Story by Alex Ellison
The Men's Basketball team is off to a great start to the season led by their seven returning sophomores.
"You have a neat group of sophomores who were here last year and had a good season last year and did a great job during the summer," Head Coach Doug Weber said. "So they are building on what we did last year."
The Griffins (9-4) are led in scoring by sophomore guard Bryce Parsons (17 PPG), rebounding by sophomore forward Ronald Blain (9.4 RPG) and assisting by sophomore guard Josh Moran (4.3 APG).
The diverse attack presents itself on the stat sheet and on the court.
"They like each other, you can tell they like each other and they get along with each other. They are cheering when somebody scores or makes a good play or takes a charge or gets on the floor. The chemistry part is why we're good."
The team recently hosted the 46th Annual Grossmont Tournament again this year. They beat Victor Valley, 70-63, and Palomar, 65-58, before losing in the championship game to San Diego City, 96-67. San Diego City (13-2) is ranked third in the state, behind only San Bernardino Valley and San Francisco.
"We talked to our team about long term success and we beat two very good teams and then played the defending state champions in the championship game," Weber said. "San Diego City is in our conference so the one you want to win is in January or February. But this was a nice measuring stick game to see where we are. I thought we played really well as a group."
Those games will be Jan. 17 at home and Feb. 7 at San Diego City. The team is focused on getting better every day and plan on competing at a high level moving forward.
The Griffins are putting up some impressive team-wide numbers as well, ranking tenth in the state at field goal percentage (48.2%) and eleventh at three-point percentage (38.6%).
The team seems poised to continue their strong year and have a strong future. There are two players redshirting this season because of the number of sophomores on the team. Coach Weber wants them to be able to play significant minutes when they play rather than use a year of eligibility playing five minutes a game.
"There aren't enough minutes to get everybody quality time. When we recruit them we tell them we are trying to get them to the next level and get them a scholarship down the road. So to have them play five minutes a game kind of wastes a year, they should get twenty minutes a game."
It's all about maximizing potential for the Grossmont Men's Basketball team and the players buy in to the process. They know that by biding their time, they will get the opportunity to play significant minutes against top level competition next year.
For the players currently suiting up, their next game represents a good test on the road at LA Harbor on Dec. 29. After that, the team will play in another competitive tournament at Mira Costa from Jan. 3-4 before starting conference play.