Sophomores lead Tea Area boys basketball to gritty win over O’Gorman

Things didn’t look great coming out of halftime for the Tea Area boys basketball team, and O’Gorman made a point to shut off the Titans’ star juniors, Gavin Shawd and Grifin Wiebenga.

Sophomores Mitch Grant and Blake Lundin stepped up to the plate, helping author a 15-8 third that put Tea Area in front for good in a 65-61 win over O’Gorman on the Knights’ home floor.

“At the defensive end, we really just locked in and collapsed the paint and they didn’t really know what to do,” Lundin said.

Not only did the defense shut down the Knights, but Grant scored eight big points with a pair of threes and Lundin had a bucket and commanded lots of attention in the paint.

“I just think we started working as a team really well,” Grant said. “Griff and Gavin started to get in rhythm. I hit a couple big shots. We just play so well together when we get in stride, and when we get in stride it’s hard to stop.”

Tea Area closed out the game without forfeiting the lead, building it to as big as 52-41 early in the fourth. The Titans then had to grind their way to the finish, just like they did the entire first half.

“We talk a lot about taking punches,” Tea Area head coach Drew Weber said. “We don’t play very deep. When you play five or six guys most of the game, it’s hard to play good basketball for 32 minutes. We knew that O’Gorman can play really well and they did in that first quarter. We couldn’t guard worth a hoot in the first quarter, and we took a punch there.”

This young Titans team has learned how to take a punch, though, and dished one back when things mattered most on their 14-0 run between the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.

“That’s kind of been our MO in a lot of these games,” Weber said. “You take some punches here and there, then you throw one back with a 10-0 run, a 12-2 run, something like that.”

Tea Area is now 10-3 and in the midst of its best start since opening 12-3 in the 2022-23 season. It’s been led by two juniors — Shawd and Wiebenga — and the two sophomores, and those guys have used defeat as fuel for improvement.

The last two losses were an 82-55 defeat to Sioux Falls Roosevelt on Jan. 16, and a 62-60 loss to unbeaten Sioux Falls Lincoln on Jan. 31.

“The Roosevelt game hurt, and I feel like the score doesn’t do it justice,” Grant said. “That put a big dagger in us. That Lincoln game, it just hurt us more which helped us this game with energy and stuff.”

“That Lincoln game, that hurt,” Lundin said. “We probably played the best we’ve ever played and coming into this game, I think we knew they’re a top, competitive team. I think we all played together.”

Those losses have helped the Titans up their focus in practice, and the results of that focus have shown in their road win over Mitchell, close loss to Lincoln and road win over O’Gorman.

“Before the Lincoln game, we knew we really had to try at practice,” Grant said. “Practice just got better. Even our scout team started to step up and give us better looks. There’s days where the scout team is playing 10 times better than us. They’re key to our success.”

This Tea Area team thrives on its tough mentality and youthfulness. The Titans have showed that time and time again this season, and are anticipating more chances to prove their mettle with games left against Sioux Falls Jefferson, Sioux City East, Harrisburg, Brandon Valley, Sioux Falls Washington and Marshall.

“I’ve got a tough group of kids, that’s for sure,” Weber said. “Mental toughness in that game really showed.”