GR Christian avoids a scare and finishes off Holland Christian.

The Qwest Center was packed and rocking hard as the Eagles took the floor. The noise rang about as loud as the Maroons of Holland Christian took the floor just after. Both schools were represented well in this Regional opening round game against familiar foes. Just back on March 1^st the Maroons and Eagles faced off out in Holland with GR Christian taking that game 61-53 in a game the Eagles led by 14 at half. Tonight’s contest was a bit different however after HC was on a roll via the Wayland Union District championship they took home on Friday.

Things looked to be going as expected early in the 1^st quarter as GRC went on a 12-0 run to blow the game wide open behind the play of Jordan Daley and Matt Grasmeyer. Both players had 4 first quarter points and were vital on defense to allow a flurry of easy buckets for the Eagles. A late triple by Ben Hill stopped the bleeding for the Maroons as we has a 13-6 score after one.

With the Eagles poised to set sail on HC it was Jon Maas and Tyler Dykstra to deliver the reaction blow to GRC. Maas drilled a pair of threes and Dykstra went to work on the defensive end blocking a wave of shots by the Eagles to lead to some easy offense of their own. Holland Christian was able to cut the Eagle lead to 5 at the break with Maas and Dykstra each pouring in 6 1^st half points.

Graham Gugino soars in for a lay-up to the dismay of Coach Spicer.

Coming out of the break Holland Christian was energized behind their 2-3 zone defense that combined with their length made it very hard for GRC to get inside the way they like to do. After watching the defect swell to 7, the Maroons made their move. Nate Schepers drained a three followed by a deep bomb by Dykstra that gave the Maroons their first lead since 1-0 at 30-29. The ensuing GRC possession resulted in blocks by Maas and Dykstra with the second swat leading to an outlet lay-in by Maas that set the HC fans into a frenzy! In all, a 12-0 run of their own gave Holland Christian a 34-31 lead after 3 quarters of play.

GR Christian kept and even keel all night and we applaud coach Mike Spicer for that as his team did not panic. The Eagles ripped off 8 straight points to start the 4^th quarter and reclaimed the momentum that they lost in the 3^rd. HC was forced to foul to get into the bonus and at the 1:10 mark Freshman Drake Harris went to the line for a one-and-one with his team up 3. He hit both and extended the lead to five, a steal by the Eagles led to Jaylin Staten being fouled and him knocking in both free-throws to grow the lead to 7.

Kavon Frazier decided that he had seen enough and came up with a huge steal on the ensuing HC possession; he flipped the ball ahead to Harris who threw it down and put a bow on this one to the delight of the home crowd. GR Christian ran out the clock from there and now head to the Regional final against East Grand Rapids on Wednesday at 7pm. Harris and Dykstra led all scorers with 12 points each followed by Daley’s 10. Holland Christian stayed in it with 5 triples and the defense of Tyler Dykstra who grabbed 8 boards and swatted 7 shots.

All photos provided by Matt Philpott Photography and he has even more from this game over at his site!