Lion Long rips nets for 21 in losing effort
The Packers leapt out to a 101 lead but the Lions behind a stellar performance by freshman Jaylee Long worked their way back into the game and got to halftime trailing by 4. The second half saw the visitors battle Fremont and finally knot the game halfway through the final period but the Pack held off the challenge and emerged with the win. “This was a pretty evenly matched game and was close all the way to the final,” said Packer Coach John Krim. “We were able to hold Jaylee Long scoreless in the 4th behind a great defensive effort by Chloe Shriver.” "It was a pretty good offensive game for both teams,” Lion Coach Nate Thomasma stated. “ Both teams played well in spurts. Both teams played a good hard clean game. Give credit to Fremont, they made the plays at the end of the game to pull it out." Long finished with 21 including a quintet of triples while Sophia Frisbie knocked down 8 and Madison Bush added 6. Daisy Hagen led the Lions with 6 rebounds. Calla Miller led a balanced Packer attack with a dozen points, Paige Vandenberg tallied 11, Anna Patenge scored 9, and Riley Sweet notched 8 for the hosts. Fremont (5-4, 2-3) will host Grant while Newaygo (2-6, 1-3) will be at home against Tri County
0 Comments
Schmidt keys comeback in 2 OT win
Fremont 75 Newaygo 71 (2OT) The Packers and Lions put on a show for a packed house of appreciative fans Friday night as the game took a pair of overtimes to decide on the outcome. Fremont started strong pushing to a 18-9 lead after one and going to intermission with a ten point advantage, The second half saw the full court pressure of the visitorss beginning to take its toll on the Packers forcing turnovers and slicing the lead to a single digit heading into the final frame. In the 4th Newaygo’s pressure continued to be effective and the Lions pulled into the lead by a midway through the period and increased it to a half dozen but with about a minute left in regulation a steal put it in the hands of Ben Schmidt who halved the lead with a triple. Fremont fouled and the Lions could not convert and with just a few seconds left in regulation Calvin Miller took a pass and launched a game tying three pointer at the buzzer. The Lions jumped out to a 4 point edge in the first OT but Schmidt was relentless for the Pack as he scored and delivered several key passes including a late bucket by Micah Whittle, but it was sharpshooter Bailey Baddis who popped in the shot from beyond the arc to send it to the second overtime. Once again the Lions grabbed the advantage in the second extra session but Schmidt hit one for the tie and Wyatt Kaastra launched one from downtown that found the rim to put the Packers in front. Forced to foul, the Lions put Schmidt at the line with 5 seconds left and he converted to finish off an exciting contest between a pair of tough teams. Schmidt finished with 10 assists and 14 points while Logan Karnemaat ripped the nets fro 19 grabbed 11 boards and rejected a quintet of Newaygo shots before fouling out with 2 ½ minutes left in regulation. Connor Swinehart battled in the paint collecting a game high 22 points and 14 rebounds. Mitch Karrip hit for 16, Morgan Manlick finished with 11 and Jacob Polasek added 8. “What a wild and fun high school basketball game,” said Packer Coach Pete Zerfas. "So many kids from both side played their hearts out and it was a back and forth slugfest.” “We missed our chances late in regulation” said Lion Coach Joe Barrette .”Credit goes to Fremont for making more plays down the stretch.” The win keeps Fremont (5-2, 4-1) in a tie for the top spot in the Gold. They will host Grant on Tuesday while Newaygo (2-3, 4-3) will welcome in Tri County. Cloud still searching for win #1
It should turn out to be quite a race in the Gold with three teams at the top and three more a game back. But it’s early and after a few more games teams will have been through the conference once and things will begin to shake out a bit. The Silver currently looks like a two team race and they face each other Friday. Morley has a good squad at 5-1, and 3-1 in the conference but the Eagles (7-0, 3-0) are blasting past teams and are playing this one at home. Fremont 69 Central Montcalm 49 The Packers showed no letdown from their emotionally draining, come from behind victory last Friday as they traveled to Central Montcalm and came away with a convincing win over the Hornets. While the team has struggled in the opening minutes this season there was no evidence of it in Stanton Tuesday where they put together a solid first quarter to stake an 18-12 lead they would hold to the final buzzer. “It was the first time this season we’ve led after the first,” said Coach Pete Zerfas. “Central Montcalm is a good team. We just rebounded well which allowed us to run.” Logan Karnemaat led the way in scoring and glasswork pulling down 10 boards to go with his 20 points. Calvin Miller continues to make his presence known on both ends of the court while tallying 17 points and Wyatt Kaastra knocked down 8. Fremont (4-2, 3-1) hosts Newaygo Friday. Big Rapids 63 Newaygo 59 The Cardinals were back home after being knocked out of the unbeaten ranks in Fremont on Friday and fell behind Newaygo early as the visitors took a 13-8 led after one. The next two frames got the job done for BR as they hit the half up by a layup then ran to an 11 point edge entering the fourth. The Lions made a run but ran out of time and the Cards joined Fremont and Reed City in a tie for top spot in the Gold. “We let them control tempo and made too many mistakes to beat a good Big Rapids team on the road,” Siad Coach Joe Barrette. Connor Swinehart paced the production on offense with 21 points to go with his 13 boards while Mitch Karrip and Kade Bhuyan hit for 9 apiece. Newaygo (4-2,2-2) travels to Fremont Friday. Reed City 80 Tri County 56 The Coyotes shook off their loss to Grant Friday and ran past the Vikings to remain tied atop the Gold standings. “We are getting there, we just can't put together 4 decent quarters,” said Coach Josh Delamater. The Vikings also yield a good deal of size to opponents more often than not. Bryce Hallman led all scorers with 22 points including going 7/9 from the floor. Tri County (0-6, 0-4) will host Grant Friday. Walkerville 71 White Cloud 41 The Wildcats ran to their 5th win of the season as White Cloud dropped their seventh straight Darrion Holland led the Cloud with 17 points and Steven Holt added 13. The Indians will be looking to get into the win column Friday when they host the Red Devils of Holton. Chippewa Hills 60 Grant 52 It’s a long bus ride to Remus but even a longer one home when you follow up a big conference win with a tough loss on the road. A loss that pulls you a game in back of a trio of league leaders at this early mark of the season. Grant (2-5, 2-2) will hit the road again on a much shorter trip as they head over to Tri County on Friday. Story by Mike Gesler
Photos By Catalpa Photography Grant 34 Chippewa Hills 30 The Lady Tigers of Grant were home tonight in a CSAA Gold Conference match up against the Warriors of Chippewa Hills. On paper the two teams appeared fairly equal, and on the court this parity transformed into an exciting game. The young Tiger squad has been steadily improving, and tonight they began to fire on all cylinders. From the opening tip off, both squads put forth a strong defensive effort making it difficult for either team to find the hoop. Both teams pressed each other tight, creating one turnover opportunity after another. By midway through the first quarter, it became apparent that if you are a fan of high scoring games, this was not going to be one of them. The difference came down to the battle of the boards of which the Tigers slightly edged out the Warriors. By the time the first half came to a close, the Tigers lead by four, 17-13. The third quarter though would solely belong to the Tigers. Grant was able to hold Chippewa Hills to just two points while gaining an additional ten of their own. That would put the Tigers in a controlling lead heading into the final eight minutes of the game. But Chippewa Hills was not about to rollover so easy. The Warriors bravely fought back while the Tigers began to make some mental errors giving away some easy turnovers. In the end though, there just wasn’t enough time for Chippewa Hills to overcome their twelve point deficit, and the Tigers celebrated a well-deserved win. “It was definitely a win we needed just because we have been doing a lot of the right things, and [the girls] haven’t seen the reward yet. To them the winning is the reward. So it was great to see them reap the benefits of what we have been trying in practice,” Coach Paulsen commented. “We make the right plays, we play hard, and I can’t even fault the girls ever for that. Our backcourt is young, and I think as the seasons goes we’ll get better. We’re not even halfway through the season yet. Chip Hills is physical. They didn’t quit. I thought we did some good things. Like I said, if we don’t turn it over, we have a few more opportunities to make some plays and stretch the game out.” While the Lady Tigers can celebrate tonight with a victory, more good news for Tiger fans is that junior center, Kylie Patton, is expecting to return to play next week. The prognosis on her right knee is a sprain, and she is just awaiting medical clearance. The Tigers were led tonight by sophomore guard, Kirstyn Throop, with ten points, and sophomore forward, Savannah Passage, with eight. Also contributing for Grant was Jill Arends (5), Nicole Whan (4), and Emerson Cole (2). The Tigers now go on a two game road stretch beginning with Tri-County this Friday and Fremont next Tuesday before heading home to meet Newaygo on the nineteenth. Gold Leaders Stay Undefeated
The top tier trio from the CSAA Gold Division continued to dominate the league Tuesday night with a three pack of wins over area teams Big Rapids 52 Newaygo 35 The Lions who were hammered by the Hornets Friday faced a Cardinal team known to grind down opponents with Jaylee Strickland headlining a formidable starting five and a deep bench. Newaygo kept BR in reach during the first half entering intermission down just 4 points but the Cards came out of the locker room on fire and pushed the lead to 15 entering the 4th. "We played a much better game tonight than we did on Friday,” said Coach Nate Thomasma. “The girls really competed well. Madison Bush, Jaylee Long and Sophia Frisbie led the team with 9 points each while Alexis Brocker and Daisy Hagen provided some strength on the boards." Strickland finished with 21 for the visitors. Newaygo (2-5, 1-3) heads to Fremont Friday while Big Rapids (9-0,4-0) will head to Stanton for a showdown of a pair of undefeated title contenders. Central Montcalm 49 Fremont 32 The Hornets came in riding a 9 game winning streak to open the season and possessing an opportunistic offense that can score in bunches They did just that Tuesday night during a first quarter that saw the Packers dig themselves an early hole behind turnovers and poor shooting. Down 21-8 after one the hosts regrouped but still reached halftime staring at a 17 point deficit. “After the first quarter we played hard and better the rest of the way but just couldn't close the gap,” said Coach John Krim Shriver also picked CM pockets to finish with 6 steals Calla Miller and Natalie Jamieson paced the Packer scoring with 8 apiece while Chloe Shriver and Riley Sweet hit for a half dozen each. Libby Ledford fired in 4 triples for the Hornets on her way to a game high 15 points. Fremont (4-4, 1-3) will host Newaygo Friday while CM (10-0, 4-0) matched undefeated records with Big Rapids. Reed City 64 Tri County 47 The third of the undefeated Gold teams stayed that way Tuesday as Reed City paid a visit to the Vikings. The Coyotes took an early lead going up 15-11 after one then edged out to a 29-22 lead by the half. While the Vikings were holding their own on the glass the visitors popped in a half dozen triples before intermission to stay in front. “When Reed City is allowed to play their style, they are very tough to beat,” said Viking Coach Chris Overbeek. “ We handled their pressure very well in the first half, we just missed too many easy shots.” Grace Miller poured in 23 points to lead the Vikes while taking down 5 rebounds and Emma Overbeek notched another half dozen points for the hosts. Tri County (3-6, 1-3) will be hosting Grant (2-6, 1-3) and Reed City (8-0, 4-0) will welcome in the Warriors of Chippewa Hills Monday: White Cloud 58 Mason County Eastern 20 Make it two in a row for the Cloud who dominated the Cardinals in their Monday night matchup With a well balanced attack and a great deal of energy the Indians ran to a 20-1 lead after the first and cruised to the win. Hannah Brown led the offensive output canning 23 points on the night while dishing off a trio of dimes as well. Alexis Straight hit double figures with 10 points to go with her 4 boards and 2 assists and Olivia Bowman stuffed the stat sheet with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Elexis Plotts held court on the glass pulling down 7 rebounds and Kayla Pasch came off the bench to hit for a half dozen points White Cloud (2-5-4, 2-1) will look to make it three inn a row Friday when they host Holton (1-7, 1-2). Teams will compete in conference quad on Wednesday
The Grant Wrestling team took 2nd place at the Kingsley team invitational on Saturday January 6th. The Tigers opened by defeating Roscommon 58-13, then bested Traverse City Central 54-16, before taking down Elk Rapids and Forest Area 66-6 and 70-0. The Tigers faced Gladwin in the championship losing 33-39 in a back and forth match. Going undefeated on the day for the Tigers with 5-0 records were Emma Morey, Hunter Humphreys, Jimmy Montney (2 pins) and Gabe Castro (2 pins). Earning 4 victories each were Jake Breen (2 pins), Billy Ostyn (2 pins), Joe Millett, Jagarr Jenerou (2 pins), Kalub Bonter and Austin Ulrich (3 pins). Drew Luoma pitched in 3 wins with 2 pins and Caleb Thompson also won 2 matches. That puts the season record for Grant Wrestling at 14-6. The Tigers travel to Fremont on Wednesday for a conference quad against Central Montcalm and Reed City. The Fremont Packers continued their season with another tournament placement this past weekend. They were 4-0 in their pool play before moving on to face Byron Center in the Championship round. After starting off at the 140 pound weight class and leading the dual 13-0, the Packers and Bulldogs traded the lead back-and-forth, with Byron Center winning the final 3 bouts. And the the championship 45-31. Every Packer wrestler had a winning record for the day: Cade Breuker, Trey Breuker, Parker Dalson, Elijah Rought, and Cody Routley were 5-0. Matthew Halasinski, Chase Knudsen, Kyler Kolk, and Chaz Wheater were 4-1. Matthew Long was 3-1. Eli Beasley, Alex Bordeaux, Seth Couts, Jager Kibart, were all 3-2. Gage Montague was 1-0. The dual scores for the day were: Fremont 78 Wyoming 3 Fremont 74 Lee 3 Fremont 66 Kelloggsville 13 Fremont 82 Muskegon 0 Fremont 31 Byron Center 45 Fremont’s overall record currently stands at 17-7 and they will host a conference quad on Wednesday. Story and photos by Mike Gesler
Girls Reed City 58 Grant 45 Even though tonight’s game will go down in the record books as a loss, the Lady Tigers are considering it a success. “We got better this week. The game showed it. I think we had 45 points. That’s testament to the girls believing we can still do it. I like the way we competed, and I like the way we played, and I think we are trending the right way,” stated Grant’s head coach, Paige Paulsen. The Tiger’s matched up without their starting center, junior Kylie Patton, against CSAA Gold Conference rivals, the Coyotes of Reed City. Patton is out an indefinite period of time after suffering a knee injury during practice. This would prove to become the Achilles Heel of Grant’s defense. To say the game was physical may be an understatement. Early in the first quarter, Grant’s junior guard, Cecelia Male, went down with an injury, and was unable to return to play. Turnovers abounded amongst both teams. And the refs were handing out fouls like it was a Two-For-One sale; some 44 between the two teams. Yet despite Reed City’s high pressure play, Grant stayed competitive the entire game. However it would be the lack of Patton in center that Reed City’s size was able to exploit under the boards. “I thought it was a great game, especially since we competed the whole time,” coach Paulsen shared. “We had to overcome a couple injuries, and everybody stepped up and contributed. Reed City is a very physical team, and I thought we held our own, and at some times even out matched their physicality. If we could have eliminated some of those turnovers, made some free throws, maybe down the stretch it would have been a little different, but it was still a great job of the girls to keep playing with that intensity the entire time. I mean down fifteen or seventeen and still making it a game.” Leading the Tiger’s effort was sophomore guard, Nichole Whan, with 19 points. Savannah Passage shot seven, and Emerson Cole and Angela Contreras both contributed six. Also contributing were Jill Arends (4), Brooklyn Presler (3), Alyssa VanSingel (3), and Kirstyn Throop (1). The Lady Tigers next face Chippewa Hills in another CSAA Gold match up on Tuesday at 7:00 pm in Grant. Boys Grant 59 Reed City 51 Grant’s focus over the winter break was to get healthy and focus on the upcoming conference matchups. The Reed City Coyotes would be their first test in a five game run of CSAA Gold Conference games. With everyone healthy, the only questions left was how focused are the Tigers, and can that focus overcome Reed City’s physical size? The Tiger’s wasted no time showing their fans that Reed City’s size was not an issue, and that their focus was dialed in. Senior guard, Tyler Naffziger, opened up Grant’s scoring effort with a baseline three, and that’s all it took to fuel the aggressive Tiger’s tanks. The Coyotes were unable to even put up a single point until the Tiger’s blazed by with 20 points of their own. The rest of the game would not fare much better for the Coyotes. While Reed City made up some ground in the second quarter while Grant played their bench personnel, the Tigers were able to maintain a comfortable lead throughout the game. “We started so fast. I think we made five threes in the first quarter. We shot the lights out. We are a good shooting team and inevitably you regress back. We knew they weren’t going to keep turning the ball over, and they made a run,” Grant’s head coach, Matthew McCorkle stated. “I’m really pleased with my bench especially in the fourth quarter. I had some guys, Cole Chase, knocking down some threes. I love to see that especially since we have been practicing hard over the break, and everybody got to play so I was glad to reward the bench guys with some run too.” Sophomore guard, Carter Chase, led the Tiger’s scoring effort with 19 points, and Tyler Naffziger closely followed with 18. Cole Chase added to the effort with 10, as did Michael Frey (6), Frederick Hull (2), Karlton Zerlaut (2), and Brett Long (2). The Tigers now head into a three game road trip starting with Chippewa Hills on Tuesday at 7:00 pm. They will also face Tri County on Friday, and then to Fremont the following Tuesday before returning home to play Newaygo. Girls
Tri County 52 Chippewa Hills 36 The Vikings have struggled with falling behind early this year but Friday night on their home court they raced to a 17-7 advantage after one then outscored the Warriors in the second to head toi intermission with a 32-15 lead in hand. The teams played even in the second half and the Vikes came away with their first conference win of the season. "We got off to a great start, but were real complacent in the second half,” said Coach Overbeek. Grace Miller canned 16 points to lead the offense while Dayoni Mahlich finished with 8. Jessica Thompson played well in the paint grabbing 7 rebounds. On Tuesday Tri County (3-5, 1-2) hosts undefeated Reed City (7-0, 3-0) one of three teams without a loss atop the Gold Division. “We are excited for the challenge," added the coach White Cloud 42 Hesperia 31 The Indians evened their season record at 4-4 and picked up their second Silver win Friday night. “It took us a half to shake the rust off from the long break but we kicked it in gear in the 2nd,” said Coach Kurt Brown. Hannah Brown poured in 20 points and snared a pair of steals while Alexis Strait added 8 points, 2 steals, and 2 assists. Elexis Plotts collected 8 rebounds and Layna Yeiter provided a spark coming off the bench to hit for 7 points while taking down 7 boards. Emily Bayle led Hesperia with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Cloud will host the Cardinals of Mason County Eastern (2-3) Monday night. Boys Chippewa Hills 57 Tri County 42 The Vikings made a late run in the final period coming back to pull within 6 but the Warriors pulled away for the Gold Division win Friday. “We were plagued by foul trouble for two of our key players all night ” said TC Coach Josh Delamater. Hunter Merchant paced the offense with 13 points while Chase Jelinski grabbed 8 boards to go with his10 points. Hesperia 59 White Cloud 58 The Indians took an early lead and were up by double digits halfway through the final period when the Panthers made a run to overtake their hosts in the final minute. The Indians scored to retake the top spot before Nathan Wybenga shook loose with 12 ticks on the clock for a clutch shot that proved to be the game winner. Jacob Klemundt fired in a game high 29 points for the Panthers to go with his 10 boards and 5 steals. Wybenga finished with a dozen points and 4 rebounds. Darrion Holland hit for a team high 20 points for the Cloud. Sean Kakoczki and Steven Holt dropped in 10 edach and Buck Seabrook fired in a trio of triples to finish with 9. White Cloud (0-6, 0-3) will travel to Walkerville (4-3) Tuesday in search of win number one while Hesperia (2-4, 1-2) goes south to take on the Cardinals of Orchard View (2-4). Fremont falls 47-24
By Ken DeLaat Big Rapids came into the game riding a seven game winning streak to open the season and took just 8 minutes to make it known why. Kaitlyn Ray and Jayla Strickland, two names that would be mentioned often at the scorers table, scored the first two baskets before Calla Miller knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 4-2. When Miller fired in a three pointer for the next Packer score it was already well into the second quarter and the visitors had hung 17 straight points on their hosts. The Cards have a number of offensive weapons with Kelsey Welch and Savannah Seath but it is Strickland and Ray who give opponents matchup nightmares and they seemed to be all over the floor Friday night. The Packers held the scoring in to get to the half down 25-10 but despite another triple by Miller and a basket by Natalie Jamieson early in the third the Cards stretched the lead to 34-16 entering the final frame. The 4th quarter saw Jamieson hit twice more but Ray scored the final 10 points for the Cardinals and when Paige VanderLaan scored as time expired the scoreboard read 47-24 and Fremont dropped to 4-3 0n the season and 1-2 in the Gold. It won’t get any easier for the Packers. Tuesday the third of the trio of undefeated Gold teams visits when Central Montcalm brings their 9-0 Hornets into town, a team winning by an average margin of nearly 20 points a game. Big Rapids is a good team but so are the Packers. This was a game where they missed the senior leadership of the injured Bre Harris on the floor. Losing the player who is your stopper, the catalyst that can turn things around quickly has a huge impact on any team. and while the Packers possess talent they are taking the floor without the player who has been the go-to person since landing on the varsity as a freshman. Help is on the way with the Noordyk sisters set to become eligible next week after being required to sit due to transfer rules and this team has the talent to bounce back once they adjust to the lineup changes. Calla Miller is developing into a solid player in her freshman year and played with a great deal of heart as well as skill in a losing effort. VandenBerg seems to be gaining confidence while Riley Sweet and Katie Nicolas go all out all the time. Chloe Shriver and Anna Patenge help underneath and the bench while a bit thin in numbers right now, can be counted on to hold their own. More importantly the girls never quit. Coach John Krim’s team kept pushing, kept fighting and kept working to the final buzzer. They may have been disheartened by the defeat but it never showed during the game and that level of character will help them regroup, make adjustments and begin to win again. In a little more than a month they will face the Cardinals again in Big Rapids and while they might not win they will fare better than they did on this night. Much better would be my guess. Packers pull off dramatic comeback to clip Cards 54-49.
By Ken DeLaat The very definition of 'barn burner' took place at Fremont High School Friday night. A game that featured a cool and confident Cardinal squad that had won their first four games. Not, perhaps in the dominant fashion they displayed the past couple of years when the Cards commanded the conference and posted just 5 regular season losses over 2 seasons. Those Demetri Martin led teams blew teams out of the gym early and often but Martin is now plying his trade at D-II Northwood University. Still, they were undefeated and played with the swagger that comes from being accustomed to winning. Braeden Childress, Jackson Lund and Dorian Martin can shoot it or sling it around to a talented group of collaborators and the Cardinals have several who can hit from a distance. The Pack could have easily been back on their heels a bit. After a promising start with a pair of wins over less talented teams they were deftly handled by Sparta.Three days later the Pack traveled north and took a drubbing in that haven of horror for visiting teams the Coyotes call home. They limped back to Fremont having put up just 30 points and once again committing an ocean of turnovers as they had in the Sparta game. But that was then. When Calvin Miller hit the first bucket he gave the Packers the only lead they would have for the next 29 ½ minutes. Childress answered with a triple, the first of 11 straight Cardinal points before marksman Bailey Baddis nailed a vital shot from beyond the arc halfway through the period to stem the tide a bit. Lund knocked down 2 in a row for the visitors as the quarter was winding down and it looked like trouble for Fremont with the Cards holding a 10 point edge and getting ready to pull away.Carter Moon got sent to the line for the Packers and drained both shots then after a quick stop Miller cashed in with a basket to end the first with the Fremont deficit down to a half dozen. The second quarter saw the Pack fighting to stay within reach of the quickstrike Cards. BR pushed the lead to 9 only to see Miller and Logan Karnemaat whittle it down to 5. A 3 pointer by Childress boosted the lead to 8 before the hosts began breaking the press with Ben Schmidt finding Karnemaat on a half court pass, Baddis firing in another baseline triple and Miller muscling in a basket to knot the game at 23. BR returned blows getting another Childress three before a late untimely foul got Lund to the line for a pair and the teams went to intermission with the Cards up 28-23. The teams came out of the locker room and began what looked like a prize fight. BR fired in baskets while Fremont countered with 3 pointers from Wyatt Kaastra, Baddis and Miller as they inched their way back within a point before BR ran off the last 6 to enter the final frame holding a 41-34 edge. Early in the 4th the Cards jumped out to a 9 point lead and were looking to deliver the final punches for the win, but the Packers weren’t ready to go down. Kaastra electrified a crowd who had been quieted by the most recent Cardinal run by ripping a three. The Pack followed with a defensive stop and got the ball back into the hands of Baddis who promptly fired in his fourth 3 pointer followed by another Kaastra triple off another stop. BR fell short again and when Miller tied the game with a hard fought bucket the home crowd roared its approval. Now the Cardinals seemed to be the team under pressure as an unforced turnover resulted in a Karnemaat basket and with 2 ½ minutes left in the game The Pack had finally regained the lead. A lead they would not let it go of again. The last minutes were a blur. The Cards turned it over again. They called time out to regroup. They were forced to foul 4 times to get Fremont into the penalty and when they finally did, Schmidt hit the front end of the 1:1 to stretch the lead to 3. The next possession the Cards tried a quick three that landed in the hands of Miller. The final half minute saw the visitors desperately trying to make something happen but the Packers were not about to let this one get away. They had crawled back from a double digit deficit against a team that had not lost a conference game in their last 34 tries. They had picked themselves up after a disastrous defeat and willed their way to an important win. This was their game. They owned it. And the Packer crowd showered them with affection for the way they earned it. Miller had an outstanding night with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. He was an absolute workhorse in the paint. The 4 triples by Baddis netted him an even dozen points and Karnemaat also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points to go with his 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. Ben Schmidt had 9 assists in addition to putting on a defensive clinic. “I'm very proud of my boys tonight, facing adversity throughout the game and just competing and battling through it,” said Coach Zerfas. “If we continue to compete and battle like that we will be ok.” Fremont (3-2, 2-1) finds themselves in a five way tie for first place in the Gold after Grant knocked Reed City from the undefeated ranks Friday. They will travel to Central Montcalm (3-4, 1-2) for a Tuesday game. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |