West Michigan Roundup, Saturday 3/13/21

West Michigan Roundup, Saturday 3/13/21

The last full Saturday slate of the regular season took place yesterday with close games, upsets, and strong performances everywhere. First in the morning OK Red games, Rockford got back in the win column defeating Caledonia 53-41, Hudsonville beat East Kentwood by three 51-48, and Grandville used hot shooting to upset Grand Haven. Zeeland East beat FH Eastern in a rout 70-40. Many great games occurred in the Kalamazoo area as well including Otsego defeating Portage Central 51-48. Portage Central has now lost both games since coming back from their covid pause. Lawton nearly pulled off another upset falling to Mattawan 40-38. Watervliet was able to bounce back from Friday’s loss with a 62-56 win over Berrien Springs. Fennville played Marcellus in a D3 battle and won 59-45 holding Gavin Etter to 14 points. Comstock traveled to Coloma and played a strong game falling only 44-36 to the larger school. Lastly, Parchment is a team to keep an eye on. They have won five straight including three this week after Tony Williams was declared eligible. They defeated Plainwell 66-41 yesterday in a huge win.

Best Win: Grandville over Grand Haven 66-49

The Bulldogs seem to have the Bucs number this season sweeping the season series. Grandville is now above .500 at 8-7 on the season.

Nest Best: Centreville over Cassopolis 54-35

Centreville avenged an early season 51-48 loss to Cassopolis with a blowout today at home. This Centreville team is extremely talented and it doesn't surprise me to see them put up this big of a win.

Biggest Upset: Lansing Waverly over Muskegon 50-43

The Big Reds came into the game (11-3) with their only losses to Benton Harbor, Grand Blanc, and Zeeland East, which are all top-tier programs. Losing to Waverly isn’t a good sign if Muskegon plans on a tournament run this year.

Best Performance: Unity Christian’s Zac Velthouse (2021 G): 32 points

Velthouse is a flat-out scorer who has already dropped a 40-piece this season. He went for 32 on Saturday against Spring Lake including 10 threes. His final shooting stat line was 10/11 from behind the arc and 11/12 from the floor. Velthouse and the Unity Christian Crusaders are now 13-2 and remain undefeated in conference play.

Honorable Mentions:

-Zeeland East’s Trip Riemersma (2021 G): 26 points, 3 rebounds

-Zeeland East’s Ethan Houghtaling (2021 G): 11 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists

-Grandville’s Tommy Gregwer (2021 G): 25 points

-Coopersville’s Blake Stewart (2021 G): 26 points

-Coopersville’s Jack Castenholz (2021 G): 26 points

Game I Attended: Grandville 66, Grand Haven 49

I decided to check out another 10 a.m. OK Red game this Saturday. The vibe definitely has an AAU type feel and I thought it was hilarious that Coach Klingler of Grandville had his coffee mug in hand for the first half. Grandville jumped out to an 11-4 start hitting 5 of the first 8 shots from the floor. By the end of the first quarter, it was 22-9 Grandville led by Aquinas commit Tommy Gregwer’s 13 points. Grand Haven made a run in the second quarter cutting the deficit to 29-23 led by Bashir Neely and Nic Stump. Grandville answered every time Grand Haven got close with a three-pointer, in fact, they shot 8-11 from behind the arc in the first half. At halftime, Grandville held a 38-29 lead. Grand Haven came out of the locker room fired up going on a 10-4 run to start the half hitting their first four field goals. At that point, it was 42-39 and the Bucs were within a possession. By the end of the third quarter, the Grandville lead had grown back to 7 points with a score of 49-42. Grand Haven had one more run in them in the fourth quarter making it a 4 point game 49-45, but Tommy Gregwer hit a three for Grandville and there was no looking back. An 11-0 run for Grandville ended any chance of a comeback with the Bulldogs taking a 60-45 lead with under four minutes to play. The final score ended up being 66-49 Grandville as they swept the season series between the two squads. Tommy Gregwer was the leading scorer with 25 points including 5-7 from behind the arc. Corey Grant chipped in 11 points while Andrew Dukesherer had 8 points. Grand Haven was led by Bashir Neely with 16 points and Nic Stump with 12 points. This game boiled down to a couple factors: Grandville shot incredibly well and Grand Haven’s big man Landon Vanbeek extremely struggled going 1-8 from the field and almost every one of those shots was from the post. I was surprised with the amount of talent Grandville has although most of the players are seniors. Grand Haven on the other hand had a strong starting five, but nearly no bench as they put up two bench points in garbage time and that was it.