Simonson scores 31; Kelloggsville tops Lee

Wednesday, December 17, 2003
The Grand Rapids Press

The Kelloggsville basketball team needed four minutes of overtime to defeat Lee, 95-92, in an O-K Silver Conference opener Tuesday night
Ryan Simonson scored 31 points for the Rockets. Anthony Townsend added 18 points for Kelloggsville while Ryan Gillette had 14, Shawn Griffin 13 and Quentin Barnett 10.

Marcus Lancaster scored 36 points for Lee, which outscored Kelloggsville 26-22 in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Domonique Taylor added 15 points, Jake Johnson 13 and Jason Plummer 11 for the Rebels.


Kelloggsville 95, Lee 92 (OT)

LEE (0-1, 0-1)

Jake Johnson 5 3-6 13, James Escobar 1 0-0 2, Joe Malone 1 2-2 4, Mike Walker 1 0-0 2, Alex Araujo 2 4-4 9, Marcus Lancaster 14 0-7 36, Domonique Taylor 6 2-2 15, Jason Plummer 5 1-2 11. Totals 35 12-23 92.

KELLOGGSVILLE (1-0, 3-0))

Quentin Barnett4 2-2 10, Jose Duran 1 0-0 2, Ryan Gillette 5 2-2 14, Shawn Griffin 5 3-4 13, Corey Knight 2 1-3 5, Ryan Simonson12 5-6 31, Chris Thai 0 0-1 0, Anthony Townsend 8 2-8 18, Greg Wilkinson 0 2-2 2. Totals 37 17-28 95.


Lee 17 20 19 26 10--92
Kelloggsville 15 25 20 22 12--95

3-point goals--Lee 3 (Araujo 1, Lancaster 1, Taylor 1), Kelloggsville 4 (Simonson 2, Gillette 2). Fouled out--Barnett, Araujo. Total fouls--Lee 18, Kelloggsville 19.
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Holland Chr. 80, Middleville 69

MIDDLEVILLE (0-1, 2-1)

Jake DeVries 1 0-0 2, Mark Rolison 4 3-6 12, Ryan Weesie 0 0-1 0, Cliff Tomson 1 0-0 2, Jon Yeazel 5 7-8 18, Chase VandenBerg 5 1-1 13, Trevor Manning 3 6-6 13, Brandon Wilson 1 0-0 3, Brett Knight 2 0-1 6. Totals 22 17-23 69.

HOLLAND CHRISTIAN (1-0, 3-0)

Brady Eilers 2 2-2 7, Dave Hertel 0 0-1 0, Ted Rosendahl 7 2-2 18, Brian Schaap 1 0-0 3, Mitch Scholten 5 0-0 11, Tyler Zoerhof 2 0-0 4, Tony Gugino 10 0-1 20, Lee Slenk 2 1-3 5, Mitch Timmerman 2 0-2 4, Tony VanWoerkem 4 0-0 8. Totals 35 5-11 80.


Middleville 16 15 23 15--69
Holland Christian 18 25 15 22--80

3-point goals--Middleville 8 (VandenBerg 2, Knight 2, Yeazel, Manning, Rolison, Wilson), Holland Christian 5 (Rosendahl 2, Eilers, Schaap, Scholten). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Middleville 21 (Manning 6), Holland Christian 42 (Gugino 9). Total fouls--Middleville 18, Holland Christian 19.
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Kalamazoo Central earns first victory

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

BY BILL TEMPLETON
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

MATTAWAN -- During his 15-year run as Kalamazoo College's men's basketball coach, Joe Haklin built a successful program with athletes who played aggressive man-to-man defense for the full 40 minutes
The games are eight minutes shorter now for Haklin, who is in his first year as Kalamazoo Central coach, but his trademark defensive philosophy was executed with precision Tuesday night by the Maroon Giants.

After jumping out to a big early lead, Kalamazoo Central withstood a furious second-half rally by host Mattawan with gritty defense down the stretch and held on to escape with a 53-41 Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference Central Division victory.

"The defense was excellent, pretty much throughout the game, but I thought our poise down the stretch probably made the difference," Haklin said.

Mattawan rallied from a 22-point first-half deficit to tie the game at 40-40 with 3:24 remaining in the game, but the Maroon Giants' heightened defensive intensity dictated the tempo for the balance of the contest.

Following an old-fashioned three-point play by Mattawan 6-foot-8 sophomore Marc Larson to tie the score at 40, Kalamazoo senior Cortney Jennings cashed in on consecutive layups to provide some breathing room.

A 3-point basket by senior Sebastian Jackson extended Central's lead to 47-40, and the Maroon Giants never looked back.

"To Mattawan's credit, we kind of stymied them there early in the game and built that lead, but we knew they were going to come back," Haklin said. "They're just too good a squad.

"To our credit, however, when they did tie it up, we showed some very good poise and put together a string of points to get the lead back."

Kalamazoo Central (1-2, 1-0 SMAC Central) exploded out of the starting blocks with a 23-3 scoring run that spanned the waning moments of the first quarter and the first three minutes of the second stanza.

Jennings scored 13 of his game-high 22 points during the first half, and the Maroon Giants led 35-20 at the intermission.

"We just didn't play hard enough," Mattawan coach Dan Hoff said. "We played tentative and we played with a little less confidence than we needed to play with."

But Central misfired on its first six floor shots of the third quarter, and the inside-outside scoring tandem of 6-7 sophomore Wilbur Ampey and 6-1 sophomore Kory Wagonmaker triggered a 13-2 run by the Wildcats.

Ampey muscled inside for four of his team-high 10 points, while Wagonmaker knocked down a pair of long 3-pointers.

Ampey and Larson combined for five straight points to pull Mattawan even with the Maroon Giants in the fourth quarter, but Central's cat-quickness and tenacity on defense proved too much.

"Other than the victory, the most important statistic was the 41 points that Mattawan scored," Haklin said. "We do spend a lot of time in practice on defense and it showed itself tonight."

In addition to his 22 points, the multi-dimensional Jennings also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

"Right now he's playing very good basketball for us," Haklin said. "The other fellas realize he's our leader and they feed off of him. We have to keep that dynamic going."

Sophomore D.J. Young added 10 points for Central, which shot 36.5 percent from the field (19-of-52) and outrebounded Mattawan by a 36-27 margin.

Mattawan (1-1) shot 31.8 percent afield (14-of-44) and committed eight of its 21 turnovers during the final eight minutes of the game.

"I'm excited about what we have for the rest of our season," said Hoff about his youth-laden team. "These kids have good things in them. We just didn't perform well enough at the beginning tonight."
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Three Rivers' 'D' leads to Wolverine win

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

BY RICK SHANLEY
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE

PLAINWELL -- Three Rivers coach Frelen Gowen had one mission for his basketball team going into Tuesday's game at Plainwell: Stop Seth Salinas, the Trojans' main offensive threat
Mission accomplished.

A suffocating Three Rivers defense held Salinas to only three shots and one basket -- a jumper with 5:00 left in the game -- as the Wildcats rolled to an easy 63-41 Wolverine Conference victory.

"We wanted to take Salinas out of the game because he gets them down the floor and starts their offense," Gowen said. "We put (Jesse) Ashenfelter and (Chad) Thornburgh on him and they did a terrific job."

Three Rivers forced Plainwell into 29 turnovers and outrebounded the Trojans 33-18. The defensive showdown was led by point guard Shawn Earl, who had 11 steals to go along with his game-high 14 points.

"We were disappointed in our effort," Plainwell coach Tim Rieman said. "We didn't force any turnovers and Shawn Earl doesn't turn the ball over, so you've gotta create other ways to make things happen. It's only one loss. We've gotta recover for Allegan."

The chilly winter air outside appeared to have seeped into the gym, as both teams struggled to make shots to open the game. Plainwell's Chad Smith finally broke the ice 2:47 into the contest, followed by a Jason Lee basket, to give the Trojans an early 4-0 lead.

But Three Rivers (2-1, 2-0 Wolverine) outscored Plainwell 14-3 over the quarter's last four minutes, with eight of those points coming off steals.

The Trojans got within seven midway through the second quarter, but an 11-0 Three Rivers run put the Wildcats up 33-17 at the half and Plainwell never recovered.

"Our defense and transition got us going off of steals," Gowen added. "We really stress defense and trying to keep our turnovers low. Our defensive intensity was great all night."

Yannick Millet and Greg Hall each had 10 points for Three Rivers, which converted 27 of 56 attempts from the floor and 8 of 18 from the line. Earl accounted for the game's only 3-point basket.

Jacob Bleeker's eight points and six rebounds led Plainwell, which hit on 17 of 33 field goal tries. The Trojans, like Three Rivers, were quite chilly from the charity stripe, converting only 7 of 18 attempts.

"Three Rivers' defensive intensity took us out of what we wanted to do," Rieman said. "Our starting backcourt had two total points. When the ball's in Salinas' hands, we're fine. But when it's not, we've gotta have somebody step up."

***Shawn also had 10 Assists to complete his Triple-Double***
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MATT SMITH scores 34 points for Lawton's JV in a win over Bangor.
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