COLUMBUS — The Grinnell System, made famous by Division III program Grinnell College in Iowa, is an off-shoot of the run-and-gun system made famous by Loyola Marymount in the 1980s, and on Saturday, it was on full display inside Pohl Gymnasium.
Greenville, the highest-scoring team in DIII, employed three waves of five players subbing in-and-out every few minutes just as they did earlier in the season against The W, but this time around, the Owls were able to keep up.
In fact, MUW had a commanding 100-92 lead with 6:48 left to play, but in a flash, the Panthers stole control of the game, getting hot late to spoil the Owls’ senior day festivities with a 119-112 win.
“It’s different,” head coach Dean Burrows said. “It comes down to consistent disciplined habits and we did that for a good percentage of the time today. I think the last 3-4 minutes, we got a little selfish.”
On a day where shots were flying, fouls came at a surplus and players were going coast-to-coast every 20 seconds or so, The W (7-16, 3-13 SLIAC) had control of the chaos.
Coming in as the worst free-throw shooting team in the country, the Owls took care of business at the line, going 15-of-15 to begin the game as they finished 28-of-33 from the charity stripe, including a perfect 12-of-12 performance from Tarik Islamovic.
As Burrows said, down the stretch, too many players were playing hero instead of playing together, and Greenville took full advantage, getting six points off turnovers late and taking what was an eight-point deficit and turning it into a double-digit lead.
“Reed got hot and we kept giving him open looks,” senior Brye Hopkins said. “Also, offensive rebounds. They had 23. They do lead the country in offensive rebounds, but if we would have done a better job with that, getting one shot instead of two, and limiting turnovers, that’s the recipe for success.”
Hopkins was one of three seniors honored on the day for the Owls and was one of six players who finished in double-figures in scoring, going 9-of-11 from the field.
Interior scoring was MUW’s bread-and-butter on Saturday afternoon, but Greenville made the Owls pay late from deep as Ja’Rod Webb knocked down a few threes.
The Panthers shot an insane 17-of-46 (37 percent) from three in the win, hitting nearly twice as many threes as the Owls had total attempts, yet despite that, MUW had as good a chance as ever to win.
“I think we had a big stretch coming out of the second half,” Hopkins said. “We just got away from what we were doing best. The little things are going to help us win versus a team like this.”
Two games remain this season for MUW, both on the road, and with it looking like the Owls won’t be sneaking into the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) tournament, now is the time to end the season on a positive note.
“Just get better when we get back in here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” Burrows said. “Focus on what we do every single day. We want to go 1-0 every day, leading up to Thursday and Saturday.”
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