Terry Douglass, Central Nebraska Today
GRAND ISLAND — Grand Island capped an impressive turnaround Monday, recording a 67-54 senior-night victory over Norfolk.
The Islanders (12-11), who started the season 2-7, finished the regular season by winning 10 of their final 14 games. Just two of Grand Island’s losses came against teams with sub-.500 records.
“When I think of three words that describe these seniors and this team, it’s resilient, tough and under-rated,” Grand Island coach Jeremiah Slough said. “They had every reason to fold. A lot of these guys are multi-sport kids and the fall didn’t go how they wanted it to go and then the winter started off 2-7.
“It would’ve been really easy for this group to kind of shut down and they didn’t. They rallied and said, ‘We’re going to hold this thing together and we’re going to compete.’ We might not be the most talented group, but we’re the toughest.”
After a Jan. 2 loss at Lincoln Southeast, the Islanders responded by winning four of their next five.
“What changed was our togetherness,” Islanders’ senior Broxton Barrientos said. “We grew more as a family. We started playing better with each other, passing the ball better and that really helped us.”
Victor Fisher Jr., who yielded his normal starting spot Monday so Grand Island could open with an all-senior lineup of Barrientos, Ethan Coslor, Cody Garrett, Riley Holling and Brady Douglass, led Grand Island with 16 points.
Entering the game as Grand Island’s top scorer at 16.9 points per game, Fisher drew several double-teams from Norfolk. The 6-foot-6 junior made the Panthers pay, handing out a game-high eight assists in addition to making 8 of 13 field-goal attempts.
“Vic does a good job of passing it and no matter the coverage he gets, we’re able to get him a catch and the kids do a nice job of throwing it to him,” Slough said. “In the fourth quarter there, we just threw it to Vic on repeat and he made the right play, time and time again.”
Holling scored 12 points, Carter Bernal had 11 off the bench and Barrientos finished with 10 points as the Islanders shot 63% (29 of 46) from the floor. Junior Nathan Kosmicki gave the slow-starting Islanders an early lift, scoring eight first-quarter points.
Gavin Jarecki had 16 points for Norfolk (3-19). Ty Pinkelman had 12 points and Drew Streich scored 10 for the Panthers.
Grand Island used an 11-4 run over the final 1:38 of the second quarter to lead 34-23 at the intermission. The Islanders maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way, taking their largest lead at 51-33 on Bernal’s three-point play with 23.4 to play in the third quarter.
Slough said he couldn’t pinpoint one particular moment that turned the tide for his team, but saw a lot of positive signs in a 72-67 home loss to Lincoln Southwest on Jan. 23.
“We really competed against Southwest and our group figured out that they could be a good basketball team,” Slough said. “That game gave us some confidence — even though we didn’t win it — and then we just did a really good job of continuing to get better.
“Our schedule provided us with some opportunities to win and we took advantage of those.”
A season that had already included plenty of adversity got even rockier for the Islanders after Thursday’s road win at Columbus as second-leading scorer Babur Choul, a senior guard averaging 15.1 points per game, opted to leave the team. However, Barrientos picked up the slack, scoring a team-high 18 points last Friday night as the Islanders posted a 55-42 road victory at Elkhorn South.
“See the need, fill the need — Broxton has been doing that his entire career,” Slough said. “He’s as dynamic of a defender as our program has had since I’ve been here.
“At the beginning of the year, he struggled to shoot it and lost a little confidence, offensively, but we just continued to implore him to shoot it. Then, as the ball started going in, Broxton started to find rhythm elsewhere and now he’s our most aggressive player as far as shooting the basketball or putting it on the floor and making plays.”
Slough said Barrientos is a competitor who’s willing to do whatever it takes to win.
“This team is all about resilience — just never giving up,” Barrientos said. “We just had to power through.”
Unofficially, Grand Island’s first-round district opponent will be Omaha Buena Vista on Saturday. The two teams have already met twice this season with the Bison winning 61-58 in overtime on Dec. 5 at Omaha Central in the OPS Invitational before the Islanders got payback with a 49-36 win at Buena Vista on Jan. 11.
“Buena Vista is a competitive bunch,” Slough said. “Our kids have competed really well against them — it was a war both times — and I expect the same thing on Saturday.”
Grand Island 67, Norfolk 54
NORFOLK (3-19)
Ty Pinkelman 4-7 4-4 12, Parker Rabbass 2-5 0-0 5, Gavin Jarecki 6-17 3-6 16, Drew Streich 4-13 0-0 10, Damian Jones 2-3 2-2 6, Adrian Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Cohen Skiff 0-0 0-0 0, Aiden Plasencia 2-3 1-2 5, Amauri Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson Koenig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 10-14 54.
GRAND ISLAND (12-11)
Ethan Coslor 2-2 2-4 6, Broxton Barrientos 4-5 0-0 10, Cody Garrett 1-3 0-2 2, Riley Holling 6-9 0-0 12, Brady Douglass 0-1 0-0 0, Victor Fisher Jr. 8-13 0-0 16, Carter Bernal 4-7 1-1 11, Nathan Kosmicki 3-5 0-0 8, Hanad Abdi 1-1 0-0 2, Derek Harun 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-46 3-7 67.
Norfolk………………8 15 10 21—54
Grand Island………13 21 17 16—67
3-point goals—Norfolk 4-13 (Pinkelman 0-1, Rabbass 1-4, Jarecki 1-4, Streich 2-3, Jones 0-1), GI 6-14 (Barrientos 2-3, Garrett 0-1, Fisher 0-1, Bernal 2-5, Kosmicki 2-4). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Norfolk 23 (Jones 5), GI 24 (Coslor 6). Assists—Norfolk 8 (Streich 3), GI 18 (Fisher 8). Turnovers—Norfolk 13, GI 14. Total fouls—Norfolk 11, GI 14. Technicals—None. A—NA.
