West Michigan Roundup, Wednesday 1/18/23

West Michigan Roundup, Wednesday 1/18/23

Southwest MI

Non-Conf

Schoolcraft 71, Centreville 51

The (6-1) Centreville Bulldogs traveled up to Schoolcraft to take on the (7-3) Eagles in a non-conference bout. Centreville’s lone loss came to Hackett Catholic by a margin of 43 points while Schoolcraft defeated Hackett by five points on Monday.

Schoolcraft led 6-0 early as Shane Rykse and Tucker Walther both knocked down their first three-point attempt of the evening. Both Rykse and Walther would combine for five made three-pointers in the first quarter, the same amount of three-pointer’s Centreville would make the entire game. By the conclusion of the first quarter it was Schoolcraft leading 21-12 with 13 points from breakout sophomore Tucker Walther.

Centreville began to chip away at the deficit in the second quarter. Matt Swanwick, a 6’6” sophomore scored on 3-4 field goal attempts to pull the Bulldogs within six points, trailing 30-24. Late in the second quarter it was Centreville senior Micah Lemings draining his third three-pointer of the game to trim the deficit to 34-29. That two-possesion deficit would not last long as Shane Rykse, a man with unlimited range hit a shot from just across half court to beat the buzzer and take a 37-29 lead into halftime.

Schoolcraft opened the second half up with an and-one from Eli DeVisser to extend their lead back out to double-digits at 40-29. The Eagles did not stop there, hitting four of their first five shot attempts to lead 48-34 with 5:30 remaining in the third quarter. Schoolcraft had an efficient third quarter, making over 50% of their shots and extending the lead out to 56-43.

The outcome was never in jeopardy in the fourth quarter with Schoolcraft leading significantly. The story of the quarter was Shane Rykse continuing to score as he put up another 13 points in the final frame to finish with 31 points. The junior guard is one of the most prolific scorers in the area and is an absolute “must-see” player this season with his unlimited shooting range. The Eagles closed out the victory 71-51 and improved to (8-3) with Centreville falling to (6-2).

Leading Schoolcraft was Shane Rykse with 31 points including 8-13 from three-point range. Sophomore Tucker Walther added 22 points, 15 of which came in the first half, and lastly Eli DeVisser chipped in seven points in the winning effort. Centreville was led by 19 points from sophomore Matt Swanwick while Micah Lemings scored 15 points and Harrison Gregory contributed 12 points.

Schoolcraft will travel to K-Christian on Friday in another significant SAC-Valley matchup.

Benton Harbor 71, Watervliet 68

The only other game in the area last night featured my #1 small-school team in the area Watervliet, and my #3 large-school Benton Harbor. Entering the game, Benton Harbor had not last a home game since 2017.

Watervliet led 15-5 early, but Benton Harbor closed the gap to trail 15-13 after the first quarter. Watervliet was able to hold onto the lead at halftime as well, leading 35-33. The Panthers had trailed 31-25 late in the half, but closed the half on a 10-2 run.

Watervliet and Benton Harbor were all square at 49-49 entering the final quarter of play, but Benton Harbor pulled away late to hand Watervliet their first loss of the season with a score of 71-68.

Benton Harbor was led by Grant Gondrezick with 21 points while transfer forward Brian Gillespie added 16 points, and Antwan Callahan chipped in 15 points. Leading the scoring for Watervliet was Tyson Williams with 24 points and Kaiden Bierhalter with 17 points.

Hats off to Watervliet for scheduling a difficult game like this. The Panthers will likely not see competition as tough as Benton Harbor the rest of the season. The most difficult game remaining on the Watervliet schedule is the rematch with Schoolcraft which will take place on February 7th.

Benton Harbor deserves credit as well, ending the undefeated season bid for Watervliet and bouncing back from a tough loss on Saturday against North Farmington. The Tigers still have two games on the schedule this week, on the road at Berrien Springs on Friday and Flint Beecher on Saturday at East Kentwood.