**RECAP BY JOSH LONGSTRETH**

DOUBLE DRIBBLE: BOYS BASKETBALL RECAP 2/26/2023

2/20/23

  • Edwardsburg came from behind and put a big 4th quarter together to take down Sturgis, 65-42.
  • Parchment knocked off Portage Northern, 56-49. The win moves the Panthers to 13-6 on the year. Jalen Kampen led Parchment with 17. Darius Baker (13), Aaron Jasiak (12) and PJ Nelson (10) finished off the solid team performance for the Panthers.
  • West Michigan Aviation Academy picked up a win over Hastings on Monday, 60-51.Luke Riebel set a school record in the win with 32 points (8 three-pointers) to lead the Aviators.

2/21/23

  • Big Rapids fell to Cadillac in what was a terrific matchup, 56-57.
  • Calvin Christian picked up their 17th win in a row by defeating Wyoming Kelloggsville, 84-40. Jack Agema finished with 15 points and 7 assists.
  • Edwardsburg fell in a hard fought matchup to Niles, 36-42. Mike Phillips scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Vikings rally.
  • East Kentwood beat West Ottawa, 81-50. The Falcons improve to 15-5. With the loss the Panthers will drop to 5-15. Marshuan Flakes had a strong performance to lead the Falcons with 17 points. Landon Storms and Jah Hatchett both finished with 14 apiece.
  • Forest Hills Eastern pulled off a tight win over Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, 52-50.
  • Forest Hills Central defeated Lowell, 49-37. The Rangers were able to put together a 22-3 run in the 3rd quarter to take full momentum late. Brady Miller had 14 second half points.
  • Frankenmuth knocked off Birch Run, 52-29. Chris Whitley led the Eagles with 10 points. Aidan Hoard added 9 points. Travis Brenner pitched in 7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
  • Grand Rapids Union cruised to a 58-46 win over Zeeland East. Yoel Abraham (13 points), MarQuan Ross (12 points), Kyale Lockridge (12 points) and Ronnie Burton (11 points)led a balanced attack for the Red Hawks.
  • Grandville picked up a road win at Jenison, 50-39. Tyson Mann led the Bulldogs with 15 points. Cam Regnerus added 13 points.
  • Hackett Catholic Prep cruised to a 61-48 win over Allegan. The Irish have now won their 5th in a row.
  • Hamilton improves to 10-3 in the OK Blue and 16-4 overall as they picked up a win over West Catholic, 57-45. The Hawkeyes will now square off with Coopersville on Friday for the outright conference championship. Grant Goodpaster led the Hawkeyes with 17 .
  • Holland Christian stunned Coopersville, 43-33. The loss puts the Broncos in a first place tie with Hamilton. On Friday night, the OK Blue will be decided in a big showdown between the two.
  • Holton fell to Manistee, 39-59. The Chippewas were led by a balanced scoring attack in Kaden Kott (14 points), Jacob Scharp (14 points), Mason Gunnett (14 points) and Ethan Edmondson (13 points). Brodrick Fialek led the Red Devils with 19 points.
  • Hopkins grabbed a win n senior night over Comstock Park, 66-48. The win moves the Vikings to 13-6.
  • Hudsonville knocked off Grand Haven to grab their 3rd win in a row, 61-48. The Eagles (15-5 overall) were led by big nights from Eli Vanderveen (career-high 21 points, 10 rebounds) and Brayden Szamrej (18 points, 5 three-pointers).Harrison Sorrelle put together 27 points to lead Grand Haven. With the loss the Bucs will fall to 15-5. Hudsonville will face East Kentwood for the outright OK Red championship on Friday night.
  • Ionia defeated Tri-County, 75-45. Spencer Tooker finished with a team-high 14 points for the Bulldogs. Max Doty added 13 points. Lance Atkinson provided 10 points. Ionia is now 15-3 on the season.
  • Kalamazoo Christian pulled off a big win on senior night by beating Watervliet, 53-50. They’ll have another test on their hands Friday night when they take on Schoolcraft. The Panthers look to see if they can bounce back against Coloma.
  • Lawton defeated Coloma, 44-40. Luke Leighton and Parker VanPeteghem led the Blue Devils with 12 apiece.
  • Ludington got off to a quick start to beat Mason County Central, 85-61. The Orioles raced out to an early 27-12 advantage in the first quarter and never looked back. Ludington now sits at 17-2 on the season. With the loss the Spartans will fall to 13-5. The Orioles were spear-headed by the trio of David Schillinger (18 points), Matthew Westhouse (18 points) and Spencer Holmes (17 points). Mason County Central was led by Will Chye with 15. Jayden Perrone added 14. Dakota Sterley finished with 11. Ludington will look to grab another when they face off with Manistee in their next game. The Spartans will face another tall task when they face undefeated Hart.
  • Muskegon Catholic Central picked up a win over Holland Black River, 75-59. Braden Gustin led the Saders with 23 points and 5 assists. Chase Willer was big in his first game back after a concussion with 23 points (career high) of his own. Hunter Schrink added 10 points and 15 rebounds. Bryan Convertini grabbed 10 rebounds and 5 steals.
  • North Muskegon took down Fremont, 66-41. Troy McManus had a big night to lead the Norse with 24 points and 6 rebounds. Carsen Moat and Adam Dugener both added 8 apiece. The Packers were led by Jordon McDonald with 12 points.
  • Northview beat Forest Hills Northern, 54-36.
  • NorthPointe Christian got an early jump on Belding, knocking off the Black Knights, 64-17.
  • Otsego dropped one to Battle Creek Lakeview, 38-54. The Bulldogs fall to 14-4 after a cold shooting night. They will have a chance to get back on track when they take on Paw Paw in their next outing.
  • Ottawa Hills beat Wayland to improve to 13-8 on the year, beating the Wildcats, 75-55. The loss drops Wayland to 10-9.
  • Parchment knocked off Paw Paw, 75-52. Darius Baker and Jalen Kampen both led the Panthers with 21 points apiece. Aaron Jasiak and PJ Nelson each pitched in 10 apiece. Truman Brennan led the Red Wolves with 18.
  • Reeths-Puffer defeated Mona Shores, 54-45. Jaxson Whitaker (14 points) and Kyle Schlaff (13 points) led the Rockets. The Sailors were led by Jordan Bledsoe with 16 points. Jaxon Whitaker was the big story in this one as he would hit 4 three-pointers to take over the career makes record at Reeths-Puffer.
  • Rockford defeated Caledonia, 70-58.
  • South Haven won a defensive slugfest over Constantine, 49-42. The Rams now sit at 15-4 .
  • Grand Rapids Catholic Central and South Christian squared off in a battle of two West Michigan heavy weights. The Sailors came out firing in the 1st quarter, but the Cougars kept it close through 8-minutes, 17-12. The tides turned in the 2nd quarter when South Christian put but 18 points and made big stands on the defensive end to hold GRCC to 10. Into the break, Sailors 35, Cougars 22. The same energy of the 2nd quarter came out in the 3rd on the Sailor bench. South Christian went on to drop 20 in the quarter, half of them coming from Jake Vermaas. Catholic Central did their best on offense to stay within striking distance scoring 14. The Cougars had a hole to climb out of going into the final 8-minutes down, 55-36. CC had their highest scoring quarter of the night with 18 in the final frame, but that did not matter. South Christian turned a big quarter from CC to a bigger quarter from them, scoring 27 and took the win, 82-54. Leading the way from the Sailors was Carson Vis with 24 points. Vermaas ended with 22. Sam Medendorp finished with a 10-points; 12 rebound double-double for South Christian. For Catholic Central, KK Brown had 27 points and Phat Phat Brooks ended with 17 points. (Recap by Hudson Harkness)
  • Sparta would make some highlight reels (ESPN) in their win over Godwin Heights. Jax Wilson would hit a half court shot with 2.5 seconds to go in OT to give the Spartans a 90-89 win over the Wolverines. Before the game winner, Sophomore Landen Reister hit a shot to force the OT. Wilson finished with 39 points to add to his night.
  • Wyoming Lee beat Grand River Prep, 89-68. The Legends improve to 17-1 as they seal their first conference title in 43 years.

2/23/23

  • Hart remains undefeated as they beat a solid Mason County Central team, 63-45. With the win the Pirates win their first West Michigan Conference Division title since 1963.
  • Ludington beat Manistee, 68-35. The Orioles were able to get off to another quick start as they got up 11-0 early on the Chippewas. There was no turning back as they cruised into the half with a 43-16 lead. David Schillinger finished with a game-high 17 points for Ludington. Matthew Westhouse and Gage Jones each finished with 10 apiece to help a solid offensive game for the Orioles. Ethan Edmondson scored 13 points to lead Manistee.
  • Whitehall rolled past Oakridge, 89-52. With the win the Vikings move to 15-5 on the year and have won nine of their last ten.
  • Wyoming Lee beat Zion Christian, 71-48. With the win the Legends have now won 11 in a row to improve to 18-1 on the season.

2/24/23

  • Calvin Christian pulled off a thriller to take down Northpointe Christian, 65-63. Carson DeHaan would knock down two free-throws with just 5 seconds remaining to put the Squires on top. DeHaan went off for 32 points in the game. Matt Elderkin had a big night of his own with 19. Kayden Bird (28 points) and Jamari Hughes (20 points) did everything they could to pace the Mustangs.
  • East Kentwood takes the OK Red Conference championship as they roll past Hudsonville, 61-49. Marshaun Flakes led the Falcons with 20 points. Brayden Szamrej led the Eagles with 15. Mason Dykstra added 14.
  • Forest Hills Central picked up a big win on the road over East Grand Rapids, 52-46. Jonas Vanderwoude led the Rangers with 18 points. Ty Hudkins finished with 11 points.
  • Frankenmuth lost a tight battle to Alma, 51-55. Travis Brenner led Frankenmuth with 17 points (all in the 2nd half). Will Soulliere finished with 15 points (5 three-pointers) for the Eagles. The Eagles finish the regular season Tuesday when they take on Carrollton. Alma welcomes in Central Montcalm.
  • Grandville knocked off Rockford, 51-44. Cam Regnerus led the Bulldogs with 24 points. Logan Stoep-Stockwell added 13 points. Tyson Mann pitched in 10 points. Sophomore Michael DeKuiper paced the Rams with 12 points.
  • Grand Rapids Catholic Central claimed their 7th straight OK conference title, along with many other individual records broken against Kenowa Hills. The Cougars started the game on fire scoring 25 in the 1st quarter and shutting down the Knights attack only letting up 10. Kenowa Hills did not let that slow 1st quarter stop them. The Knights matched the Cougars 1st quarter score with 25. GRCC would add 18 to their score. At the intermission, GRCC 43, Kenowa Hills 35. An explosive 3rd quarter from Catholic Central made this game a Cougar runaway. After 24-minutes, Kenowa Hills trailed 73-47. The Knights kept pace in the final frame, but it was too late as a 20-point quarter from CC led them to a 93-68 win. Sutton Tutas had 24 in the game followed by TJ Nicolette with 18 points for Kenowa Hills. For GRCC, KK Brown finished with 27 points and Phat Phat Brooks ended with 25. Brown moves to 1st all-time in 4 statistical categories, points (1525), steals (185), made field goals (526), and 3-pointers made (196). With one game left in the regular season and the length of the postseason, Brown looks to extend his records in the books.
  • Hamilton would claim their first conference title since 1988 on a buzzer-beater that would be heard all over the state of Michigan, knocking off a tough Coopersville team 57-54. The Hawkeyes led 24-18 at the half but the Broncos wouldn’t go away to take it to the wire before Brant Goodpaster etched his name in the history books for Hamilton by knocking down the dagger three-pointer.
  • Kent City beat Lakeview, 65-38. Aaron Vanderwest (16 points) and Dylan Sutton (15 points) were big for the Eagles. Seth Vanderwest added 14. Jaret Jaramillo finished with 12.
  • Mattawan picked up a tough Senior Day win, defeating Gull Lake 75-69. Noah Vanlaningham (28 points, 6 assists) and Connor Walsh (career-high 22 points, 3 steals) both had big days for the Wildcats. Ryan Kiesling added 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Brendan Garza finished with 10 points.
  • Muskegon strolled past Mona Shores, 81-38. Anthony Sydnor (17 points) and Jordan Briggs (16 points) led the 19-2 Big Reds. David Day (14 points), Elija Langston (12 points) and Terrance Davis (11 points) rounded out the balanced attack. The Sailors were led by Jordan Bledsoe (14 points) and JT Foster (13 points). The big story was Jordan Briggs as he became the all-time leader in three-point makes and surpassed the 1,000 point scoring mark in his high school career.
  • Muskegon Catholic Central was knocked off by Western Michigan Christian, 44-52. Braden Gustin led the Saders with 17 points.
  • Northview clinched the OK White in their 51-49 win over Grand Rapids Christian.Freshman Cam Ryans led the way for the Wildcats with 20 points.Sophomore Brady Swartz added 11. E.J. Ryans pitched in 10. Dono Thames finished with 13 to lead the Eagles.
  • Parchment put together an impressive performance over Lawton, 61-39. Darius Baker led the Panthers with a career-high 27 points.Aaron Jasiak and Ashtian McClanahan added 10 apiece. Parker VanPeteghem paced the Blue Devils with 15.
  • Reeths-Puffer grabbed their 5th win in a row, as they knock off Holland 52-36. Travis Ambrose had a big night with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. Jaxson Whitaker was solid with 17 points and 5 rebounds.
  • South Christian rolled past Cedar Springs, 80-41. The Sailors win the OK Gold conference.
  • Zeeland West pulled out a gritty win over Grand Rapids Union, 60-55. MarQuan Ross (19 points) and Brian Parks (18 points) led the Red Hawks. Ronnie Burton added 11 points.