Girls Basketball: Griffith takes pride in clawing opposition

GRIFFITH — It’s been called boring and downright ugly.

Some people think Tom Golumbeck’s Griffith Panthers play a style of basketball that’s a lot like watching paint dry, or traffic lights change.

Is it kind of like running your nails down a chalkboard?

Well, maybe.

Yet to Golumbeck, assistant coaches Jack Gabor and Chris Tomsei, and their players, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.

In this case, the apple of their eyes is defense.

That’s right, in-your-face, annoying, stingy, miserly defense.

While a lot of teams pride themselves on playing good defense, the consistency the Panthers have demonstrated over the past decade is difficult to match.

Over the last 10 seasons, the Panthers have allowed an average of only 34.6 points per game. The team’s defensive average has ranked in the top 10 in eight of those years.

“Our defense is probably the key to our success,” Golumbeck said. “It isn’t always the funnest thing to watch. But for people who like to watch basketball, and the purists, who like to see good defense played, I think we do that. We try to slow people up, keep them out of the lane and contest their shots. I think our kids like that. I think they buy into that. I think in some respects, we’re kind of known for that. Our kids know they have to play good defense or they’re going to have a hard time getting on the floor.”

It’s no coincidence Griffith’s defense has paid big dividends the past three seasons as the program has reached the regional each year.

Two years ago, they made it to semistate, where they lost to Fort Wayne Concordia and finished 19-6.

A year ago, despite heavy graduation losses, the Panthers went 16-7 and made it to the regional final before losing to Benton Central.

As far as Gabor is concerned, ‘boring and ugly’ is absolutely beautiful.

“Ugly, but effective?” he smiled. “The memories I have of the last couple of years are pretty exciting of going up the ladder and cutting down nets. I had a lot of fun with it. I was excited about the last two years, so I don’t know what everybody (thinking that) about our style is saying, because I thought it was pretty exhilarating going up the ladder again in my career and being able to cut down those nets. I thank the girls for that opportunity.”

Gabor claims the same people who complain about how boring or ugly Griffith’s games are, will watch a fast-paced game and gripe.

“They’ll say, ‘What kind of basketball is that? It’s sloppy. They’re throwing the ball around the gym. They’re not guarding anybody,’” Gabor said. “So they’re excited now, because they’re running up and down the floor, or you’ve got 75 turnovers in a game. Come on, if you’re a pure fan, a knowledgeable person, you know there’s skill on defense. It just doesn’t get the attention or shine like the offensive players do, because they’re great shooters — or in the guys game, because they can dunk. How many times do you see highlights on ESPN of defensive plays?”

Golumbeck smiled when asked how emphasizing defense so much started.

When he and former assistant coach Tony Scheub — who took Culver to the Elkhart Semistate last year and went 25-2 in his first season as head coach — started coaching together at Griffith they had teams that couldn’t score.

“We had a lot of sets, a lot of great plays and our kids could execute them,” Golumbeck said. “We could get open shot, after open shot, but we couldn’t make any of ‘em. Six or seven games into the season, we looked at the stats. We were shooting 20 percent. Finally, we decided we should practice our shooting a little bit more, and started doing that. In the meantime, we knew we had to find a way to slow the game down and take time off the clock to limit their possessions, and really, limit the score of the game. We knew we needed a game in the 30s to have a chance to win. That’s really how it all started.”

While the tradition may have started that way, it continues.

“Defense is the most important thing in a game,” guard Sammi Adams said. “If you’re good defenders and they don’t score, there’s no pressure on you to score back. Defense is really vital to whether you win or not.”

Teammate Brooke Brinkley agreed.

“We like to get after people,” she said. “We like to make it uncomfortable for the offense, because that’s what makes them mess up. We make them work for every point they get. We don’t like it when they score.

“Griffith is known for defense. Defense wins games and offense sells tickets. It’s what Griffith basketball is all about.”

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