Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior Drew Eilers (33) shoots a jumper over the outstretched arm of Grundy Center defender Tiernan Vokes during their NICL West Division basketball game on Tuesday, Dec. 10, in Grundy Center. Eilers had 13 points in the Rebels’ 58-46 loss. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

GRUNDY CENTER — Grundy Center boys basketball eventually wore away at Gladbrook-Reinbeck for a 58-46 win at Grundy Center High School on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

The score was tied at 42 before back-to-back buckets by Brody Zinkula, including a steal-and-score breakaway, made it 46-42 Grundy Center with 2:17 left in the game.

“Brody takes a lot of pride in his defense, and he was just a spark plug for us out there,” Grundy Center head coach Brent Thoren said. “He put a lot of pressure on their point man to handle the basketball and that’s just something we have a tendency to do is lean on people a bit defensively and really make them work for it.”

After a defensive stop of the Rebels, Jalen Kirkpatrick made his third three-pointer of the night to push the advantage to 49-42 with just under two minutes remaining, and the Rebels were never closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Kirkpatrick finished with 18 points to lead the Spartans; Zinkula added 12 points and Tiernan Vokes had 10 points.

Grundy Center’s Jalen Kirkpatrick (23) shoots over Gladbrook-Reinbeck defenders Hudson Clark (15) and Michael Boyd (40) during the first half of the Spartans’ 58-46 win over the Rebels on Dec. 10. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

Kirkpatrick, the 6-foot-6 senior, had seven points at halftime but got hot from three-point range in the second half.

“No matter how I start off, I’m always going to keep shooting and having confidence in myself the whole game, nothing’s ever going to stop me from doing that,” Kirkpatrick said. “I’ve worked hard to get to this point, and I’ve just got a lot of confidence in my shot.”

The Spartans looked good after a quarter, leading 13-6, but the Rebels quickly shot their way back into the game with 12 points from Michael Boyd, including three 3-pointers for the 6-foot-5 senior.

G-R led 22-21 at the halftime horn.

“I thought we came out a little bit timid,” G-R head coach Brett Bengen said. “Once we adjusted to the flow of the game, I thought we did a good job. … Once [Boyd] knocked a couple down, that got our crowd into it a little bit and gave the rest of the guys a sign to maybe loosen up, let’s play a little bit, and I think that helped us out.”

The chess match continued into the third quarter, with neither team able to sustain a run and G-R shaking out two points better at 34-32 with eight minutes to play.

“For us to defend their entire system takes a lot of communication and understanding the spots where they want to shoot,” Thoren said. “I think in the second quarter we really started to figure that out and push the ball farther from the lane than they wanted to be.”

Offensively for Grundy Center, once the quick, athletic football champions paced themselves a bit more, the game clicked into place, Thoren said.

“We took some early shots that played into their hands a little bit,” Thoren added. “We started passing the ball a lot more effectively in the painted area and got some high-quality shots and then we had guys like Jalen and Judd [Jirovsky] making some big shots.”

Both teams are coming off state tournament berths in the 2023-24 season.

For G-R, it comes with a new head coach in Bengen, stepping in for Scott Kiburis who is now the head coach at Benton.

“Tonight, we kind of let one bad thing turn into two bad things, and it snowballed a bit,” Bengen said. “I think defensively, we’re very good, and offensively we just have to keep working on some of our sets. We’ve just got to get fluid with each other and start to play together, but our seniors have played a lot of basketball together and I think once we start to play together, things will click for us.”

The Spartans (2-0) continued NICL West play at South Hardin the following Friday.

“We’ve got one of the best team chemistries in the state, we love playing with each other,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’re able to find guys when they’re cutting or floating, we just know where everyone’s going out there and we know how to talk and rotate and play together on defense, which helps us win games against tough teams like G-R.”

Grundy Center 58, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 46

GLADBROOK-REINBECK (1-1, 0-1) — Brandon Mathern 3 0-0 7, Austen Mathern 2 2-2 8, Hudson Clark 1 0-0 2, Drew Eilers 5 3-3 13, Michael Boyd 4 3-4 14, Trevor Mathern 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 16 8-9 46.

GRUNDY CENTER (2-0, 1-0) — Brayden Wallis 1 0-2 2, Ryker Thoren 3 2-4 8, Tiernan Vokes 4 2-2 10, Judd Jirovsky 2 0-0 5, Jalen Kirkpatrick 7 1-1 18, Brody Zinkula 4 4-7 12, Brayden Davie 0 3-4 3.

G-R 6 16 12 12 — 46

GRUNDY CTR. 13 8 11 26 — 58

3-Point Goals-G-R 6 (Boyd 3, A. Mathern 2, B. Mathern), GC 4 (Kirkpatrick 3, Jirovsky). Team Fouls-G-R 17, GC 12. Fouled Out-Thoren.