The Redhawks (8-14) went into the second half trailing 30-18, but the quick run from Grundy Center put the Redhawks down by 19. By the end of the third quarter, the lead would hit 22. The end result was a 69-40 loss to the Spartans (13-9).

But the game didn’t start so poorly for the Redhawks. In fact, they had an early lead at 9-6 and were causing problems on the offensive end for Grundy Center thanks to big man Ryan McLean. The senior center was North Tama’s main scorer all season long, and it was his presence inside that gave the Redhawks hope.

Coach Alex Tagtow said the Redhawks base their identity in their post game and interior play, leaving little margin for error if they have issues.

“Everything we do begins and ends inside,” Tagtow said. “We kinda struggled to get some other guys going. We got a bit of that as the game went on, but I think it took too long for those guys to get going, it was kind of out of hand by that point.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

McLean finished with a game-high 26 points. The rest of the team had 14 combined.

Despite trailing by 12 at the half, Tagtow felt the team played well and was still in with a chance to win.

Those hopes were cut short, though, by the Spartans’ red-hot start in the third quarter. The run set the Redhawks back further and was a blow to the team’s confidence.

Tagtow said Grundy Center was able to hurt North Tama in transition, which made a big difference when the Redhawks couldn’t get fast break opportunities of their own.

“They came out with a lot of energy,” Tagtow said. “They kinda showed their depth and they kept rotating guys in and playing hard, and it kinda got away from us there.”

The fourth quarter was more of the same as Grundy Center pushed its lead even further.

Despite the loss, Tagtow said the season was a success, given the number of lineup changes the team had to make and the amount of games starters missed over the course of the year.

“Seventeen or 18 of our games were without two starters available,” Tagtow said. “We played one game out of 22 with our whole roster available. I thought our guys handled it pretty well.”

Grundy Center 69, North Tama 40

At Meskwaki

NORTH TAMA (8-14) — Devin McKinley 0 0-0 0, Luke Pennell 2 2-6 6, Mike Schrier 1 0-0 2, Zach Greiner 1 0-2 2, Ryan McLean 9 8-10 26, Tayten Payne 1 0-0 2, Austin Unker 0 0-0 0, Paden Ketter 0 0-0 0, Nathan Urban 0 0-0 0, Jace Hlas 0 0-0 0, Dylan Hoske 0 1-2 1, Thomas Hulme 0 1-2 1, Camden Clausen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14 12-23 40.

GRUNDY CENTER (13-9) — Cale Hendricks 3 0-0 7, Dexter Whitehill 2 3-4 7, Jensen Clapp 2 0-0 4, Brayden Sawyer 5 1-2 13, Wes Willis 7 0-0 14, Cole Lehr 0 0-0 0, Dayne Zinkula 2 1-2 5, Zach Opheim 3 2-5 8, Nick Voss 0 0-0 0, Nick Ascher 1 2-2 4, Trevor McMartin 0 0-0 0, Joseph Janssen 1 2-2 4, Austin Engelkes 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 28 11-17 69.

NORTH TAMA 9 9 9 13 — 40

GRUNDY CTR. 13 17 19 20 — 69

3-Point Goals — GC 3 (Sawyer 2, Hendricks). Total Fouls — NT 16, GC 18.