Boys Friday Hoops: Cards Clip Cloud, Cats Claw Packers

Photos by Bobbi Cruzan

Big Rapids 74 White Cloud 65
Make no mistake about it, White Cloud has a team up there in our county seat. On Friday they traveled to take on a Big Rapids squad many have picked to be the team to beat for the conference crown.
No they didn’t win but it took everything the Cardinals had in the tank to pull this one out as the Cloud rained down a host of triples on their hosts. WC took an early lead then after falling behind by double figures in the fourth they fought their way back in to pull within 3 with less than a minute to play.
Coach Jones: “We left everything on the court but just couldn't get over the hump. From there we played the foul game which opened up their lead at the end. 
Moral victories are hard to swallow sometimes, especially when your team plays their heart out. I’m so proud of them.”
Jared Watson finished with a game high 16 points including 4 from distance and Mason Ruether canned 5 from beyond the arc to finish with 15. Noah Robinson also tallied 15 including the late layup that pulled the visitors within 3. Kevin Strait,  who Coach Jones called ‘an unstoppable force all night‘, also reached double figures with 10.
Things don’t get easier for White Cloud (2-1, 4-2) next week as they head for Scottville Tuesday to take on the undefeated Spartans of Mason County Central before hosting Grant on Friday.

Montague 57 Fremont 49
The Packers and Wildcats were knotted up at 12 after one but the hosts grabbed a little momentum to take a 5 point lead into intermission. Fremont battled to pull within a point of the ‘Cats entering the final frame but fell victim to too many turnovers down the stretch as Montague secured the WMC-Lakes win.
Coach Bowen: “I thought we played hard but in the end we just made too many mistakes to win. Turnovers, missed free throws, and offensive rebounds killed us. We are a very young, inexperienced team and we knew there would be some growing pains. Our effort has been much improved lately but now we have to work on our execution. Our guys still haven’t quite adjusted to the speed and physicality at the varsity level. We will continue to work hard to try to improve.”
Jordon McDonald paced the Packer point sheet finishing with 20.