West Michigan Roundup, Tuesday 3/16/21

West Michigan Roundup, Tuesday 3/16/21

Last night was the last full slate of basketball until the playoffs. Great games took place all over the region. I’ll start in the OK Red where Muskegon clinched the OK Red with a 55-48 win over West Ottawa. Hudsonville stayed hot winning their fourth straight game and handing Grand Haven their second straight loss 48-40. In a thriller Caledonia got past Grandville 57-56 in overtime, Grandville’s fourth overtime game of the season. There was a few other interesting results in the OK Conference including South Christian holding Cedar Springs to 16 points, 74-16. The OK Blue went a little crazy last night with (2-10) Spring Lake defeating (9-5) Allendale 69-54 and Hamilton beating Coopersville 56-49. The Hamilton victory isn’t as surprising because they are a talented team with a now (9-6) record, but it is still an upset over Coopersville. Down in the Kalamazoo area we had a few overtime games including Coloma over Lawton 54-49 in overtime. Lawton continues to battle every single game against larger schools. Gull Lake was also taken to overtime by Mattawan and came out with a 65-56 victory. Benton Harbor scheduled another long trip, traveling to Pewamo-Westphalia and handing them a 79-57 loss. Lastly, Pennfield clinched at least a share of the Interstate Eight title with a close 44-41 win over Coldwater.

Best Win: Reeths-Puffer over Muskegon 81-79 (2OT)

Muskegon has now dropped two straight games, that definitely has not happened many times under Keith Guy. Reeths-Puffer seems to have their number since this is the second time in the past three years they have beat them.

Next Best: Pennfield over Coldwater 44-41

Pennfield clinched a share of their first conference title since 2003 with a thrilling victory over Coldwater.

Top Performances

-Howardsville Christian’s Jason Jergens (2021 G): 42 points, 9 three’s 15/22 FG

-Benton Harbor’s Trucel Singleton (2022 G): 30 points

-Zeeland East’s Nate Claerbaut (2021 C): 17 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists

-Zeeland East’s Trip Riemersma (2021 SG): 17 points, 8 rebounds

-Benton Harbor’s Kentrell Pulllian (2021 G): 22 points

-Gull Lake’s Caleb Taylor (2021 G): 25 points

-Marcellus’ Brady Ferguson (2021 PF): 22 points

-Reeths-Puffer’s Kendall Smith (2021 PF): 22 points, 13 rebounds

-Reeths-Puffer’s Kaleb Mitchelson (2021 PG): 21 points, 9 assists

-Muskegon’s Jordan Briggs (2023 PG): 24 points

-Muskeon’s Ethan Hill (2022 F): 18 points, 15 rebounds

-Portage Central’s Grant Pikkaart (2022 G/F): 20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists

-Middleville TK’s Austin Van Elst (2021 F): 35 points, 16 rebounds

Game I Attended: Pennfield 44, Coldwater 41

In a highly anticipated matchup for the Interstate Eight title (12-2) Pennfield hosted (11-2) Coldwater. Pennfield won the first meeting 57-45 on February 23. Both teams got off to slow starts with Pennfield holding a 10-7 lead after one quarter. Coldwater was 1-10 from the field to begin the game, but Brandon Downs scored 5 points to end the drought. In the second quarter Pennfield's guards thrived with Luke Davis scoring 7 points on 3-3 FG and Aiden Burns hitting 3 three-pointer’s on four attempts. The lead was 23-17 Pennfield and could have been even more, but Luke Davis was called for a charge when he believed he had an and-1. To add insult to injury he was assessed a technical foul which was his third foul of the first half. At halftime Pennfield held a 26-18 lead. The third quarter got off to a slow start, but Coldwater went on a 5-0 run to make the game 28-24 Pennfield with just under four minutes to play in Q3. In the final 1:30 Coldwater’s Ethan Crabtree and Spencer Rodesiler hit back-to-back three’s to take a 32-31 lead and all the momentum into the final quarter. Trailing 38-34 with 4:12 remaining Pennfield’s Ryne Petersen scored his first points of the night to pull his team within 2 points. Pennfield was able to tie the game at 38 on a Shawn Gardner layup with 2:50 left. The run continued with Petersen scoring again to regain the Pennfield lead 40-38 with 1:50 remaining. After another empty Coldwater possession, Pennfield’s Luke Davis was fouled and converted one of two free throws making the game 41-38 with 1:27 left. Coldwater answered with a huge three pointer from Brandon Downs to tie the game at 41 with 1:00 left. Following that three, Coldwater committed a foul sending Aiden Burns to the line where he split a pair of free throws. Trailing 42-41 with :27 left, Coldwater’s Evan Sloan missed a baseline jumper that would have given them the lead. Coldwater was forced to foul Aiden Burns who missed the front end, but luckily Gavin Liggett was able to secure the offensive rebound. Coldwater had to foul once again and this time Ryne Petersen knocked down both free throws making it a 44-41 game. Coldwater’s last chance with :03 left came up empty, securing the conference title for Pennfield. Pennfield showed a lot of fight tonight forcing turnovers and coming up with most of the 50/50 balls. They were led by 14 points from Aiden Burns, 12 from Luke Davis, and 6 points from Ryne Petersen that all came in the final quarter. Coldwater was led by 15 points from Brandon Downs and 9 points from Nate Tappenden.