West Michigan Roundup, Saturday 3/27/21

West Michigan Roundup, Saturday 3/27/21

Best Wins

• Lawton over Watervliet 49-38
  • Lawton claimed their first district title since 1986 with a double-digit victory over Watervliet. After falling by 11 to Watervliet in the first meeting, Lawton has beat them twice in the past three weeks. Cooper Geibe led the Blue Devils with 17 points.
• Grand Haven over Muskegon 66-51
  • Grand Haven handed coach Keith Guy his first ever district loss (47-1). The Bucs have had an up and down season losing 4 of their final 7 games, but pulled off a huge win over Muskegon. Harrison Sorrelle led with 20 points & 7 rebounds, Bashir Neely had 17 points, and Landon VanBeek had 12 points & 12 rebounds
• East Grand Rapids over Caledonia 43-40
  • EGR was one of the first programs in the area to be hit with a covid pause as they didn’t play from March 3-March 16. They came back and lost by 26 to FHC in their final regular season game. The Pioneers won both district games by one possession. They will have a tough test next game against undefeated Zeeland East.
• Catholic Central over Unity Christian 71-52
  • In a highly anticipated matchup Catholic Central won in blowout fashion. Unity’s only two losses came to D1 schools Hudsonville and Zeeland East while they went 14-0 in conference play. Catholic Central is showing why they are one of the favorites to take the Division 2 title. Kaden Brown led with 23 points while Jordan Brooks added 20 points.
• FH Northern over FH Central 62-54
  • In the third matchup between the rivals this season, FHN came away with another victory. It wasn’t easy as FHN was trailing late in the third quarter, but a strong fourth quarter created the separation between the teams. Ethan Erickson led FHN with 19 points while Trinidad Chambliss had 16 points.

Top Performances:

Kaden George (Spring Lake): 33 points

Grant Gondrezick II (Lakeshore): 29 points

Tyler DeGroote (Schoolcraft): 27 points, 14 rebounds

Blake Stewart (Coopersville): 25 points

Jason Jergens (Howardsville Chr.): 23 points, 7 rebounds

Kaden Brown (Catholic Central): 23 points

Kentrell Pullian (Benton Harbor): 23 points

Tristen Perry (Hopkins): 23 points

Josh Parks (Howardsville Chr.): 21 points, 6 rebounds

Harrison Sorrelle (Grand Haven): 20 points, 7 rebounds

Jordan Brooks (Catholic Central): 20 points

Jalen Overway (Holland Christian): 19 points, 13 rebounds

Ethan Erickson (FH Northern): 19 points

Finlay Tate (Paw Paw): 18 points

Jake DeHaan (South Christian): 18 points

Nate Claerbaut (Zeeland East): 14 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks

Game I Attended: Kalamazoo Christian 50, Comstock 47

Comstock has been a great story this season turning around a (6-15) season last year to (10-3) this year. The Colts were looking for their first district title since 2008. K-Christian opened the game on an 11-4 run, having their way in the paint while Comstock struggled to hit shots. After one quarter K-Christian led 22-7 led by 8 points from JJ Manion on 2-2 from 3PT. The second quarter was a completely different story with K-Christian looking clueless from the Comstock zone. Comstock held K-Christian to 0-14 from the field as the Comets got their only 3 points from the free throw line. By halftime Comstock had clawed back to a 5 point deficit trailing 25-20. Comstock came out of the half with the same intensity from the second quarter outsourcing K-Christian 17-6 to take a 37-31 lead. The Colts went 8-11 from the floor in the third quarter led by Israel Patterson’s 8 points on 3-4 FG. K-Christian meanwhile continued to struggle with only two made field goals while JJ Manion went 0-5. Within the first two minutes of the fourth quarter K-Christian went on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 37-36. The Comets regained a 40-39 lead with 3:40 remaining. The Colts quickly answered with a three from Masson Mollohan to pull ahead 42-40. Following that, K-Christian’s Willem de Jong converted an and-1 layup to give the Comets a 43-42 lead. K-Christian scored again to go up three points, until Comstock made a shot to make the game 45-44. With only 1:11 remaining Comstock chose to foul and extend the game while K-Christian split a pair of free throws. Trailing 46-44, Comstock’s Kyle Mortimer missed a three pointer and the Colts were forced to foul again. K-Christian split another pair and Comstock missed again. The Colts trailed 49-44 until Kyle Mortimer hit a three pointer to make it 49-47 with :16 left. Comstock had one more chance after K-Christian split a pair of free throws. It was once again Kyle Mortimer taking the three pointer for the tie, but it did not fall. K-Christian took the district title with a 50-47 victory. Leading the Comets was Willem de Jong with 18 points, JJ Manion with 14 points, and Brandon Devries with 8 points. The Colts were led by Kyle Mortimer and Israel Patterson each with 13 points. K-Christian moves on to face Centreville in regionals. Comstock will return several key players next season including Israel Patterson, JR Kellum, and Masson Mollohan.