Glenwood shows grit in 49-46 victory over Lewis Central

Grit.

It’s what some fans call ugly and what every coach hopes his or her team plays with.

Last Tuesday, Glenwood showed plenty of it in a rugged 49-46 slugfest victory over Council Bluffs Lewis Central in Hawkeye 10 conference boys basketball.

“I really thought we showed a lot of grit, a lot of toughness tonight,” said Glenwood coach Curt Schulte after his team improved to 5-1 heading into the holiday break. “They got back into it but we held on and it was a great conference win for us.”

The Rams won it with their defense. They held the Titans to single digit scoring in each of the first two quarters and just 17 first half points.

But Glenwood had scoring troubles of its own. Facing another “junk defense” designed to slow leading scorer Ryan Blum,   they scratched and clawed for every bucket. Twice in the second half their lead swelled to double-digits but each time the Titans clawed back.

Blum’s 16-footer with seven minutes to go put Glenwood ahead 41-28, their biggest lead of the game.

But the Titans answered with a 6-0 run to cut it to 41-34. The two teams would trade baskets and empty possessions the next three minutes until LC put together another run to make it 47-43 on Wyatt Hatcher’s free throw with 3:40 to go.

After a timeout, Glenwood went into stall mode and ate up nearly two minutes of clock before a turnover led to a Nick Miller layup to make it 47-45 with 1:38 remaining.

The Rams would miss two free throws over the next 1:09 to leave the door open. Hatcher then went 1-of-2 at the line to halve the lead to 47-46 with 29.3 to go.

Glenwood’s attempts to run out the clock were thwarted, however, when the Titans grabbed a steal. Hatcher missed the ensuing layup attempt but was fouled on the shot with 13 seconds to go. But the junior forward would miss both free throws.

Blum snagged the final rebound and hit both of his subsequent free throws to extend the Rams’ lead.

The Titans’ final three point attempt would clang off.

“I’m really proud of our defensive effort,” Schulte said. “I’m really proud of how our defense has played all the way up to the break. It’s been our mainstay. And I thought we rebounded well against a pretty good sized team.”

Blum led the Rams with 18 points and 13 rebounds.