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Granite started off by taking a short 11-9 lead against the Mustangs. Granite’s FranciscoLopez and Dante Cunningham shot the ball well giving Granite the lead.

Western was looking to come back and they did just that by playing tough defense and afast offense. The Mustangs were able to drain some shots and gave their team the lead forthe first time in the game.

The Grizzlies started falling behind as the Mustangs went coast-to-coast on them scoringalmost every time. Granite wasn’t going to give up that easy though as they continued toplay tight defense and score some points.

The half ended with just as much excitement as the game began with. Both teams were fighting it out to be on top at the end of the half, but because of the shots scored by #3 onthe Mustang offense, Tulare Western was able to keep a 19-16 lead at the end of the firsthalf.

The second half started off fast and hot. Both teams were playing very physical andaggressively, but the Grizzlies just couldn’t keep up with the bigger Tulare Westernoffense.

However, the Grizzlies were still playing hard and were never that far behind. DanteCunningham accounted for half the Grizzlies total points and helped the team stay in thegame.

The Grizzlies were giving it their all to win the game. By winning, Granite would qualifyfor playoffs and be able to keep their season going.

Making the playoffs was a goal for all the seniors on the team, especially because formost of them it would be their last high school basketball game ever.

The seniors played a huge roll in the team for all four years. When asked the role the seniors had played throughout their high school career Coach Luther said, “It’s hard to lose great players that know how to do all the little things and do them well. It will be hard to replace them, but hopefully the younger players will step up and take their place, but they will still be greatly missed.”

The coaches, as well as the players, were satisfied with the season they had. Not beingable to win the game was hard on the Grizzlies because they weren’t able to keep on withtheir season in playoffs.

Senior Erick Bartlett said, “It was important for us to make it to playoffs because we wanted to go out strong.”

Even though the season did not turn out great, the younger players on the team arelooking forward to making the next season a better one.

Juan Jaimez, a sophomore players said, “I am anxious for summer league to come so thatI can get ready to help my team next year.”

The game’s final score was Granite Hills 31, Tulare Western 46.

Junior Dante Cunningham takes a mid-range jump shot for two of his 13 points. Photo by Ismael Ruiz.