Grinnell basketball dominates conference championship, looks to national tournament next

For the second season in a row, the Grinnell College men’s basketball team has won the Midwest Conference (MWC) basketball championship. This time around, Grinnell had the luxury of playing at home after it claimed the MWC regular season title, which goes to the team with the best record and grants that team hosting rights for the tournament. 

With a dominant 85-56 win over Monmouth College in the final, the Pioneers will return to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III tournament, with the first game scheduled for March 6 at 4:10 p.m. Grinnell will face off against John Carroll University, played at Illinois Wesleyan University.

The mood among the Darby Gymnasium crowd for the Saturday, Feb. 28 final was somewhere between tense and hopeful. In only a few hours, any anxiety would be turned into pure jubilation, as the Pioneers completed their defense of last season’s title.

“These guys really hate to lose,” Head Coach David Arseneault Jr. `09 said after the game, drenched from the water cooler poured on his head by guard/forward Nick Courtney `26 and center John Vincent `26. 

Gallery • 6 Photos

Meilynn Smith

Grinnell locals and parents celebrate their team in the MWC Championship game against Monmouth at Darby Gym on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Before the game, the Grinnell players seemed calm, and this relaxed attitude extended into the game, which began with an early Monmouth free throw off a Courtney foul. Monmouth Guard Cameron Thomas would soon give the Fighting Scots a two point lead, which would be their largest of the game. After that, Grinnell steadily built up a margin over the opposition, and mostly kept fouls to a minimum. No Grinnell player earned more than three fouls, and the Pioneers ended the game with their joint-second-lowest foul total of the season.

The limited fouls did not reflect a low effort level of the players. “All the credit goes to the guys,” Arseneault said. “You saw how hard they played out there tonight.”

By halftime, Grinnell had a firm grip on the game, and support grew among the home crowd, an advantage that Garcia said contributed to the win. “It gives you an extra boost,” he said. “When it’s the end of the year, you’ve played 25 plus games and your body’s a bit banged up, it gives you that little extra push that I think Monmouth ran out of.” 

In the second half, Grinnell cruised to the eventual 29 point win. After the game, the Pioneers ran over to the student section to celebrate their accomplishment, one which Arseneault described as “not something that’s going to happen every single season.” 

Even with the win, the season is not done yet. “The guys need to enjoy the moment and have some fun and get ready to compete,” Arseneault said.