West Michigan Roundup, Thursday 1/27/22

West Michigan Roundup, Thursday 1/27/22

Scores and summaries from the seven games around Southwest Michigan on Thursday night.

Southwest MI D1-D2

• BC Central 46, St. Joseph 44

BC Central ends a two-game losing skid with a road victory at St. Joseph. BC Central is now (7-5) ahead of a big matchup against Benton Harbor on Tuesday. St. Joseph drops to (5-7) and will play at Niles on Tuesday.

• Gull Lake 56, Loy Norrix 47

Gull Lake completed the second leg of their three-game stretch this week with a road win against an underrated Loy Norrix team. The Blue Devils have now won five straight improving to (8-3) ahead of the big matchup on Saturday against Parchment. Things won’t get easier for Gull Lake as next week they will take on an always strong Otsego program and then K-Central at home, potentially for the division title.

• Kalamazoo Central 60, BC Lakeview 48

K-Central wins their seventh straight game to improve to (9-4). The Maroon Giants are one of the hottest teams in the state right now and I would bet that nobody wants to see them on their schedule at the moment. K-Central will play one game next week but it is the crucial divisional matchup at Gull Lake.

• Lakeshore 43, Portage Central 21

Lakeshore completed the season sweep of Portage Central with a big home victory. The Lancers held the Mustangs to just 21 points. Lakeshore senior forward TJ Mitchell outscored the Mustangs by himself scoring 23 points. The Lancers improve to (7-4) on the season and bounce back from Tuesday’s double-digit road loss at Gull Lake. Lakeshore will be back in action next Friday hosting St. Joseph.

• Mattawan 47, Portage Northern 31

Southwest MI D3-D4

• Calhoun Christian 56, Heritage Christian 40
• River Valley 59, Howardsville Christian 41

River Valley picked up a road win at Howardsville Christian improving to (7-2) on the season. River Valley will have a pivotal game on Friday at home against Eau Claire that could potentially earn them a spot in the top ten of my D3-D4 area rankings.

Game I Attended:

Mattawan 47, Portage Northern 31

Earlier this season Mattawan defeated Portage Northern by 35 points in their first meeting of the year. This time around Mattawan traveled to Portage Northern to face the (1-9) Huskies who were in search of their first conference win of the season. Both teams got off to rough starts shooting the ball and we were locked into a 10-10 tie after the first quarter. Portage Northern opened the second quarter up with a three-pointer from Jackson Mofford to take a 13-10 lead. The story of the second quarter was Mattawan being unable to get anything to go through the basket. The Wildcats were held to one made field goal in the quarter on 16 shots. Portage Northern was able to take a 22-13 lead into halftime led by 8 points from junior forward Cane Mack. The third quarter was the turning point in the game with Mattawan opening it up on a 16-0 run over the course of 5 minutes. The Wildcats pressured the ball and Portage Northern crumbled with turnovers leading to easy points for Mattawan. Portage Northern was held scoreless until the 2:14 mark of the third quarter, and by then they were trailing by five points. Sophomore forward Connor Walsh had an outstanding second half for Mattawan scoring 18 of his 20 points while shooting 7-11 from the floor. Walsh also knocked down 3 of 4 from three-point range in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats routed Portage Northern. Mattawan ended up outscoring Portage Northern 34-9 in the second half and cruised to an easy victory. Connor Walsh led the team with 20 points and 4 rebounds while Ryan Kiesling added 9 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks. The lone bright spot for Portage Northern was a strong game from junior Cane Mack who scored 14 points leading the Huskies. Mattawan will face Charlotte on Tuesday in a non-conference matchup while Portage Northern will host Three Rivers.