The men’s basketball team led the Berea Mountaineers all through the game on Tuesday, Jan. 20, and won 90-81.

Despite the win, head coach Wiley Brown said the team did not play to the best of their abilities.

“It’s the time of the year where we should not be making bad mistakes,” Brown said. “We took bad shoots, passes and were not in the right positions.”

Brown also said they had some players that were unable to play and which might have affected their chemistry on the court.

“We have to be mentally focused,” Brown said.

“It’s the end of January, and we should be at the top of our game,” he said.

Brown also said they had a hard time coming up with their rebounds. In the first and second half, the Grenadiers tried to make rebounds but could never make them.

Brown was happy with the way Alex Gravelle, junior guard, played despite the bad chemistry. Brown said Graville came and handled the ball well.

Gravelle made four out of the nine field goals and had a total of eight points.

DeJon Gary, junior guard, was one player Brown said did not execute as well as he expected him to.

Gary attempted two field goals but did not make either of them.

Charlie Gonzalez, junior center, described the match up between the mountaineers and Grenadiers as a rivalry game.

This was the first time Berea and the men’s basketball team played against each other this season, but they will face off again on Feb. 10.

Gonzalez said he looked forward to playing against them again.

James Thompkins, senior forward, described Berea as a physical team.

“Me and Charlie, we’re the enforcers,” Thompkins said.

“We had to let them know we aren’t gonna have none of that,” he said.

Gonzalez, 6 feet 9 inches, and Thompkins, 6 feet 7 inches, are two of the tallest players on the Grenadier men’s basketball team.

Berea’s tallest players are 6 feet 9 inches and 6 feet 5 inches.

Thompkins also said the Grenadiers defense and rebounding could have been better.

By MARY LYONS
Staff Writer
marlyons@ius.edu