By Ken DeLaat, N3 Sports Photos by Mike Gesler, Alexis Mercer & Bobbie Cruzan Unfortunately our local girls teams didn’t make it past Districts this past week. Now the boys get their chance and we feature three of the Tournament sites with a bit of a preview and a few words from our coaches. Comstock Park District Monday Comstock Park (6-14) v West Catholic (3-18) 5:30pm Newaygo (13-9) v Grant (11-10) 7pm Wednesday Park/WC winner v Sparta (14-8) Newaygo/Grant winner v Fremont (10-11) Friday Finals 7pm The Comstock Park District looks to be an intriguing one. Opening with the third go-round between Grant and Newaygo Monday. The Lions took the first two blasting to a 20 point win on the Tigers home court then eking out a 6 pointer in the CSAA playoff opener. Newaygo has had a good year despite stumbling out of the blocks at 1-3 including a puzzling loss to an OV team who won only one other time all season and ended on a 17 game losing streak. Since then Newaygo has won most of the games they should have and played well against a potent Big Rapids team twice. They got beaten pretty badly by Hart a week ago but there’s a long line of teams that the Pirates have had their way with. Decker, Long and Nelson generally do the bulk of the scoring but Wells and Harkness are vital pieces of the starting 5 and the bench runs deep with Bazzett, Klomp, Grugett and Kerr among the players who deliver some energy when they enter. Coach Long: "This District should be competitive. There are a lot of teams that can beat each other so it should be a fun tournament. Sparta is the #1 seed so they are the team to beat but there will be some interesting matchups making it a fun week." Grant has a lot of weapons on offense as Obenauf, Swanson, Barnhart, Whitney, Rider and a few more can all put up numbers. The Tigers average 60 points a game and have been over 70 six times. They’ve been a bit streaky, though. After an opening loss to a really good Ludington team they peeled off 3 straight wins then promptly lost their next 4, followed by 4 wins in a row, 2 losses and another 3 game win streak. Coach Schuitema "We're hoping to shoot well, compete and avenge losses to Newaygo and Fremont and give ourselves a chance in the finals against the other side's best, which I suspect will be Sparta." Look for this one to come down to whether the Tigers can limit Decker on the glass and which team gets hot from outside. The winner gets a shot at Fremont. The Packers took a late January matchup with the Tigers on the Grant court but it didn’t come easy. The Packers have some strong leadership with the varsity veterans Coach Bowen mentions with one being the player that would be my number one choice in a pickup game, McDonald. I haven’t seen the Packers lately but after beating Grant they lost 7 of their last 9 games and while it was a tough run of teams… Coach Bowen: "I think Sparta is the favorite in our district. In order for us to be successful we need to rebound and play with great focus and intensity. We have been up and down all year and we will need to put everything together for two games to have a chance to win. We will lean on our three captains, Jordon McDonald, Chaz Miller and Gavin Richards, but we will need contributions from everyone." Comstock Park comes in having lost 11 of their last 13 including 5 in a row. They’re at home and playing a West Catholic team that has only beaten 2 teams. Allendale twice and Holland Christian once. Should the Panthers advance as expected they will play Sparta for the third time this season. The previous two games they failed to finish with 20 points of the Spartans The likelihood of the Spartans being the upper bracket team in the finals are more than a little good. Things can happen and upsets indeed do occur but neither the Panthers nor the Falcons can match the depth of Sparta Mason County Central District Monday Shelby (11-11) v Manistee (5-17) 7pm Wednesday Hesperia (4-17) v White Cloud (12-9) 5:30pm Shelby /Manistee winner v MCC (15-7) Friday Finals 7pm Give Hesperia Coach Worcester and his Panther team some credit for pulling out the wins they notched. Each was a close hard fought game. Beating White Cloud would indicate a 45 point improvement since they met nearly 3 months ago. Not saying there hasn’t been improvement but the Cloud hasn’t exactly remained the same team they were back then either. Coach Jones: “Mason County Central is the #1 seed and being at home,you would probably give them the nod as the favorite to win it all. But they have to get through the winner of Manistee/ Shelby first and Shelby just beat the host last week. Should be a fun week. In order for us to win it all starts with our starting five ( Strait, Ruether, Watson and both Robinson brothers) who must play well. But it's got to come down to the names that come off the bench like McGowen, J.Ruether and some you may not have heard of yet!” Holton District Monday Ravenna (8-14) v WMC (7-15) 7pm Wednesday Kent City (13-8) v Holton (1-21) 5:30pm Ravenna/WMC winner v.North Muskegon (17-4) Friday Finals 7pm Holton has not had a stellar year but barring an injury to one of their key starters they Hope to make a showing on their home court. Coach Swanson: "North Muskegon is the favorite in our district. I'd say Kent City would be #2. For us to do something in the tournament first we need Carter Brant healthy. He rolled his ankle tonight and we'll see how he looks at practice. We'd also have to rebound much better than we have this year, and keep our opponents out of the paint. When Carter Brant and Brodrick Fialek are shooting at a high clip our chances of hanging around go up significantly. A noteworthy stat for us is; in our only win this season Jayce and Keon McMillan combined for 29 points. If they could get anywhere near that we look like an entirely different team."
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