December 25, 2024
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Basketball notebook: Grady Thompson, Dubuque hooping in Hawaii

By Kevin Hieronymus
Grady Thompson (far right) of Princeton and the University of Dubuque Spartans are playing in the Hoops in Hawaii Classic this week. Thompson will share his experiences with the BCR in a journal.

Grady Thompson (far right) of Princeton and the University of Dubuque Spartans are playing in the Hoops in Hawaii Classic this week. Thompson will share his experiences with the BCR in a journal. (Photo provided by University of Dubuque)

Grady Thompson is going to play basketball while seeing the sights of Hawaii this week.

The freshman from Princeton is taking part in the University of Dubuque’s basketball team’s adventure in the 2023 Hoops in Hawaii Classic hosted by Hawaii Pacific University and the College Tournaments Hawaii LLC.

The Spartans arrived on Saturday evening and have been soaking up the sun and sights of Hawaii, including a visit to the Pearl Harbor Memorial on Tuesday.

Grady Thompson

Grady Thompson (Photo provided by the University of Dubuque)

The Spartans (7-0) will face Whitworth University at 8 p.m. local time on Thursday and Lewis and Clark College at 6 p.m. local time. Both are opponents UD is playing for the first time in school history.

“We are looking forward to what should be an unbelievable trip to Hawaii,” UD coach Robbie Sieverding said. “Our guys have worked hard fundraising and we want to thank our parents, grandparents, fans, alumni, boosters and all who played a part into making this trip happen. We plan to visit Pearl Harbor and take in several other events while on the island and can’t wait for our guys to have this experience.

“We continue to try and provide the best four year experience possible and how and where we travel we believe is a big part of that experience. We also play two quality opponents in Whitworth and Lewis and Clark. Whitworth played in the national tournament last year and both teams will challenge us in different ways.”

The games will be streamed on the UD men’s basketball schedule page at udspartans.com.

Thompson, the 2023 BCR Player of the Year, will be sharing his experiences for the BCR with a journal upon his arrival home.

• Experience in stripes: Friday’s boys basketball game in Spring Valley between host Hall and Princeton was well covered by the men in stripes.

Between them, Buzz Fisher of Sugar Grove, Brian Rewerts of Wyoming, Ill. and David Hasley of Abingdon have 109 years of officiating with 11 state finals between them when they took the floor.

Hasley has been to state in four different sports. Fisher, a Tiskilwa native, has worked three state basketball finals and Rewerts has worked two.

• Holiday Hoops: La Moille will host its second annual boys holiday classic on Dec. 27-29, including Annawan and DePue.

In girls tournaments, Hall and Mendota will play in the Amboy Girls Holiday Tournament from Dec. 26-28 and the Bureau Valley will play in the Warkins Memorial Classic at Erie from Dec. 27-30.

The Bureau County Christmas Classic will be held Thursday, Dec. 28 at the Storm Cellar between the Princeton boys and host Bureau Valley.

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