Senior becomes 3rd Panther in last 3 years to pass 1,000 points
The way he was playing Monday night, Griffin Zick probably could’ve reached the 1,000-point plateau during a blowout win over Adrian-Ellsworth, but what better way to do it than on senior night?
The senior guard, fresh off a career-high 35-point show the night before in a game that saw him shoot over 60% from the field, accomplished the feat Tuesday in an 80-60 Camden Conference victory over Yellow Medicine East on Senior Night.
“It does feel nice, but it really is because of my teammates and my coaching staff,” said Zick, who flashes his humility as often as he does his smooth jump shot. “They believe in me, and they work with me every day.”
It might have been Zick’s night, but it didn’t start out that way. The team’s leading scorer uncharacteristically missed his first three shots, had his fourth attempt blocked and was also called for a charge.
“I wouldn’t say I was frustrated; I knew (1,000 points) was there, I just needed to hone in and get there,” Zick said. “I needed to relax.”
Luckily for the Panthers, another senior guard, Connor Lanoue, accepted the go-to role early.
Lanoue had TMB’s first three buckets, and tallied half of TMB’s first 22 points.
All in all, it was a rather slow start for the home team. YME was within five points at 26-21 before a threepoint play by Sy Sanders with 6:04 left in the half.
“First half, we couldn’t stack stops,” said Zick. “If we got a basket, it seemed like they came down the floor and got one.”
Zick eventually heated up and finished with 21 points — right on his season average. He knocked down two threes in a 2-minute span to give TMB a 39-28 lead with 2:25 to go in the first half.
Tuesday marked the 15th time this year Zick has scored at least 20 points. He has 527 on the season.
“I don’t think anyone outworks him; he’s in the gym more than anybody,” TMB coach Ryan Kruse said. “It was going to be tough to get to 1,000 with where he was at, but all the way throughout the season, he has been consistent. It got to the point where I knew he was going to get it. He deserves this.”
CONNOR LANOUE (right) goes after a loose ball after he tried to steal a YME pass at the top of the key. Lanoue did get the steal and turned it into two points.
TMB COACH RYAN KRUSE congratulates Griffin Zick after the senior scored his 1000th point in the first half of Tuesday’s game against YME.
Jackson Kruse drained another that would push the Panthers’ advantage to 46-31.
That was part of a balanced attack that YME had no answer for. At one time in the first half, Lanoue had 13 points, Zick 10, and Sanders and Aiden Snow nine apiece.
YME refused to go away and started the second half strong, hitting its first five shots to go on a 10-2 run. That cut TMB’s 15-point lead at the break to seven before a Zick three. Eli Lightfoot then picked up some of the scoring burden with three straight baskets down low, and Lanoue scored again to cap off a 10-4 spurt. From there, the Sting found the going tough offensively, and the Panthers were able to gradually pull away.
“We were pretty good offensively, but they were good offensively, too,” coach Kruse said. “I feel like there were things we could’ve done better on defense — (Gunnar) Fagen (23 points) just kept hitting 15-footer after 15-footer. They did a nice job on offense … I’m glad we played well on offense.”
Lanoue finished with 10 points; Kruse had 13, Sanders dropped 11 and Sanow finished the night with nine.
The Panthers have one regular-season game left against Springfield this Friday. Then it’s on to the Section 3A Tournament.
“We got three in a row, so that helps us build up a lot of confidence,” Zick said. “We had some rough stretches earlier, but this is the time to be playing good.”
TMB shot 48% from the field for the second straight game. Coach Kruse said his team needs to build off the last three weeks of the season as playoffs loom. The three-game winning streak has come on the heels of a six-game skid that lasted from Jan. 29-Feb. 10.
“If you look at the last three weeks, we’ve played our best ball, but not for 36 minutes all the time,” he said. “I think we’re ready to go. I feel like we can still improve on some stuff and feel pretty good going into playoffs.”
The Panthers (11-14, 10-8 in the Camden) will likely get the No. 7 seed in the sub-section tournament, and if they do, they will host a play-in game on Feb. 26.
• The Panther B-squad won a close one, 38-37, over the Sting. Parker Kline stood out with 20 points.
YME 31 29 — 60 TMB 46 34 — 80 YME
Almich 0-1 2-4 5, Torvik 2-8 4-6 8, Fagen 11-17 1-1 23, Blankenhagen 2-7 0-0 4, Mensink 6-7 2-3 14. Totals: 26-51 8-13 60. Three-pointers: 0-13.
Assists: 21. Rebounds: 26. Blocks: 1. Steals: 4. Turnovers: 19. TMB
Sanders 5-7 1-3 11, Zick 8-16 2-2 21, Carson Lanoue 0-3 0-0 0, Connor Lanoue 6-17 4-4 17, Kruse 5-8 2-2 13, Sanow 4-8 0-0 9, Kline 0-3 0-0 0, Brinkley 0-0 1-2 1, Lightfoot 4-4 0-2 8. Totals: 32-66 10-15 80. Threepointers: 6-24 (Zick 3-7, Kruse 1-3, Sanow 1-3, Connor Lanoue 1-8, Kline 0-3. Assists: 26 (Connor Lanoue 9, Zick 7, Sanders 5, Carson Lanoue 2, Kruse 2, Lightfoot). Rebounds: 28 (Connor Lanoue 6, Sanders 6, Zick 5, Lightfoot 4, Sanow 2, Kruse). Blocks: 2 (Zick, Lightfoot). Steals: 11 (Sanow 3, Zick 3, Connor Lanoue 2, Sanders, Carson Lanoue, Kruse).
Turnovers: 11.
FEB. 13: TMB 81, A-E 48
The Panthers had no trouble with Adrian-Ellsworth on Monday in an 81-48 non-conference home win.
Griffin Zick scored 35 points and had 10 steals; he made seven of nine three-point attempts. Jackson Kruse scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win. Eli Lightfoot swatted away four shots.
TMB outrebounded the Dragons 33-26, had a total of 18 steals and shot 48% from the field.
• A-E beat the TMB B-squad 33-27. Parker Kline led with 12 points, and Brayden Marron scored nine.
A-E 24 24 — 48 TMB 48 33 — 81 A-E
Murphy 1-1 0-0 2, Jackson 1-3 0-0 2, Bertrand 0-1 0-0 0, Geister 3-8 2-2 9, Hendel 2-7 5-6 9, Schilling 2-9 3-3 7, Koehne 1-5 1-4 3, Demarrias-Jasma 4-16 6-7 16. Totals: 14-51 17-24 48. Three-pointers: 3-20. Assists: 13.
Rebounds: 26. Blocks: 3. Steals: 8. Turnovers: 25. TMB
Sanderson 3-4 0-0 6, Zick 12-19 4-5 35, Connor Lanoue 2-9 0-0 5, Xiong 2-5 0-0 5, Kruse 4-6 1-2 9, Sanow 6-13 1-2 13, Kline 1-3 2-2 4, Carlson 1-1 0-0 2, Brinkley 0-2 0-4 0, Lightfoot 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 32-67 8-15 81.
Three-pointers: 9-23 (Zick 7-9, Xiong 1-2, Connor Lanoue 1-6, Moua 0-1, Sanow 0-2, Kline 0-2. Assists: 25 (Connor Lanoue 7, Kruse 6, Sanders 4, Zick 3, Carson Lanoue 2, Xiong 2, Moua). Rebounds: 33 (Sanow 9, Kruse 5, Zick 5, Lightfoot 4, Connor Lanoue 3, Xiong 2, Sanders 2, Moua, Carlson). Blocks: 5 (Lightfoot 4, Connor Lanoue). Steals: 18 (ZIck 10, Carson Lanoue 2, Sanders, Connor Lanoue, Xiong, Kruse, Sanow, Kline).
Turnovers: 18.
FEB. 13: TMB 73, CANBY 55
A balanced attack led the Panthers to a 73-55 win over Canby last Friday.
Connor Lanoue was one of four players in double figures with 20 points. Aiden Sanow had 13, and Sy Sanders and Griffin Zick both scored 12.
Sanders also had 10 rebounds and a pair of steals, and Lanoue grabbed seven rebounds, and had five assists and three steals.
• The B-squad fell 57-45. Myhlez had 10 points, and Carson Lanoue scored nine.
