GROVE CITY — To stay on the court, Brian Giesler needed to get into better shape.

Now able to run up and down the court with anyone for the Grove City College men’s basketball team, Giesler has seen his minutes jump right along with his scoring opportunities.

“It’s been great. It was kind of one of those things where I knew I could do it, I just hadn’t done it yet,” said Giesler, a Slippery Rock High graduate and a 6-foot-3 junior guard for the Wolverines. “One thing that held me back was my conditioning. I put in a lot of work and I’ve showed the coaches I can play hard and not be a defensive liability.”

Giesler certainly hasn’t been a liability on offense for Grove City.

He’s leading the team in scoring at 16.3 points per game for the 4-3 Wolverines.

The 3-pointer has been his main weapon.

Giesler is ninth in the country at the NCAA Division III level in 3-pointers made with 30.

He’s 38th in the nation in 3-point percentage at 48.4.

He was in the top 10 and well above 50 percent for part of the season.

“Some of the best college 3-point shooters are around 40 percent, so to be around 50 and above 50 for awhile was shocking,” Giesler said. “Almost every time I shot, I felt like it was going to go in.”

Giesler still feels that way for Grove City team that has a lot of weapons.

The Wolverines are averaging a shade over 72 points per game this season and have three players averaging double-digit points per contest.

A fourth is at 9.6.

That has provided the hot Giesler with plenty of open looks this season.

“It’s just putting in a lot of work for the team and myself,” Giesler said. “We’ve clicked do far. Honestly, I believe we’ve had the pieces in place and we’ve been capable of doing this. I think we have a pretty talented team.”

Giesler said it also works because no one is worried about the final stat line.

“The way our offense is structured, it’s all about getting the best shot,” Giesler said. “I’m playing with a group that has so many options and no one is concerned with who is getting those opportunities. We all create for each other.”

In fact, Giesler doesn’t give much thought to offense.

His main focus is defense.

He said that, not his scoring punch, is what is keeping him on the floor for nearly 30 minutes per game this season, up from 18 last season and 10 his freshman campaign.

“Coach has been great with that. Defense is our main focus,” Giesler said. “If I can do well enough on defense, I know I will be out there on the other end.”

Scoring well isn’t just liminted to the basketball court for Giesler.

He’s already turned in a solid fall season for the Wolverines’ golf team.

Giesler shared co-medalist honors at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Invitational with a two-round score of 144.

He shot a 69 in the final round to share the lead.

Giesler also won the La Roche Invitational by shooting a 74.

“It was great. It’s so hard in college golf to play well with all the different things you have going on,” Giesler said. “You don’t practice every day.”

But Giesler was fortunate enough to have teammate and Mars graduate Christian Locher by his side.

The two pushed each other every time they took to the course.

“It’s healthy competition,” Giesler said. “He and I are great friends.”

Giesler has a basketball season to concern himself with before the spring golf season starts up in March.

He’s concentrating now on draining more 3-pointers instead of putts.

“That’s what I’m out there to do,” he said. “The rest of the team counts on me to make those.”