West Michigan Roundup, Friday 1/6/23

OK-Conf

OK Blue

Fruitport 56, Holland Christian 41

HC: Kyle Cannon (12 pts)

Hamilton 62, Allendale 51

H: Brant Goodpaster (22 pts), JD DeGroot (18 pts)

Unity Christian 57, West Catholic 53

WC: Jeremiah Jones (30 pts)

OK Gold

GR Catholic 76, Middleville-TK 57

Ottawa Hills 75, Kenowa Hills 53

• Ottawa Hills has played an extremely tough schedule thus far with losses to Flint Beecher, Benton Harbor, and Rockford. The Bengals came through with their strongest performance of the season defeating a talented Kenowa Hills team by 22 points. Ottawa Hills will enter my top 20 poll for the first time in a few seasons with another huge matchup on deck with South Christian on Tuesday.

OH: Craig Hureskin (18 pts), Isaiah Bradford (17 pts)

KH: Javion Otten (19 pts)

South Christian 45, FH Eastern 44

• Jake VerMaas three-pointer w/ :35 left gave South Christian the victory

Wayland 68, Cedar Springs 51

W: Brett Bultsma (16 pts), Elijah Maas (13 pts)

CS: Mark Oleneack (22 pts)

OK Green

GR Union 76, Wyoming 66

U: Marquan Ross (21 pts), Kyale Lockridge (15 pts)

Mona Shores 64, Holland 50

MS: Johnathan Pittman (21 pts, 6 reb), Ryan Oppsommer (14 pts)

H: Jacob VanHekken (24 pts)

Muskegon 51, Reeths-Puffer 26

M: Jordan Briggs (12 pts), Anthony Sydnor (10 pts)

RP: Travis Ambrose (12 pts, 8 reb)

Zeeland West 53, Zeeland East 41

ZW: Luke Bakker (14 pts), Merritt Alderink (12 pts)

ZE: Layne Risdon (18 pts), BJ Walker (16 pts)

OK Red

East Kentwood 52, Jenison 45

Grand Haven 59, Rockford 53

• Grand Haven picked up a strong home victory in their OK Red opener. The Bucs improved to (7-0) on the season with Rockford dropping to (5-2). In an absolute juggernaut of a league, the Bucs are now the current favorite with Rockford, East Kentwood, and Hudsonville all in contention to win the west side’s toughest division. After watching the Bucs play on Wednesday, it is evident that they have the pieces to make a deep run this season. Kyler Cotton was a glue guy off the bench that stood out to me, providing three-point shooting off the bench.

GH: Harrison Sorrelle (19 pts), Joey Basil (11 pts)

R: Andrew Landis (17 pts)

Grandville 52, West Ottawa 47

G: Tyson Mann (25 pts), Cam Regnerus (9 pts, 9 reb)

WO: Nash Bosma (19 pts), Theo Borgman (13 pts, 11 reb)

Hudsonville 64, Caledonia 60

H: Mason Dykstra (17 pts), Breylan McPhaul (10 pts, 5 reb)

OK Silver

Calvin Christian 71, Belding 32

Godwin Heights 79, Comstock Park 33

GH: Jahkary Towns (27 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast)

Hopkins 58, Sparta 50

H: Trent Baugh (15 pts), Jayden Prather (12 pts), Tristen Perry (12 pts)

NorthPointe 68, Kelloggsville 35

OK White

East GR 54, Greenville 37

EGR: Simon Neuhaus (20 pts), Drew Caswell (14 pts)

FH Central 56, FH Northern 27

FHC: Levi McKenzie (16 pts)

GR Christian 68, Byron Center 54

Northview 58, Lowell 41

NV: EJ Ryans (23 pts), Tyran Thomas (10 pts)

L: Drew Veldman (16 pts), Aiden Fitzpatrick (12 pts)

Southwest MI

Non-Conf

Buchanan 54, New Buffalo 36

NB: Sam Tripp (10 pts)

Buch: Thomas VanOverberghe (18 pts), Cade Preissing (13 pts)

Lakeshore 40, Niles 37

L: Jack Carlisle (20 pts), JJ Frakes (13 pts)

N: Jayson Johnson (13 pts)

Marshall 52, Otsego 43

• Otsego dropped their first game of the season falling to (5-1) on the year with a nine-point home loss against Marshall. Marshall hasn’t been very impressive this season entering the game with a (2-3) record following the graduating of key players such as Nate Tucker. The road will not get any easier for Otsego with the Bulldogs traveling to Lakeshore on Tuesday and closing the week at rival Plainwell on Friday.

Mattawan 77, Lansing Everett 42

M: Ryan Kiesling (17 pts, 11 reb), Ryan Van Liere (11 pts)

St. Joseph 71, Coloma 30

SJ: Kai Wyngarden (14 pts)

C: Tyrell Taylor-Owens (11 pts)

SMAC

Portage Northern 65, Portage Central 63 (2OT)

• Crosstown rivals squared off in a re-scheduled game with Portage Northern entering (1-4) with a victory over Coldwater prior to break. Portage Central had dropped two straight prior to the matchup. I’m not overly surprised to see Portage Northern take the first of two meetings this season. The Huskies are well-coached with Kevin White in first season at the helm following stops at Kalamazoo College, UW-Stout, and Aquinas College. I was impressed with their focus and intensity a couple weeks ago in their lone win against Coldwater. Both teams are relatively young and led by first-year head coaches, but Kevin White and the Huskies were able to outlast the Mustangs in a double-overtime thriller.

SAC

Bridgman 54, Fennville 39

F: Nate Griffin (12 pts), Ben Peterson (12 pts, 7 reb)

Galesburg-Augusta 63, Black River 46

BR: Josiah Thomas (11 pts)

Lawton 54, Constantine 38

L: Luke Leighton (17 pts), Parker VanPeteghem (16 pts)

Parchment 48, K-Christian 43 (OT)

P: Jalen Kampen (20 pts), Aaron Jasiak (14 pts)

KC: JJ Manion (18 pts)

Saugatuck 67, Martin 19

S: Will Ayers (14 pts)

Watervliet 63, Allegan 53

Interstate Eight

Coldwater 45, Parma Western 43

C: Donte Work (18 pts, 9 reb), Ayden Dirschell (12 pts, 9 reb)

Harper Creek 31, Hastings 28

CSAA

Colon 62, Climax-Scotts 49

C: Simon Vinson (19 pts), Dalton Williams (16 pts)

CS: Brandon Reed (17 pts, 8 reb), Miles Shannon (12 pts, 16 reb)

Bangor Holiday

South Haven 60, Gobles 4

Wyoming Lee 72, Bangor 13

Game I Attended:

Parchment 48, K-Christian 43 (OT)

On the first Friday of the new year (2-2) K-Christian hosted (3-3) Parchment in a pivotal SAC-Valley matchup. Both teams entered the game losing two straight games with Parchment dropping both of their games in the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament while K-Christian fell to Hackett and WM Aviation prior to break.

Parchment held the early lead with senior guard Aaron Jasiak scoring six in the first quarter to give the Panthers an 11-6 lead.

The Panthers struggled shooting in the second quarter, held scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. K-Christian senior guard JJ Manion was able to score on a couple drives to the basket while junior forward Bryce Broekhuizen added four off the bench to tie the game at 16 going into halftime.

The Parchment offensive struggles continued into the third quarter with the Panthers turning the ball over while K-Christian capitalized on several offensive rebounds. K-Christian senior big man Braden Vander Meer cleaned up on the offensive glass scoring four points in the quarter to give the Comets a 27-23 lead entering the final quarter.

K-Christian expanded their lead to 32-23 with 6:18 remaining to play in the game. The game began to take a turn when Parchment soph. Jalen Kampen was able to convert an and-one to pull the Panthers within six at 32-26. K-Christian was able answer with a JJ Manion three-pointer to extend their lead back to nine with 4:33 left in the game. Kampen once again answered with a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to six points at 35-29. After that, it was Panthers junior guard Darius Baker with a steal and a dunk to trim the deficit to 37-33 with 3:22 left. Next, JJ Manion split a pair of free throws at the line to give the Comets a 38-35 lead with 1:40 left in the game. Parchment tied the game at 38 with a three-pointer from Jalen Kampen with 1:32 to play. K-Christian slowed down the pace and was able to get a good look at the rim by Braden Vander Meer who missed but grabbed the offensive rebound and scored to give the Comets a 40-38 lead with :34 to play. Parchment held for the final shot and senior guard Aaron Jasiak made a layup with :3.5 left in the game to tie at 40 after missing his previous seven shots. A K-Christian last possession resulted in a turnover and missed three-pointer at the buzzer by Jalen Kampen.

In overtime it was an surprising hero in Parchment senior guard PJ Nelson scoring the first five points of overtime, providing the Panthers with a 45-40 lead with just under two minutes to play. Nelson had not scored in the game and was 0-3 from the field entering overtime. JJ Manion was able to provide the Comets with a chance by making a three-pointer with :50 left in the game to trail 46-43. The Comets fouled and Darius Baker hit two clutch free throws to seal the victory.

Parchment was led by an incredible 20 points effort from soph. Jalen Kampen, including 13 points in the fourth quarter on 5-6 shooting. Aaron Jasiak added 14 points while Darius Baker chipped in 9 points.

K-Christian was led by senior guard JJ Manion with 18 points while Braden Vander Meer added 10 points.