Gregory — a town known for its booming football program — has a rising college basketball prospect in its tiny town. 

The Gorillas are fresh off a 46-42 win over Bridgewater-Emery, improving their record to 11-7 and already matching last year’s win total.

In Gregory’s resurgent season, do-it-all sophomore forward Daniel Mitchell has regularly logged double-doubles, swatted shots and threw down rim-rattling dunks. 

And his coach, Jeff Determan, knows it’s rare for Class B Gregory (2020 population 1,221) to witness such a talent. 

“He’s a joy to coach and these guys don’t come along very often,” Determan said. “He’s maybe a once in a career-type player for us. We are going to embrace him as long as he’s here for the next two years.”

Mitchell, a springy 6-foot-7 wing, has already made a big impact for the Gorillas. Last season, he averaged 26.4 points, 11.6 rebounds and three blocked shots per game as a Class B all-stater — a rare feat for a freshman. He scored his 1,000th career point on Jan. 20 against Kimball/White Lake.

This season, his numbers are slightly down from the 2020-21 season. He’s averaging 19.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots per game.

But that’s a credit to those around him.   

“This year they are not quite there,” Determan said about his stats. “But there’s more balance around him. So you credit him and his ability to draw attention and find his teammates and share the basketball.”

Gregory's Daniel Mitchell throws down a dunk against Kimball/White Lake earlier this season. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)

Mitchell is regularly the opposing team’s top priority on defense and often faces double-and-triple teams. However, he’s focused on facilitating and impacting in other areas.   

“I am trying to post up more and get the ball swung around to my teammates,” said the soft-spoken Mitchell.

Mitchell logged 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots in Saturday’s win over Bridgewater-Emery. But Gregory received big contributions to secure the win. 

Mitchell went to the bench after being whistled for his third foul early in the third quarter. That’s when senior Jordan Songer helped navigate the Gorillas and finished with 17 points. 

In the fourth quarter, Mitchell hit a pair of free throws to even the score at 42-42. He hit a go-ahead basket with 1:23 left, while Noah Bearshield iced the game with two free throws with 23 seconds left. 

“It’s a pretty big win,” Mitchell said. “It boosts our confidence way more. We have guys way more confident shooting the ball and getting to the basket.”

It also gave the Gorillas a quality win as the postseason inches closer. Gregory will host Bon Homme on Feb. 18 in its regular-season finale before the region tourney. 

“We’ve got confidence right now,” Determan said. “We’ve had some tough losses and some big wins. Tough losses probably more early on in the year. We weren’t quite playing as well as we could have and we weren’t shooting as well. We got a big win against Winner that kind of propelled us last week and into this week.”