Conference Play Ends With Win Over Grinnell

Making his momma mad, Cole Henry dunks the ball against Grinnell on Wednesday night.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Indians Boys Basketball team ended their regular season on Wednesday night when Grinnell came to town.

The game, which had been delayed due to snow storms, finally got underway.

Grinnell Tigers came into the contest at 8-11 on the year, while the Oskaloosa Indians were 12-5.

Oskaloosa spent four games without its leading scorer in Cole Henry, but Wednesday Henry returned to the court. The Indians were 3-1 while Henry was absent, with a highlight of beating Little Hawkeye Champions Norwalk.

Grinnell came out strong in the contest, leading the Indians 16-14 after the first quarter. The Tigers kept things close, and the two teams went to the locker room tied at 30.

In the 3rd quarter, Oskaloosa started to add pressure to Grinnell, outscoring the Tigers 17-13. The 4th quarter belonged to the Indians, as they added 16 points to the Tigers 6 points.

Oskaloosa won 63-49 to wrap up regular season play.

Iszac Schultz once again played a big defensive role in the win for the Indians. Schultz said his drive defensively is due to his competitive nature. “I don’t like to be beat. It’s just great. I’m having a good time.”

The team has gelled even more as the postseason approaches, and for Schultz, with Henry’s injury, the team rallied to help fill that void, “and now that he’s back, we’re excited to make a postseason run.”

“I feel like we have a great chance. We are playing really well right now, and we have a lot of momentum,” added Schultz.

Xavier Foster lead all scorers with 27 points against Grinnell. He also pulled down a team-leading 11 rebounds, had four steals and five blocked shots.

Foster, who was also suffering from a head cold, said it was a little tougher keeping his concentration during the contest due to illness. “Man, I’m glad I had Cole down there to help me out a little bit,” referencing Henry’s return to the court.

“It was great playing with him finally,” added Foster.

Looking forward now to the postseason, Foster says that the goal is nothing short of a state title, but they have to remember not to overlook teams such as the upcoming South Tama contest to kick off the postseason.

“Let’s get this state title,” added Foster in closing.

When Cole Henry returned to the court, his hand remained in a wrap. “We have a great trainer here with Kinetic Edge, Laura Norberg, she’s doing a great job. She puts a small, very thin pad on there, and tapes me up really good, and you know what, it did great tonight.”

Henry kind of broke his promise versus his hand on Wednesday night when he decided to dunk the ball in the second half of play. “You know, my mom’s really mad, I can tell you that right now,” said Henry. “I talked to my entire family. They told me not to dunk.”

A missed dunk is what sent Henry to the sidelines for the past four games.

“Luckily I dunked it about midway through my forearm, instead of my hand,” Cole explained. “Yeah, there was some adrenaline going first game back, so I had to slam it home for the fans and for our team to get a win.”

Henry had a couple of light practices before his return, but he’s staying in shape on the treadmill and riding bikes.

“It felt great,” said Henry of stepping back onto the court. “To be able to come out and get another team win. It was tough not being out there with my boys. Being on the bench was a great time, it taught me a real lesson. And honestly, I can’t thank God enough for getting me back here healthy. Honestly, I’m so thankful. I’ll never take basketball for granted again.”

Speaking about the road back to Wells Fargo, Henry echoed Foster’s sentiment that the team is motivated to return and win a state title. “We’re a very motivated team to get back there.”

“I can tell you we are a very hungry team. We’re in the best shape we’ve ever been so far this season,” added Henry.

Oskaloosa Head Coach Ryan Parker said he felt as though the energy level wasn’t where it needed to be in the first half of the contest. “I thought we played a little harder in the second half.”

Without the team’s leading scorer, the team transformed, “I think for us, it was that guys stepped up and showed what they can do. Now with Cole being back, they can still do the same things, it’s not like they have to have everything go through Cole. For us, you hate to have a kid injured, but sometimes we had multiple guys step up and lead us to victory while Cole was out,” added Parker.

The defensive efforts are helping to create offensive opportunities for the team.

Parker said that he spoke with his team about not overlooking teams as they look to Wells Fargo, and referenced the team’s effort against Grinnell. Parker thinks maybe the team was already looking past Grinnell, and in doing so, gave Grinnell an opportunity for the upset.

“We can’t do that in the postseason,” said Parker. “You do that in the postseason, you get bit, and all of a sudden you’re going home without reaching your end goal.”

Xavier Foster lead the Indians with 27 points and 11 rebounds, while Henry added 20 points and eight rebounds.

Rian Yates was strong with 11 points and three rebounds.

The Indians start the postseason on Monday night when they take on South Tama beginning at 8 pm.