Leet, Grantham lead Indians to tourney title

Jake Leet shot a 3-pointer during Jackson's victory against Notre Dame in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament championship game Saturday at the Show Me Center. (Kit Doyle) [Click to enlarge]

Hunter Grantham said his friends call him by two different nicknames:~ Jackson avenged last year's loss in the championship game.

Big Red and Big Country.

"Everyone says they'll call me [it] because I'm big, red-headed and I stick out," he said.

The 6 foot 5 post player lived up to his nicknames Saturday night when he had to defend and match up against 6-8 Notre Dame senior Ryan Willen, who will play at Lafayette College next year and poured in 40 points in a semifinal win the day before.

Grantham played strong defense, holding Willen to just two points in the first quarter and 12 points in the first half.

The J-Crue, Jackson's student pep club, erupted Saturday night during the championship game against Notre Dame at the Show Me Center. [Click to enlarge]

He also played well on offense, netting 13 points, and senior Jake Leet poured in 31 points, leading the Indians to a 61-53 win over the Bulldogs to come away with this year's Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament title.

Grantham and Leet dominated throughout the tournament. Leet 84 scored and Grantham had 64.

Willen ended the night with 27 and scored 114 points in the tournament.

Grantham, who used to play with Willen when they were younger on a Jackson traveling team, found out Friday night he'd cover Willen. He said he was a little worried.

"He's a lot quicker, and I was worried about him pulling me out to the top of the key," Grantham said. "If he pulls me out, he's real smart with the ball. He can shoot, too. You had to be real close to him because he could get around me. But the boys had my back the whole night and they knew I was going to force him right because he's left handed. Spencer [Goodman] and Jake talked about it before the game and they had my back.

"We've got a great friendship. I was just excited to get out there and guard him and see what I could do."

The game was knotted 8-8 with about 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter, then the Bulldogs went on a 9-3 to close out the period.

The run was highlighted by the strong play of sophomore guard Nick Koeppel, who has been filling in for the injured Ty Williams.

With his team leading 9-8, Koeppel grabbed an offensive rebound near the basket and put it back up and in to give the Bulldogs an 11-8 advantage with 2:53 remaining in the first.

He then recovered a loose ball 20 seconds later that Notre Dame's Logan Glueck knocked away from Jackson point guard Marcus Harris.

Koeppel picked up the ball and went in for a layup to give the Bulldogs a 13-8 lead.

The sophomore then knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining in the first period to give the Bulldogs a 17-8 advantage.

But Leet kept the Indians in the game in the first quarter, scoring all of his team's 11 points. And he nailed a 3-pointer near the close of the quarter to bring his team within six points at 17-11.

"He knows how to get open," Jackson's Spencer Goodman said of Leet. "If we get a rebound, he's going to look for the open spot and we get him the ball."

Grantham said he and his teammates were not too worried when they fell behind by nine points.

"We all have confidence in ourselves and our shots," Grantham said. "Ninety percent of the time we come and do better in the second and third."

Goodman said the Indians just tried to slow down the pace at the start of the second quarter.

With the Indians slowing down the tempo of the game, Leet continued his strong shooting in the second quarter.

Leet's effort helped the Indians outscore the Bulldogs 15-10 in the period and come within one point at halftime at 27-26.

"He shot us out of the gym tonight," Willen said of Leet's strong start. "He probably had 20 points in the first half. He was one fire. We did a pretty bad job defending him. We knew he was on fire. We knew he was stroking, but he still got open looks and he did a good job finding holes in our zone.

"He's a cutter and slasher, and he gets the open looks. He finds the open spot and gets to the corner. He moves really well on offense and when he gets those open shots, he knocks them down."

Willen said Grantham did a nice job guarding him in the first half.

"Hunter and Antonio [Garritano] both came in and guarded me straight up," Willen said. "They made me get shots I wasn't used to taking and made me shoot some outside shots. They gave me a little more space than I am used to."

Grantham helped the Indians take their first lead since early in the first quarter when he hit a jumper at the start of the third period to put Jackson up 28-27.

With the game later knotted 30-30, Grantham went to the hoop, scored his a basket, drew a foul and scored his free throw to put the Indians up 33-30 with 5:37 remaining in the quarter.

"He's really strong down low," Willen said of Grantham. "He's strong down low and he hit a lot of 10-, 12-foot jump shots that helped their team out a lot. He improved a lot from last season. I can tell he's worked on his game. He's got a nice hook and he played real strong for them tonight."

The Indians outscored the Bulldogs 11-9 in the final 5:37 of the third and went into the fourth quarter leading 44-39.

Grantham extended the lead to 46-40 early in the fourth, scoring a field goal in the paint.

Leet later found Grantham wide open near the basket for an easy put-in to increase the Indians' advantage to 50-42 with 5:40 remaining in the contest.

The Bulldogs hung in though and were able to pull within three points late in the game.

But all hopes of a comeback by Notre Dame were eliminated when Goodman drove to the basket and laid it in to put the Indians up 58-53. He also drew a foul on the play and converted his free-throw attempt to make it 59-53.

"This year we came out and everything went right," Grantham said. "We just came out there and played our hearts out and finally got a win."

Jackson (61) -- Marcus Harris 3, Spencer Goodman 8, Matt Lang 4, Jake Leet 31, Hunter Grantham 13, Antonio Garritano 2. FG 21, FT 14-15, F 18 (3-pointers: Harris 1, Leet 4. Fouled out: none.)

Notre Dame (53) -- Nick Koeppel 10, Trenton Vance 4, John Unterreiner 6, Austin Greer 6, Ryan Willen 27. FG 17, FT 13-17, F 16 (3-pointers: Koeppel 1, Unterreiner 1, Greer 1, Willen 3. Fouled out: none)