West Michigan Roundup, Thursday 12/16/21

West Michigan Roundup, Thursday 12/16/21

The Thursday before Christmas break always provides a decent amount of games. Last night it featured a couple OK-Conference matchups and some fantastic games down in Kalamazoo.

• Caledonia took care of Middleville-TK 68-39 to improve to 2-1.
• GR Christian boosted their resume once again with a 47-44 road win over Holland Christian. The Eagles are now 3-1 with their next game coming on December 29 at Cornerstone against Saginaw Nouvel.
• Loy Norrix defeated Portage Northern 50-44 to improve to 2-0 with their next matchup occurring on December 28 at the Chuck Turner Classic in Battle Creek
• Portage Central earned their first win of the season after an 0-3 start by beating Mattawan 55-45. Mattawan has now dropped two straight to fall to 2-2.
• The Sturgis duo of J.J. Stevens and Jacob Thompson combined for 47 of their teams 52 points in a 52-36 victory over Dowagiac as Sturgis is now 3-1 and a perfect 3-0 in conference play.

Best Win: Gull Lake 78, Kalamazoo Central 75 (OT)

Kalamazoo Central entered the game 2-0 following a close one point victory over a mild St. Joseph team on Tuesday. The Maroon Giants needed to bounce back with a victory, but Gull Lake is a strong team in their own right. Senior phenom Tyler Corstange dropped 33 points while Nathan Louden added 19 himself as the Blue Devils knocked off their divisional foe. Gull Lake will be back in action next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Zeeland Holiday Showcase. K-Central will look to turn things around on Saturday at Cornerstone against East Lansing.

Top Performances:

-Tyler Corstange (Gull 2022 G): 33 pts

-Chase Hines (Burr Oak 2023 G): 34 pts, 7 reb, 4 stl

-JJ Stevens (Sturgis 2022 G): 28 pts

-Ashton Atwater (Otsego 2022 G): 24 pts

-Scott Hughes (K-Central 2022 G): 24 pts

-Dylan Carper (White Pigeon 2022 PG): 22 pts

-Nathan Louden (Gull 2022 G): 19 pts

-Jacob Thompson (Sturgis 2023 G): 19 pts

Game I Attended: Centreville 53, White Pigeon 45

Centreville defeated White Pigeon 53-45 at home in a closely contested game. Both of these teams along with Cassopolis are teams that I expect to contend for a conference title this season. White Pigeon jumped out to an early 14-10 lead after the first quarter as Centreville could not get anything to fall. Centreville took the lead on a buzzer-beater three from freshman Matt Swanwick to make it 27-26 heading into halftime. That made three by Swanwick was their first of the game after starting 0-14. The third quarter was a bit of a slugfest, but senior star Tyler Swanwick scored 7 points in the quarter while White Pigeon was held to just 6 points as a team. Centreville held a 5 point lead 37-32 heading into the final quarter. The lead was extended to 40-34 Centreville with 6:02 to play, but White Pigeon would not quit. Senior point guard Dylan Carper drained back-to-back three pointers with under four minutes remaining to take a 43-42 lead for White Pigeon. A basket by Chris Jackson made it 45-44 White Pigeon with just under three minutes to play. Centreville’s Mason Lemings got an and-1 but missed the free throw regaining the lead for his Bulldogs with 1:42 to play. On the next trip down Dylan Carper missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for White Pigeon and Centreville’s Mason Lemings once again was fouled. He made the front-end and missed the second but was able to get his own rebound and made the putback to give his team a 49-45 lead with 1:00 to play. Centreville ended up closing the game on a 9-0 run to defeat White Pigeon led by 13 pts from Tyler Swanwick and 11 pts from Mason Lemings. White Pigeon was led by Dylan Carper with 22 pts and Chris Jackson with 10 pts. Centreville is going to be a very dangerous team this season with their size and athleticism. The Bulldogs have 5 players over 6’3 which isn’t very common at the D3 level. 6’4 freshman Matt Swanwick scored 9 points and looks like he will be a great player over the next four seasons.

Scoreboard

Grand Rapids Area

Caledonia 68, Middleville-TK 39

GR Christian 34, Holland Christian 32

Zion Christian 66, GR Adventist 42

Southwest MI Large Schools

BC Lakeview 61, BC Central 50

Gull Lake 78, Kalamazoo Central 75 (OT)

Loy Norrix 50, Portage Northern 44

Otsego 64, Vicksburg 44

Portage Central 55, Mattawan 45

Sturgis 52, Dowagiac 36

Southwest MI Small Schools

Athens 48, Jackson Christian 43

Centreville 53, White Pigeon 45

Climax-Scotts 79, Burr Oak 66

Concord 38, Bronson 35

Decatur 58, Bloomingdale 42

Mendon 53, Marcellus 31