{"id":1245,"date":"2026-01-30T10:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/01\/30\/2026-01-30-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:12:41","slug":"2026-01-30-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/01\/30\/2026-01-30-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolverines win out over\u00a0Tomcats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Natalie Hanna<\/a> · Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sophomore
Sophomore Liam Conklin attempting a layup. \u2014 JOHN HAKE<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Grove City College men\u2019s basketball team earned a 67-47 victory on Wednesday, Jan. 21 against the visiting Thiel Tomcats. Their record after this game came to 6-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior guard Mike Christenson totaled 25 points, while senior guard Kyle Randle added a dozen. Junior center Austin Johncour and junior forward Caleb Haller tossed in nine and seven points, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The combined offensive efforts of the team resulted in an early 26-4 run, allowing them to easily take control of the court at the outset of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe came out with an attack mindset this game. We hunted our shots and didn\u2019t let the defense dictate what we do,\u201d Christenson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And attack they did. Junior guard Colton Martin kindled the team\u2019s run with a layup, followed by Christenson\u2019s three consecutive three-pointers. After a shot by freshman center Ethan Hart, Martin scored again in the paint to bring the team to a 15-7 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lead increased to 21-7 after field-goal contributions from Randle, Johncour and Haller. Randle\u2019s three-pointer later on gave Grove City a 29-9 lead, and Christenson\u2019s fade-away buzzer-beater resulted in a 37-16 lead at halftime, effectively keeping the team energized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After taking the lead in the first half, the Wolverines continued to prevail on both their offensive and defensive fronts throughout the remainder of the match. Grove City\u2019s 52 rebounds, coupled with their success in holding the Tomcats to 30% shooting from the field, significantly contributed to the triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe held Thiel to the lowest point total they have had all year. Our defense set the tone. We attacked on both ends of the floor and played with a \u2018next play\u2019 mentality. Whenever we had a slump on one end of the floor, we made up for it with our play on the other end,\u201d Christenson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johncour led the defense with 11 rebounds, followed by Martin\u2019s nine and Haller\u2019s six. The Wolverines accumulated a 52-40 edge in rebounds, and a 10-6 edge in steals, three of which were Martin\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grove City\u2019s largest lead of the game, 55-27, came from freshman forward Josh Book\u2019s three-pointer midway through the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the team\u2019s exceptional defense and improved focus, they were able to play intentionally \u2014 with rebounding and defense becoming their strength during this match, according to Johncour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team is excited for their upcoming games and taking it one day at a time as they prepare to meet their next opponents on the court. Keeping the energy up and having a consistent offense, as well as a continued strong defense will be key in the upcoming games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After playing Hiram on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at home, the Wolverines will face PAC rival Washington & Jefferson on Saturday, Jan. 31. Tip-off will be at 3 p.m. in the Grove City College Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cW&J is one of the best in the conference. We will need to bring our best on both ends of the floor if we want to (claim another win),\u201d Christenson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Grove City College men\u2019s basketball team earned a 67-47 victory on Wednesday, Jan. 21 against the visiting Thiel Tomcats. Their record after this game came to 6-10. Senior guard Mike Christenson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193],"tags":[42,61,24],"class_list":["post-1245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-basketball","tag-issue-2026-01-30","tag-natalie-hanna","tag-sports"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",857,530,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",150,93,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",300,186,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",768,475,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",857,530,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",857,530,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-01-30-25-wolverines-win-out-over-tomcats-1.jpg",857,530,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Grove City College men\u2019s basketball team earned a 67-47 victory on Wednesday, Jan. 21 against the visiting Thiel Tomcats. Their record after this game came to 6-10. Senior guard Mike Christenson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1794,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245\/revisions\/1794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}