Montana Western's Kyle Gruhler following father's footsteps with deadly jumper

HELENA Kyle Gruhlers first Montana trip, to check out Dillon last April, featured snow.

A shock to the Washington natives system, it prepared Gruhler for his first Treasure State winter and season at Montana Western.

Cold, Ill say that, Gruhler said with a laugh.

Its a rare, rare occurrence that it ever snows or gets below like 30 degrees [at home]...Coming out here was a little bit of an adjustment...

Summer was super nice, the sun is super strong, it feels good out here.

But once it switches, it gets cold and it gets cold fast.

Definitely been an adjustment having to wear a couple jackets, some gloves, a hat.

Gruhler, a 23-year-old fourth-year junior, became a Bulldog through Lower Columbia College assistant coach Allan Brown.

A teammate of Western head coach Patrick Jensen at MSU-Northern in the 2010s, Brown linked the Vancouver native with his fourth collegiate program in as many seasons.

Western enters the regular-seasons final week on the outside looking in for a first-round Frontier Tournament bye.

Gruhler scored 25 points, and buried an overtime-forcing bucket, in the Bulldogs 15th victory Saturday, surpassing last seasons mark and matching Westerns most league triumphs (7) dating back to 2021-22.

Its been one of [my] better seasons and its been a really fun year, Gruhler said.

This group of guys has been really fun and I think that all helps with it...

If youre having fun with the guys that youre playing with, then youre probably gonna have fun playing the game.

Gruhler is a coachs kid.

His father, Matt, guided Skyview Highs program during Gruhlers four seasons, preparing his oldest for a college experience he enjoyed himself at NCAA Division II Saint Martins University.

Its just been in my bloodline, Gruhler said of basketball.

When I was born, my dad was a senior in college still playing basketball...

He said hed take me to practices and everything.

Ive seen a lot of basketball, played a lot of basketball.

Id come home from practices and wed watch college basketball.

Growing up with a coach in the household instilled those indescribable intangibles that often make basketball easier.

Gruhler graduated high school in the midst of COVID-19, experiencing numerous 14-day quarantines while playing at NCAA Division II Northwest Nazarene in Idaho.

That campaign, technically, didnt happen regarding Gruhlers eligibility, but it forced the 6-foot-5 guard to play older competition and adjust to the college game through practice.

Western played Multnomah and Warner Pacific Universities in Portland in November, a Gruhler homecoming within 25 minutes of where he grew up.

His father, step-mother, and numerous extended family members attended, watching Gruhler drop a then-season-high 29 points against WP utilizing a jump shot passed down and honed.

That was [my dads] job in college, Gruhler said.

He did a pretty good job teaching me the basics [of shooting].

He kinda let me develop my jumper how each jumper is a little bit different.

Im not the most textbook, Ive got a little chicken wing.

You want your right elbow under you, mine is leaning out and I use my left hand a little bit...

He was a big [factor] in helping me get consistent with whatever I did.

Hed record my shots from different angles...Ive kinda been good at [shooting] my whole life.

Gruhler replaced that season-best performance with 32 points against Carroll College on Jan.

9.

Still the most single-game points scored by a Frontier player this season, Gruhler finished 13-for-16 from the field and propelled Western to a 2-0 league start.

Five weeks later, Gruhler knocked down a season-high six 3-pointers, his ninth contest this season with three or more made triples and seventh 20-plus point performance.

Gruhler, averaging 15.5 points per game, ranks fourth in the Frontier.

Hes one of three Frontier mens players averaging 40% or better from 3-point distance, is fifth grabbing nearly seven rebounds per game, and eighth shooting 54% from the field.

During Westerns active 3-game win streak, pulling the Bulldogs within a game of first place while maintaining a three-way deadlock with Carroll and Rocky, Gruhler is averaging 19.3 points per game on 60% (21-for-35) shooting.

If Western completes the regular-season with a plus-.500 league record, it'd be the programs first winning conference campaign since the Steve Keller and Zaccheus Darko-Kelly era (2017-18).

Its a brutal grind, Gruhler said.

Every team is good.

Any night, you can lose to anybody.

You play everybody three times, so thats a little different than anything that Ive ever been a part of...

At this point, its man-on-man.

You know everything the other team is gonna do.

Each time we play [another team] our play sheet gets a little longer.

Its been a really cool year.

Basketball is Gruhlers escape.

Watching, thinking and talking about, and of course playing basketball, transports the potential Frontier Newcomer of the Year to a space where, for a few hours, nothing else matters.

That focus and a determination to succeed produced Gruhlers best career performances in Montana, placing Western, a squad that nearly played for a league tournament title last season, on the cusp of kicking that door down.

[Basketball] means everything to me, Gruhler said.

Its been around my whole life.

Its been something I wanna do for a really long time...

My end goal is to, hopefully, go play overseas professionally at some point.

With how much Ive played basketball, I think I wanna go into coaching once Im done playing...

Watching my dad do it, I think itd be fun to stay around the game.

I don't know what Id do if it wasnt basketball.

Ive been doing it for so long now, its fully ingrained in me..

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