The Granger Spartans boys ended a successful season, going 24-2 with both losses occurring at the Class 1A state tournament at the SunDome.
The good news for the team – a majority of the players are underclassmen and will be returning for another season next year.
Granger opened tournament play on Wednesday with a 52-33 win over Lakeside to move into the quarterfinals against King’s.  It took awhile for the Spartans to kick into gear.
Granger went on a 24 point scoring spree that began in the third quarter and were able to outscore their opponents15-0 in the entire fourth quarter.
Leading the Spartans in scoring were Brandon Castro with 14 points and Mitchell Zapien with 11. 
Even though Lakeside was taller, Granger also took a 38-37 rebounding edge.
In the quarterfinals against King’s, the Spartans again had to deal with a taller, aggressive west side team. King’s eventually handed Granger its first loss of the season, 68-61. 
The Spartans would not roll over during the game, but continually fought back against a very experienced and tall Knight team. Zapien ran into early foul trouble before eventually fouling out on a questionable charging call. 
Leading scorers for Granger were Brandon Oswalt with 14 points and Zapien with 12.
Granger was able to bounce back after its first loss of the season, with a convincing 59-54 win over Freeman in a loser-out game. 
The win allowed the Spartans to play one more day for fourth and seventh places on Saturday. 
Zapien scored 21 points, followed by Oswalt’s 14.  Sophomore Andrew Reddout gained valuable tournament experience and improved his game against taller opponents.  Fellow sophomore, Brandon Castro at 5-5, also raised havoc with the taller opponents with his quickness.
Playing on Saturday against a veteran Bellevue Christian, the weary Spartans couldn’t keep pace with the taller Vikings and the team’s senior scoring man, David Downs.  Granger kept pace for one half before allowing Bellevue to build a lead in the second half and come away with the 82-61 win.
Zapien led the team with 14 points, Castro added 11.