West Michigan Roundup, Tuesday 12/14/21

On our second Tuesday of the high school basketball season, it seemed to be the night of the favorite as upsets were hard to come by.

Storylines

• Rockford survived a scare from GR Union by hitting a half-court buzzer-beater to secure a 3 point victory.
• Covenant Christian took care of Caledonia 71-57 to get in the win column at 1-1
• Kenowa Hills dismantled Greenville 80-41 led by Javion Otten’s 16 points. Kenowa is a sleeper team that I am keeping my eye on.
• South Christian defeated Wyoming in a shootout 98-91, I hope everyone bet the over. The Sailors had three scorers with 20+ points: Vis (24), Vermaas (23), and DeHaan (21)
• Muskegon took care of business in their season opener with a 59-35 victory over Traverse City Central. Look for the Big Reds to make a deep run this season after a rebuilding year last season.
• Fennville turned things around after a 1-2 start to the season with a 57-41 win of divisional foe Coloma
• Kalamazoo Central narrowly defeated St. Joseph 50-49. The Maroon Giants were scored and fouled with time expiring to tie the game and made the free throw for the win. That score concerns me as the Maroon Giants have Gull Lake and East Lansing in waiting later this week. K-Central will have to step it up if they want to remain the top team in the Kalamazoo area.
• Gull Lake won a big home matchup over Portage Central 64-58 as they turn their focus to Kalamazoo Central on Thursday night.

Best Win: GR Christian over Hudsonville 51-48

GR Christian continues to schedule difficult games with their third game coming on the road at Hudsonville. GRC was able to defeat Hudsonville in a close one to bolster their resume once again with wins over both South Christian and Hudsonville. GRC will travel to Holland Christian on Thursday to face yet another talented team in the 2-1 Maroons.

Best Shot: Andrew Landis ½ court buzzer-beater

Rockford was tied 51-51 with Union until Andrew Landis knocked down a half courter to win the game resulting in an eruption of students pouring onto the floor. The video on Twitter shows an insane visual of Landis draining the half-court shot and running across the gym to the exit followed by the team and nearly a hundred celebrating students.

Biggest Upset: Loy Norrix over Mattawan 66-65

In a very mild night of upsets, Loy Norrix is the game the stands out the most. Mattawan entered the game 2-0 coming off a 35 point victory over Portage Northern while Loy Norrix had yet to play a game. Loy Norrix survived with a 1 point road victory knocking off a talented young Mattawan team that was climbing up my rankings.

Top Performances:

-Tyler Corstange (Gull): 28 points

-Davion Goins (Cassopolis): 27 points

-Kyler Vanderjagt (Northview): 27 points, 7 reb

-Aden Zank (Hudsonville): 26 points, 9 rebounds

-Jakhary Towns (Godwin): 26 points, 5 reb, 4 ast

-Andrew Brown (Three Rivers): 26 points

-Carson Vis (South Christian): 24 points

-Carter VanManen (Jenison): 24 points

-Jake Vermaas (South Christian): 23 points

-Jake DeHaan (South Christian): 21 points

-Jaleil Holt (WYO): 20 points

-Ryan Kiesling (Mattawan): 19 points, 10 reb, 5 blk

-Kylan Arnold (ZW): 19 points

-Cooper Geibe (Lawton): 19 points

-Bradley Richards (Calvary): 18 points, 7 reb, 7 ast

-Jalen Charity (Northview): 18 points

-Charlie Deutsch (Rockford): 16 points

-Javion Otten (Kenowa): 16 points

-Ashton Atwater (Otsego): 16 points

-Anthony Sydnor III (Muskegon): 14 points, 3 stl

-Jordan Briggs (Muskegon): 8 points, 6 ast, 5 reb, 3 stl

Game I Attended: Comstock 56, Hartford 42

I’m doing a Southwest 10 Conference tour this week seeing 4 of the members in action. Hartford entered the game 1-0 with a win over Gobles while Comstock fell to 0-1 with a loss to Parchment. The first quarter was all Comstock with senior guard Israel Patterson going 3-3 from 3PT range to score 11 of his team's 19 points. Comstock struggled from the field going 3-12 in the 2nd quarter letting Hartford back into the game by only leading 25-24 at halftime. Comstock separated themselves from Hartford in the third quarter with strong play from their star seniors Josh Allan and Israel Patterson to take a 44-35 lead into the final quarter. The final score ended up being 56-42 Comstock with Israel Patterson leading the way with 19 points, Josh Allan with 14 points, and JR Kellum chipped in 10 points. Hartford was led by senior forward Kaden Johnson’s 16 points and Tanner Kinchen’s 10 points. I was impressed with Comstock’s ability to contain the size advantage of Hartford with 6’9” Johnson and 6’5” Kinchen. The Colts limited what Johnson was able to do in the post and put him on the free-throw line for 11 tries where he only made 3. Comstock should be able to do some damage in the Southwest 10 and possibly compete for a title along with Centreville, Cassopolis, and White Pigeon.

Scores

Coopersville 51, Byron Center 33

Covenant Christian 71, Caledonia 57

FH Eastern 53, Lowell 41

Fruitport 53, Muskegon Cath. 42

Godwin Heights 85, Lee 42

GR Christian 51, Hudsonville 48

Jenison 64, Cedar Springs 57

Kelloggsville 64, WM Aviation 58

Kenowa Hills 80, Greenville 41

Muskegon 59, TC Central 35

Rockford 54, Union 51 OT

South Christian 98, Wyoming 91

West Catholic 71, Wayland 39

West Ottawa 57, Zeeland East 34

Zeeland West 71, Hamilton 66

Calvary Christian 70, Hesperia 19

Zion Christian 51, Black River 34

Southwest MI Large Schools

Edwardsburg 71, Paw Paw 27

Fennville 57, Coloma 41

Gull Lake 64, Portage Central 58

Loy Norrix 66, Mattawan 65

K-Central 50, St. Joseph 49

Otsego 65, Niles 46

Plainwell 40, Dowagiac 37

Parchment 72, Galesburg-Augusta 26

Sturgis 65, Allegan 52

Three Rivers 61, Vicksburg 47

Southwest MI Small Schools

BC St. Philip 48, Litchfield 39

Bellevue 68, Jackson Christian 26

BH Countryside 67, Lawrence 57

Burr Oak 67, Camden-Frontier 50

Cassopolis 72, Decatur 53

Centreville 75, Bangor 21

Climax-Scotts 42, Tekonsha 36

Comstock 56, Hartford 42

Delton-Kellogg 61, Constantine 47

Gobles 60, Saugatuck 49

Lawton 60, Martin 44

Mishawaka [IN] 80, Brandywine 42

Musk. Heights 72, Phoenix 52

St. Joe Lake MI Cath. 46, Covert 36

Waldron 39, Athens 32

White Pigeon 72, Marcellus 25