Steve Wood ’04 led the way for his team again and added an individual milestone in the process. He needed 43 points to surpass the career scoring mark established by Jeff Clement ’99 (2,229), and in the process of helping his team beat Monmouth 152-76 he got exactly 43 – in 17 minutes of playing time. Grinnell now moves to 9-2 in the Midwest Conference and is 16-2 overall and Wood is the new scoring leader with 2,230 points.
Steve Nordlund ’04 helped the cause with 24 points on 7 of 15 from behind the arc, as did Eric Walsh ’05 who hit 5 of 9 from trey-land and finished with 23 points and 10 assists. Not to be left in Wood’s wake was Nick Malinowski ’04 who surpassed the 1,000-point plateau by scoring 15. He now totals 1,014 points in his career. Cole Robertson ’05 added 11 points and eight boards.
Monmouth, coming off their upset win over #10 Lawrence, had two players in double figures. Josh Reschke notched 22, while Troy Bennett added 12. The Scots could only manage 44.3% shooting (31 of 70) and turned the ball over 36 times.
Grinnell looked fresh and of the 36 Scot turnovers, 20 were steals by the Pioneers. The squad also hit 26 of 38 from the freethrow line, outscoring Monmouth by 15 from the stripe.
Grinnell nearly equaled its NCAA mark of most three-point field goal attempts in a game (86) by hoisting 84. With their 30 makes, they were also only two shy of tying their record set in 1997. Combined, the teams shot 95 three’s, which was also two short of the NCAA record set by Grinnell and Colorado College in 1995.
Grinnell takes the momentum gained from three home wins on the road this weekend. Friday, they face St. Norbert at 7:30. The Green Knights are 7-4 and in fourth-place in the league. Saturday provides an equally stiff challenge, as Grinnell faces Ripon on their homecourt at 4:00. The Red Hawks, while only 3-8 in the league, took the Pioneers to overtime before bowing by two points January 16th.
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