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Gronholm helps Knights overwhelm Phoenix PHOENIX - North Valley's Sean Gronholm impressed Phoenix first-year coach Kevin Dixon in Skyline Conference boys basketball Friday. The North Valley 6-foot-5 post scored a game-high 24 points as the Knights pulled away for a 46-37 victory over the Pirates. "He's as good a big kid as we've seen this year and he's only a sophomore," said Dixon. "He's very good on the glass. He can play inside and outside." The Phoenix shooting problems continued against North Valley as the Pirates converted only 32 percent of their field goal attempts. "We're not putting the ball into the basket," said Dixon. "We're getting some good shots but they're not dropping." In a slow-paced first half, Phoenix used a tenacious defensive effort to take an 18-17 lead at the break. "We went to a zone to try to stop their big kid (Gronholm)," said Dixon. "We packed it in on him." The Pirates received outstanding performances from a pair of sophomores - Martin Gonzalez and Brett Ellis. Gonzalez scored a team-high 11 points, while Ellis added nine points and effectively orchestrated the Pirate offense. "Gonzalez can cause a lot of havoc," said Dixon. "He gets lots of steals and can take the ball to the hole." North Valley took advantage of a 27-14 margin in rebounding. The Pirates trailed 35-31 entering the final period and got off to a slow start, eventually getting outscored 11-6 in the quarter. "We got stuck on 31 forever," said Dixon. "We've had some tough fourth quarters this year. We've just got to learn from it." NORTH VALLEY (46) - Clark 2, Kane 2, Wright 10, Mitchell 0, Smith 0, Grosenbach 2, Hiler 0, Armstrong 6, Gronholm 24. Totals: 19 7-12 46. PHOENIX (37) - Smith 3, Crockett 5, Barrett 0, Rhodes 9, Ellis 9, Lacy 0, Gonzalez 11. Totals: 13 10-16 37. North Valley.......................................10 7 18 11 - 46 Phoenix................................................8 10 13 6 - 37 3-point goals - North Valley 1 (Gronholm 1), Phoenix 1 (Smith 1). JV score - Phoenix 46, North Valley 43, OT. ILLINOIS VALLEY 77, HENLEY 54 - At Cave Junction, Justin Graven put on a shooting exhibition in the third quarter as seventh-ranked Illinois Valley remained unbeaten in the Skyline Conference. Graven made all five of his 3-pointers in the third, when the Cougars (12-3, 6-0 Skyline) scored a whopping 31 points. Graven finished with 23 points and seven assists, Beau Brown had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Daniel Houston 17 points and 12 rebounds. Brian Smith scored 15 for Henley. HENLEY (54) - Smith 15, Hanson 12, Gauntz 11, Munoz 7, Cunningham 5, Ibarra 2, Vargas 2, Warnick 0, Leroy 0, Matchett 0. Totals: 21 6-14 54. ILLINOIS VALLEY (77) - Graven 23, Brown 19, Houston 17, Mikels 6, Marvin 3, Paul 3, Loock 2, Woods 2, Riley 2, Bell 0, Iechman 0. Totals: 34 3-9 77. Henley....................................................12 12 15 15 - 54 Illinois Valley......................................16 16 31 14 - 77 3-point goals - Henley 6 (Gauntz 3, Hanson 2, Cunningham 1), Illinois Valley 6 (Graven 5, Brown 1). JV score - Henley 53, Illinois Valley 46. HIDDEN VALLEY 66, LAKEVIEW 50 - At Murphy, four Hidden Valley players scored in double figures as the Mustangs (5-11, 3-3 Skyline) won the conference game. Chris Jiron (13 points), Isaac Harrop (12), Josh Gotfried (11) and Brock Richards (11) accounted for most of Hidden Valley's production. The Mustangs led 30-7 in the second quarter, then made 11 of 16 free throws in the fourth as Lakeview tried to close the gap. Carl Fairburn scored 19 for Lakeview. LAKEVIEW (50) - Fairburn 19, Sheridan 14, Longacre 12, Gillessen 3, Nash 2, Mills 0, Jones 0, Salas 0, Nichols 0, Utley 0. Totals: 17 14-27 50. HIDDEN VALLEY (66) - Jiron 13, Harrop 12, Gotfried 11, Richards 11, Biller 6, Ogden 5, Cushman 4, Sanders 2, Klug 2, Tessen 0, Mundel 0, Shimocomaqui 0. Totals: 21 19-33 66. Lakeview..................................................5 22 14 9 - 50 Hidden Valley.......................................22 14 13 17 - 66 3-point goals - Lakeview 2 (Fairburn 2), Hidden Valley 5 (Jiron 2, Harrop 1, Ogden 1, Gotfried 1). Fouled out - Gillessen, Richards, Klug. Technical fouls - Longacre, Fairburn. JV result - Hidden Valley won. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.