Larry Mohamed and Nick Maiers are to Groves Academy Basketball as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were to the 1961 Yankees.
Wednesday night, the Griffins M&M combination combined for 32 points to lead the Griffins to a 53-38 win over the Academy for Science and Agriculture Eagles in St. Louis Park.
The Griffins broke out of the starting gate early when Gabe Gordon scored the game's first basket :22 into the first half. Mohamed would use his outstanding speed that included a couple of drives to the post that accounted for six straight points en route to a 9-0 run. Jake Colestock would put the Eagles on the board to end the opening run. AFSA would be charged with a technical foul because two players were not entered in the official scorebook. In many cases, the home book is the official book and since the two players were not listed on AFSA's side, it would send Josh Lightowler to the free throw line. Though he missed one of the two free throws, the Griffins would also benefit from Maiers, who would hit four of his five three pointers in the first half. The Eagles would try to catch up as they went on an 8-0 run that included a basket from Nebel Walton, who was one of six players added to the AFSA roster. But Groves Academy would double up AFSA 36-18 when Noah Yager would hit a three pointer. The Eagles ended the first half on a 5-0 run and the Griffins led at halftime 36-23.
The second half got off to a slow start in the scoring department as both teams were cold from the floor in the early going. The Eagles opened the scoring on a free throw from Nate Lundy 1:22 into the half. It would be more than 2:30 before a shot went through the net as Maiers hit his fifth shot from Minnetonka Blvd. It wasn't just Mohamed and Maiers who carried the offense on this chilly Wednesday night. Senior center Sam Goldstein would score six consecutive points and also made an outstanding play on defense when he blocked Colestock's shot. As Groves Academy pulled away from AFSA, head coach Peter Shutte went to his bench and gave reserves Danny Berthoud and Ethan Ellertson some playing time.
Mohamed led the Griffins with 17 points and Maiers added 15. Goldstein was also in double figures, scoring 10 points. Colestock led the Eagles, also scoring 17 points. Lundy contributed 10 points.
Olivia Thomas was a reserve player for AFSA, a rare case of a girl player on a boys team. She joined the boys varsity as a result of the Vadnais Heights based school dropping the girls program due to low numbers.
Groves Academy improved their record to 1-1 and will host the Bethany Academy Eagles on Tuesday, December 11 at 7 PM. AFSA fell to 0-1 and will head to St. Paul to face the Hmong College Prep Academy Warriors on Thursday, December 6 at 7 PM.
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