornets’ poor shooting in the second quarter. Fair Play opened the period with a pair of air balls.

The Tigers pieced together an 8-4 run and tied the score at 16 with 1:58 left in the half, as Trey Schibi drove to the basket and made a layup.

Lipe ended the half with a 3-pointer, and the halftime score stood at 23-18 in favor of the Hornets.

The active hands of the Fair Play guards forced Pilot Grove into 10 turnovers in the first half.

“We turned the ball over way too many times,” said Grunden. “That’s the bottom line. Our goal for the game was 10, and we had 10 at halftime.

“Yeah we play fast but they did a few things that played us a little faster than what we were comfortable with. I’ve never seen a team get so many stinking hands on passes.”

Schuster opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but like before Fair Play had an answer. The Hornets went back to their post game and took a 30-23 lead after an open 3-pointer by Daniel Durst.

Once again, Pilot Grove found itself in position to either fold or regroup and fight back. The Tigers chose the latter.

The Tigers ended the third quarter on an 8-2 run, thanks to balanced scoring, and Fair Play took a 32-31 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We talked about it all week, you know, the bad teams are playing baseball right now, and there are a lot of good teams practicing baseball,” said Grunden.

“We started out with 128 (teams) and we made it to eight. Anytime you get there, you are going to play a good club. That (Fair Play) was a good club.”

Pilot Grove took the lead immediately after the third quarter break, as Tyler Ellebracht backed his defender down and made his shot in the post.

Following a turnover, the Tigers worked the ball around the perimeter, and Schuster sank a 3-pointer, extending the Tigers’ lead to 36-32.

Fair Play scored on its next two possessions to knot the score at 36 and later took a 41-36 lead.

Pilot Grove turned the ball over three times in that span and missed a pair of free throws.

The Hornets went 5-for-7 from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the victory.

Pilot Grove’s fans outnumbered their counterparts from Fair Play by a large margin.

“We want to thank the fans for supporting us,” Grunden said. “We outdrew a team seven miles away, and we had to drive 2 1/2 hours.”