West Michigan Roundup, Wednesday 2/17/21

West Michigan Roundup, Wednesday 2/17/21

Last night was dominated with Southwest Michigan area games as Greenville was the only OK Conference team in action with a win over Central Montcalm. No major upsets occurred as big favorites such as Schoolcraft and Fennville took care of business over Gobles and Saugatuck. In the Wolverine conference the only battle was Three Rivers defeating Allegan 35-32. Three Rivers is now 3-1 with their lone loss coming to Gull Lake. They are definitely a sleeper team to keep an eye on in the Wolverine Conference.

Best Win: Watervliet over Martin 61-60

The young Watervliet team continues to surprise with a win over a veteran martin team. Watervliet once again shot the ball very well and played great defense in the first half. Coach Dan Hoff has the team off to their best start since 2017-18.

Next Best: St. Joseph over Brandywine 62-61

I know this is a bigger school beating a smaller school, but Brandywine is one of the best D3 teams in the area, thus St. Joseph deserves some credit for this win. It seems like St. Joseph continually finds themselves in close games as this is their 4th win of the season and 3 of which were one possession games.

Best Performance: Sturgis’ Thomas Kurowski (2021 G: 31 points

The University of Chicago commit had a big day scoring 31 of his teams 51 points in a win over Plainwell. Kurowski will most likely lead the Wolverine conference in scoring this season.

Other Top Performers:

Benton Harbor’s Kentrell Pullian (2021 G): 20 points

Dowagiac’s Henry Weller (2022 G): 22 points

Fennville’s Ben Peterson (2023 G): 23 points

Martin’s Collin Coburn (2021 G): 23 points

Watervliet’s Andrew Chisek (2022 G): 21 points

Games I Attended: Watervliet 61, Martin 60

I’ve had this game circled on my calendar for a week after Watervliet’s hot start to the season. The Panthers facing this senior-led Martin team would be a big test. Watervliet opened the game on a 17-5 run which included connecting on 8 of their first 12 shots. In the first quarter, it was sophomore Tyson Williams and junior Andrew Chisek knocking down almost every shot attempt they took. Junior Brennan Bornas joined the action in the second quarter hitting 4-6 shots for 10 points. As the first half concluded Watervliet held a 37-24 lead thanks to hot shooting and great defense, especially from Andrew Chisek. Martin began to claw back in the third quarter led by 4 three-pointers from Mitchell Jager and 8 points from Collin Coburn. They also benefited from Watervliet’s Tyson Williams picking up his 4th foul less than a minute into the third quarter. Martin amped up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter trimming the deficit to 58-55 with 1:40 remaining. Martin ended up getting another bucket from Coburn to trail 58-57. Watervliet had the ball with a minute remaining and was fouled. They missed the front end but were able to get the offensive rebound and get fouled again. Then surprisingly once again they missed the front end and corralled an offensive rebound. Finally this time Andrew Chisek was able to make both free throws, 60-57 Watervliet lead. Martin’s Collin Coburn was fouled on the next possession and made one of two free throws. Martin fouled Davis King of Watervliet who went 1-2 from the line. 61-58 Watervliet led with 8 seconds remaining. Collin Coburn’s three-point attempt came up short and a putback was made as Watervliet came away with a 61-60 victory. Leading Watervliet was Andrew Chisek with 21 points while Brennan Bornas had 12 points. Martin was led by Collin Coburn with 23 points and Mitchell Jager with 20 points including 6 threes.