BLOG 32: Men’s team learning what it takes to win in GLIAC

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris’ Austin Randel (10) and Matt DeHart (background) work hard defensively during a home game against Ashland on Saturday (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

BIG RAPIDS – The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (on the men’s side in basketball) is a unique league this season in terms of the amount of parity.

The GLIAC boasts the No. 1 Division II team in the nation at the top (Findlay) and a Tiffin team that has had its struggles (winless in the GLIAC) at the bottom. In the middle, however, it is basketball combat from night to night as the level of parity has never been more evident in the GLIAC than it is in these days with the rest of the programs crowding the middle of the pack.

With that level of parity in the GLIAC, however, winning and losing comes down oftentimes to who wants it most.

“You really hope the Grand Valley game helped the players learn just how hard you have to play in this league to be able to win games,” said Ferris coach Bill Sall. “I think when these guys had to fight from being 16 points down against Grand Valley to fight back and be able to win that game … you hope that has shown just how hard you have to play to win games in this conference.”

It takes an intense effort to win college basketball games in the highly-balanced GLIAC. It seems, at least through the last week-plus, the Bulldogs have come to realize good things happen when you play hard and tough on defense: You get higher percentage shots, dunks, the crowd gets into it and you win games.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com