Defenders tighten D and advance to Finals at Cornerstone.

The Defenders of Tri-Unity Christian entered into Tuesdays game against Wyoming Park coming off of a comeback win over Jenison before the Holiday. The time off had little effect on the defense of TUC as they held court and took home a 71-55 victory. In front of a packed house at Cornerstone University, Wyoming Park was forced into poor shot selection for much of the night and after staying close during the first half, Tri-Unity pulled away in the 3rd quarter. A 25-15 advantage in the third frame blew this game wide open with the lead swelling to 20 at times. Park stayed alive with a few key three-pointers and even cut the lead down to ten in the 4th before Tri-Unity pulled away for good.

Tyler Steffens (left) and Joel Boersen (right) battle for a rebound.

Quick Hitters

Wyoming Park

• Jesse Love leads this Park team but struggled with being able to find good looks and it hurt the Vikings. A shot to the nose limited some of Love’s effectiveness and time on the floor. Love was able to drop in 9 points but it took 13 shots to reach that mark and many of those were shots taken outside of the Park offense.
• Fernando Wade led the team in scoring on the night with 24, 16 of which came in the second half when Park fell behind. Wade is a 5’9″ Junior who will shine as the season and his career moves on. He’s got a high arcing shot which allows him to be more open than he may appear.
• Park plays very aggressively and tried at times to intimidate the Defenders but it was to no avail tonight.

Fernando Wade comes in for a layup late in Tuesday's action against Tri-Unity Christian.

Tri-Unity Christian

• This team features amazing balance and can beat you in a multitude of ways. Coach Keeler has a wealth of size as well as guard play and it was on full display tonight. Doug Venema led the way with 20 points and 17 boards for the Defenders and played large down low all night. Jon Osantowski chipped in 11 to go along with 9 rebounds.
• The guard-play was responsible for 27 points and 7 assists with Eric Zudweg leading the Defender guards with 18. Fighting through the press and constantly pushing the ball up the floor to open shooters paced this teams attack all evening.
• TUC will move on to face the winner of the Hudsonville and GR Christian on Thursday,  that game will be played at 7:30 at Cornerstone 12/29.

Jon Osantowski puts up a jump shot from just outside the lane.