West Michigan Roundup, Tuesday 1/18/22

West Michigan Roundup, Tuesday 1/18/22

Best Win: Rockford over Grand Haven 62-56

In the highly anticipated battle between (3-0) OK Red schools, Rockford came away with a tight victory. The Rams led by 13 points in the first quarter, but weathered the Grand Haven comeback to take home an impressive road win. Rockford has been flying a little under the radar since that 28 point loss against Detroit Catholic Central in mid-December. The Rams are now (9-1) and will have a target on their back the rest of the season.

Next Best: Coldwater over Pennfield 55-43

The Interstate Eight conference has been a battle so far with four teams tied for first place heading into Tuesday night. Coldwater was able to get revenge for their two losses last season to Pennfield. It was a strong second half that gave Coldwater the victory as they trailed by as many as seven points in the first half. The senior leadership of Ethan Crabtree and Brandon Downs played a key part in the gritty road win. Coldwater is now in a three-way tie for first place.

Starting Five (Notable Games):

1. Unity Christian 69, West Catholic 55

If anybody was going to beat Unity Christian in the OK Blue this season it would have been West Catholic led by the senior duo of Michael Morris and Kobe Kambestad. The Crusaders did not let their chance of an undefeated season come to an end by defeating West Catholic by 14 points. Unity is now (9-0) on the season and checked in at #3 in the AP poll for Division 2.

2. West Ottawa 47, Grandville 44

West Ottawa, a team I was very high on entering the season got off to a rough (2-5) start, but the Panthers have begun to turn the season around. Tonight was a great chance for West Ottawa to pick up a key conference win against a strong (6-2) Grandville team. West Ottawa has now won two straight and will travel to Caledonia on Friday with hopes of a three-game winning streak.

3. Parchment 51, K-Christian 42

Parchment has become one of the best stories of the 2021-22 high school basketball season led by first-year head coach Dave Jones. The Panthers entered the game (8-0) and ranked #4 in the AP Poll for Division 2. They traveled to K-Christian for a game featuring two teams undefeated in conference play. Senior forward Kofi Barima led the way for the Panthers with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the 51-42 victory. Parchment is now in the driver's seat for a SAC-Valley title with wins over both Schoolcraft and K-Christian.

4. Watervliet 63, Lawton 47

The two best teams in the SAC-Valley matched up on Tuesday with Watervliet hosting Lawton. Lawton was handed their lone loss a couple of weeks ago by K-Christian. Tonight they ran into a buzz saw with undefeated Watervliet pulling off a 16 point victory. Sophomore Kaiden Bierhalter led Watervliet with 30 points. I currently have Watervliet with the #3 ranking in the small schools behind K-Christian and Schoolcraft. It will be interesting to see how they match up against K-Christian on February 1st.

5. Coopersville 54, Spring Lake 38

After graduating most of their production from last season, Coopersville has reloaded and is off to a (6-1) start. Coopersville made easy work of a (4-3) Spring Lake team that just took Holland Christian to double overtime. Coopersville is a team that continues to win and I may have them ranked a little low (#20 in OK Conf). I’m interested to see how they play against West Catholic on Friday in what should be a difficult road matchup for them.

Top Performances:

-Keenan Hatto (Allendale 2022): 33 pts

-Kaiden Bierhalter (Watervliet 2024): 30 pts

-Brady Titus (Tri-Unity 2022): 30 pts, 5 ast

-Jacob Zartman (Otsego 2022): 27 pts

-Angelo Hausmanis (Three Rivers 2024): 27 pts

-Caleb Dean (Jenison 2022): 25 pts

-Grant Pikkaart (Portage Central 2022): 24 pts

-Kaden Johnson (Hartford 2022): 23 pts, 13 reb

-Ryan Kiesling (Mattawan 2023): 21 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast

-Kobe Kambestad (West Catholic 2022): 21 pts

-Jack Karasinski (GR Catholic 2022): 20 pts

-Jorden Brooks (GR Catholic 2022): 20 pts

-Gabe Newhof (Unity Christian 2022): 19 pts

-Kofi Barima (Parchment 2022): 18 pts, 14 reb

-Owen Hardy (FH Eastern 2022): 18 pts, 10 reb

-Travis Rosel (Coopersville 2022): 18 pts

-TJ Mitchell (Lakeshore 2022): 17 pts, 12 reb

-Caden Pokorzynski (Rockford 2023): 17 pts

-Isaiah Arredondo (Holland 2022): 17 pts

-Trucel Singleton (Benton Harbor 2022): 17 pts

-Nic Stump (Grand Haven 2022): 16 pts

-Jordan Briggs (Muskegon 2023): 16 pts

-Travis Ambrose (Reeths-Puffer 2024): 10 pts, 13 reb, 5 blk

Game I Attended: Coldwater 55, Pennfield 43

Nearly 10 months ago to the date Pennfield defeated Coldwater to clinch the Interstate Eight title and season sweep of the Cardinals. Pennfield lost three starters to graduation including Ryne Petersen. Coldwater on the other hand returned most of their key players including Ethan Crabtree and Brandon Downs. Neither team shot the ball well in the first quarter with Pennfield holding a 10-7 lead after one. A quick 7-0 run in the span of two minutes gave Coldwater a 14-10 lead that was extending to 18-13 a couple of minutes later. It was Pennfield junior Graham Boyd pulling the Panthers back into the game scoring 12 points on 4-6 FG in the second quarter. Pennfield had their largest lead of the game at 25-18 with 1:42 left to play in the half. The Panthers took a 25-23 lead into halftime. Coldwater completely flipped the script in the third quarter knocking down nearly every shot. The Cardinals opened up their largest lead at 39-32 with 3:19 to play in the quarter after starting 6-9 from the floor in the half. An exclamation point three-pointer from Brock Thornton at the buzzer extended the Coldwater lead to 45-36 after three quarters. Pennfield never recovered and was held scoreless the first 2.5 minutes of the fourth quarter falling 55-43. Coldwater was led by Ethan Crabtree with 22 points and Brandon Downs with 14 points. Pennfield was led by junior Graham Boyd with 20 points. The Panther's senior duo was held to 13 total points as Luke Davis had 4 points and Aiden Burns had 9 points. Coldwater moves ahead of Pennfield in the standings to enter a three-way tie with Marshall and Harper Creek. The Cardinals will host Harper Creek on Friday. These teams will face each other again on February 22nd, a date that Pennfield will have circled on their calendar.

OK Conference

Allendale 61, Hamilton 55

Byron Center 64, Otsego 62 (OT)

Calvin Christian 85, Comstock 47

Coopersville 54, Spring Lake 38

Covenant Christian 79, Orchard View 49

East Kentwood 54, Jenison 53

FH Eastern 86, Ottawa Hills 71

GR Catholic Central 94, Wayland 41

GR Union 54, Zeeland West 41

Holland Christian 65, Fruitport 44

Hudsonville 64, Caledonia 58

Kelloggsville 71, Hopkins 53

Muskegon 67, Holland 43

NorthPointe Christian 52, Sparta 49

Reeths-Puffer 49, Mona Shores 40

Rockford 62, Grand Haven 56

Unity Christian 69, West Catholic 55

West Ottawa 47, Grandville 44

Wyoming 78, Zeeland West 62

Southwest MI D1-D2

Adrian 72, BC Lakeview 62

Allegan 63, Wyoming Lee 50

BC Central 51, Portage Northern 27

Benton Harbor 66, St. Joseph 56

Byron Center 64, Otsego 62 (OT)

Buchanan 42, Niles 40

Coldwater 55, BC Pennfield 43

Coloma 52, Gobles 39

Dowagiac 79, Berrien Springs 64

Harper Creek 79, Lumen Christi 64

Lakeshore 62, Paw Paw 22

Loy Norrix 61, Charlotte 43

Mattawan 58, Plainwell 43

Portage Central 49, Edwardsburg 48 (OT)

Southwest MI D3-D4

Athens 62, Battle Creek Acad. 24

BH Countryside 80, Covert 41

Cassopolis 72, Bloomingdale 32

Centreville 70, Comstock 50

Delton-Kellogg 68, Climax-Scotts 53

Eau Claire 77, St. Joe Michigan Lutheran 51

Fennville 62, Wyo. Tri-Unity Christian 55

Hartford 55, Decatur 41

Martin 50, Saugatuck 47

New Buffalo 84, Lawrence 35

Olivet 59, Bronson 54

Parchment 51, Kalamazoo Christian 42

Schoolcraft 61, Hackett Catholic 27

Three Oaks River Valley 79, St. Joe Lake MI Cath. 42

Watervliet 63, Lawton 47

White Pigeon 67, Mendon 43