Grant 61 Reed City 52 The Tigers team has developed over a season under the tutelage of Coach Joe Schuitema and Fridays win over the Coyotes shows how far the Grant team has come. Trailing 44-40 after 3 and playing a Reed City team determined to stay close to the first place Packers the Tigers rallied with a vengeance outscoring their visitors 21-8 in the final frame and when their opponents began sending them to the line to get back in the game the Tigers responded hitting 13 of 14 down the stretch with Carter Chase going 8-9 Seth Schuitema hitting 3 for 3 and Cooner Vanderwilt converting both of his attempts Chase put on an offensive show canning 36 points to lead all scorers. Schuitema poured in an even dozen including a crucial half court buzzer beater before intermission that electrified the home crowd and Vanderwilt added 7 to the cause. Reed City was led by Cody Kailing with 21 points followed by Anthony Pelton with 14. The win puts Grant even at 7-7 for the season with a 4-5 mark in the Gold. Reed City falls to 9-4 overall and 6-3 in conference play. Fremont 54 Big Rapids 36 The Cardinals came into the game on a roll having won 5 in a row including a trio of close wins over Reed City Grant and Orchard View. The Pack had not lost in nearly two months and a win would give them a solid 10 in a row and keep them atop the standings in the Gold. A lackluster start saw the hosts outrebounded 17-9 allowing the visitors to build a 21-15 halftime lead in the Packer home barn. The second half was a different story as Fremont roared out of the locker room to overtake and pass the visitors entering the final period up 36-29 then slamming the door with a dominant 18-7 fourth. Coach Pete Zerfas: “We talked at halftime, made a few small adjustments and the kids responded. I think it really showed that we have been off of school as we did not have much energy early on, but we were able to win our 10th game in a row because we don't panic and we have multiple kids who contribute.” Braiden McDonald continues to make his presence known on the Packer squad as he canned a game high 24 points. Logan Karnemaat had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 7 blocks. Calvin Miller (7) and Julian Echavarria (5) scored all of their points, in the third quarter. and Chris Kennedy delivered a boost off the bench with 6 points. Joshua Zerfas dished out a half dozen assists while taking down 5 rebounds and Carter Moon dealt 5 dimes and nabbed 4 steals. Fremont’s win keeps them atop the Gold with a 7-1 mark, a game and a half ahead of Reed City and 2 games up on Newaygo. The Packers are 21-1 overall. Jackob Martinson led the Cardinals with 16 points. White Cloud 32 Hesperia 27 The Panthers held the lead heading into the final 8 minutes but they could not hang on long enough to get win number one as the Indians rallied to take the conference win. Panther Coach Bolles: ““I told the kids, this game has to be ugly. We’ve got to win with defense and keep them under 40. Well, we did that, but we struggled to score as the Indians also played solid defense.” Logan Balkema led the Panthers with a game high 14 points while pulling down 11 boards. Steven Holt paced the Indians with 11 points while Jake Foster fired in 9 and Trent Jones hit for 7. White Cloud is now 3-4 in the Silver and 3-11 overall. The Panthers sit at 0-7 in conference and 0-15 for the season. Chippewa Hills 71 Tri County 61 The Vikes dropped to 0-8 in conference play and 2-13 overall in the loss to the Warriors (2-6, 5-7).
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Lions Speed Their Way To Victory Over Central Montcalm
Story and photos by Alexis Mercer "Who has Connor Swinehart" screamed Central Montcalm's Varsity Coach midway through the first quarter, followed quickly by "this is too quick...slow down"! Those words sum up the game on Friday, February 1 quite nicely for the Varsity Boys as they battled it out on the court after an entire week off school due to the polar vortex temperatures and massive amounts of snow. Neither team scored in the first 1:20 of the game due to the intense defensive battle that was fast and furious throughout the entire 32 minutes of play. The Hornets scored first, putting 2 on the board and then Connor Swinehart quickly answered with his own 2. The hard play for both teams led to Swinehart getting an early foul, not a good sign for the Lions, who would need his height to compete with the tall roster for the Hornets. Back and forth the fouls went as both teams tried to adjust to the speed and intensity of the game. Francisco Rios for the Lions looked like his feet were on fire, dancing from one player to the next with lightning quickness. This kept the Lions in it in the first quarter, heading to the break down 10-13. The second quarter gave the crowd an offensive show, with Noah Cantu, Connor Swinehart, Wyatt Mortensen and Ryan Brummel all draining threes to open up underneath the basket and open up the score. With 2:47 left in the first half, the Lions were up 31-22 and three of the Hornets players were bent over, hands on their knees, trying to recover from the pace the Lions were setting. Heading into the locker room, the Lions were up 38-28. Swinehart committed his third foul quickly to start the 3rd quarter, causing his play to be more careful under the basket. This allowed the Hornets to sneak back in, slowly but surely with field goal after field goal underneath. With 3:00 left in the 3rd, the score was 43-40. Swinehart hit a 2, followed by Carlos Magana, putting the Lions back up by 5, but the Hornets refused to go away. After a foul and a made free throw by Central Montcalm's number 21, the score was all tied up at 47 and only 55 seconds on the clock for the 3rd quarter. Swinehart pounded in a 3 point shot to end the 3rd, but the Hornets had made the point that they weren't going to give up before the final buzzer. Only one 2 point shot by Central Montcalm was drained at the beginning of the 4th in the first 2:20 of the 4th quarter. Newaygo went 3:14 without scoring any points, but finally Francisco Rios got the Lions going again with a 2 point shot from the top of the key. Central Montcalm took their first lead of the 2nd half with 3:28 left in the game. The next two minutes were a flurry of defensive pressure and free throw shots. Noah Cantu put in another field goal, Swinehart made two, was fouled, but missed the extra point, putting the Lions up 56-53. Central Montcalm gained possession after a jump ball, then got fouled, making both free throws to put them back within 1 point. Swinehart ended the scoring with his free throw shot. And Newaygo's defensive steal sealed the game for the Lions. In the end, it was Central Montcalm who outscored the Lions in 3 of the 4 quarters with only the 2nd giving them enough of a gap to come out with the win. Final score was 57-55. Coach Barrette said of the game "Good win against a good team tonight. Been a crazy week and we knew things could be sloppy tonight with all the days off, but we were able come out on top." Connor Swinehart led the Lions with 21 points, Noah Cantu contributed 20. Kade Bhyuan helped with 7 assists while Francisco Rios earned 7 rebounds. "Carlos Magana played terrific post defense in the second half, he kept us in it down the stretch when we struggled to score," said Barrette. Girls Roundup
Stories by Ken DeLaat, photos by Alexis Mercer Fremont 42 Big Rapids 32 The Packers peeled off their 5th win in a row to solidify their hold on second place in the Gold. With area schools shut down for the week and practices weathered out by the closings a bit of rust was evident early on. “Both teams struggled in the 1st half to score as the effect of the long layoff was very evident,” said Packer Coach John Krim. “Big Rapids held a 4 point lead until 2:00 to go in the first quarter before we finally scored.” Calla Miller and Haley Zerlaut each canned a triple to help spark the offense And the teams limped to halftime with a total of 26 points between them and the hosts holding down a 15-11 edge with Zerlaut accounting for 5 of those points. Fremont pushed the lead to 5 going into the final frame then Natalie Jamieson caught fire. Entering the fourth Jamieson had put 2 points in the scorebook before pouring in an even dozen to help distance her team from the Cards and secure the win. She also took down 5 boards and nabbed 5 steals to go with her team high 14 points. Zerlaut also reached double figures for the Pack hitting for 10 points Fremont is 7-1 in conference play and 9-3 overall. Big Rapids now stands at 2-7, 4-8 White Cloud 61 Hesperia 45 The Indians were looking to start another winning streak after their 5 game run was snapped last Friday, but the Panthers were at home and looking to make it three in a row with a win over the Cloud. The visitors inched to a 13-11 lead after one and pushed it to 8 by the half. Once the teams came out of the locker room following intermission the Cloud took charge outshooting their hosts by a 26-12 margin to take control of the game. Hesperia’s Emily Bayle and White Cloud scoring machine Hannah Brown put on a shooting show finishing with 25 points apiece. To add to their stats Brown dished 4 assists and grabbed 6 steals and Bayle pulled down 10 rebounds. Olivia Bowman fired in 15 while picking up a pair of steals and handing out 3 assists, Jemi Perrin netted 9 points and Cassie Watson battled on the glass collecting 10 boards for the Cloud. Alyssa Miller knocked down 13 for Hesperia who are now 7-6 overall and 2-5 in the Silver. White Cloud is now 9-3 on the season with a 5-2 conference mark putting them in second place a half game ahead of Morley Stanwood and 2 games behind league leading Kent City Central Montcalm 54 Newaygo 33 “They showed tonight why they are undefeated.” Those are the words Coach Nate Thomasma used to describe the well oiled victory machine that is the Central Montcalm Hornets. "I thought we competed well and played hard against Central Montcalm. They play well in all aspects of the game and were able to use their pressure on defense to gradually pull away." The Lions held tough but the Hornets built an 11 point lead at the break and kept up the pressure pushing the lead to 15 entering the fourth and never allowing the Lions to get close. Jaylee Long hit for 10 points Jaxi Long nailed 8 and Emmerson Goodin led her team in rebounding with 6. Hannah Putnam fired in a game high 19 for the Bees. Newaygo is now 6-5 on the season and 4-4 in the Gold while CM sits atop the conference with a 9-0 record and stands 12-0 overall Grant 47 Reed City 28 |
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