Eagles Boys Basketball Drops Home Opener to Kearney

by John Unrein

The Eagles Boys Basketball team returned home on Wednesday, December 11 after starting the season on the road for nearly a month. Grain Valley dropped their first home game by a score of 59-39 to the visiting Kearney Bulldogs. Junior Forward Josh Kilpatrick was active during the game with work rebounding on the boards and his play inside the lane.

“We are still defining roles. It’s been a tough process because we have a couple of guys who are going to be a big part of our team. When we got our whole roster together, I think we’ll make a big jump,” Eagles Head Coach Andy Herbert said.

Currently, the boys’ varsity roster is made up of four seniors, five juniors, and one sophomore.

“It has been good for some other guys to get minutes that they may not have gotten if we were completely healthy. At this point, we have no room for error. Once we get some of the mental and effort errors out of the way, we’ll continue to improve. We should be a team that is tough to beat in January and February,” Herbert said.

The Eagles are back on the road to face conference rival Platte County on December 14th.

Senior Kevin Gutierrez attempts a free throw from the foul line. Photo credit: Valley News staff

Junior Josh Kilpatrick attempts a shot on goal in the first half. Photo credit: Valley News staff