COLLINSVILLE – The Granite City Warriors show great promise for the remainder of the season under head coach Gerard Moore and the tough competition in the Collinsville Holiday Tournament should be a help for the squad in January and February matchups.
The Granite City Warriors fell in the fifth-place game on Wednesday to top-notch Lincoln 51-39, but the squad shows great promise for the rest of the season under head coach Gerard Moore.
Lincoln broke open a close game in the second half to take the fifth-place game over Granite City.
The Railsplitters led all the way through, holding edges of 13-6, 22-18, and 38-31 after the first three quarters, outscoring the Warriors in the fourth 13-7.
Tyrese Grose led Granite with 12 points, while Johnnie Smith added seven.
The Warriors boys basketball team members are the Stillwater Senior Living Male Athletes of the Month For Granite City High School.
The Warriors’ head coach, Gerard Moore, is a solid motivator of the Granite City boys. Moore also has the boys working together as a strong unit, so the remainder of the season should be exciting.
Key team members for Granite City are:
Tristen Riggins
Jaheim McDonald
Marc-Kell Longstreet
Mark Yarborough
Johnnie Smith
Trevon Bond
Kamdon Williams
Tryek Thomas
Mario Brown, Jr.
Octavio Huerta
Alex Boyer
Keshaun Borney
Elijah Grady
Kandon Williams
Ivan Gaston
Tyrese Grose
Bryson Lee
The tough Collinsville Holiday Tourney games will be serving a purpose for the Warriors. “It doesn’t get any easier for us,” Moore said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better, we’ve got to keep listening, keep working hard. Our coaching staff needs to be positive with the kids, and we’ve just got to coach them up, and hopefully, they can get better. Really, all these games mean nothing if you’re going to lose in the first round of the regional. You want to play well when it counts in the regional. So hopefully, we can get the kids better and get them to play better in the regional so we can win a game or two.” The most important thing is that both Moore and his players are enjoying each other and the team is working hard every day in practice. “Oh, man, the kids are OK,” Moore said. “I’m having fun with this group. I think we’ve got a good group of kids and it’s always refreshing when we have a good group of kids that play hard for you and do the best that they can do.” Granite City hosts Marquette Catholic’s boys in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff Friday, January 7.
