Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 56 West Catholic 96 The Grand Rapids West Catholic Falcons came into Grant tonight, and showed why they finished number two behind Unity Christian in the OK Blue Conference; a conference that also includes other heavy weights like Holland Christian, Coopersville, Spring Lake, and Fruitport. Both Grant and West Catholic faced Sparta and Oakridge this season. West Catholic beat Sparta by thirty-six and Oakridge by thirty-seven, whereas Grant lost to Sparta by two and Oakridge by twenty-one. So anyone who was expecting tonight’s game to be competitive was either delusional or a true diehard Tiger fan. The Tigers were chasing West Catholic from the opening tipoff. It took Catholic all of about two seconds to start a fourteen point run before Grant finally found two of their own. By the time the first quarter came to an end, Catholic had put up thirty points to Grant’s fifteen. By halftime, Catholic extended their lead by twenty-three. By the end of the third by thirty-six. The Tigers were simply outmanned and outplayed by this dynamic Falcon team. The Tiger’s, for their part, didn’t back down the entire game. Each quarter saw the score grow a little more askew, but Grant’s confidence was never shaken. Even when Schuitema ran into foul trouble with a little more than a minute remaining in the third, the Tigers continued to fight valiantly without him. Honestly, this was probably the best time for the Tigers to play a team of this caliber. The seating for Districts has already been assigned so it has absolutely no effect on the playoff picture. It gave Grant a chance to see how they may compete if they win their District and move on to Regional play. Last, it gives the Tigers something to build on and areas to improve that will only serve them in their remaining games and next year. “West Catholic is a really good team,” Joe Schuitema, Grant’s Coach, shared. “They play in a good conference. They finished second in that conference. Their coach does a real nice job of teaching a good brand of basketball. Obviously the score is way lopsided. But what we talked about at halftime is let’s compete better, let’s just not kind of cower away, and I thought our guys did that. All ten guys that got a chance to play tonight I thought did that. It didn’t necessarily improve the overall score. But we’re just building on this game, and kind of not worry about it as much because we have a rival game with Holton, an old NCAA opponent, and then we're getting ready for Districts which I think is kind of what we’re shooting for right now.” Both Seth Schuitema and Zach Barnhart put up double digits tonight with seventeen and fourteen respectively. Austin Whitney and Chase Geers each shot for six. Gage Cronk and Sawyer Carr each added four. Giovanni Fallador had three, and Jaxon Gragg put in two. The Tigers will finish their season at home on Thursday evening against Holton who finished second behind Kent City in the CSAA Silver Conference with a 14-5 overall record.
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