Shelby defense shows up in Montague

The Montague Wildcats entered Friday nights contest coming off their first regular season loss against North Muskegon Tuesday night after winning 28 straight in the regular season. Tonight they were hoping to start a brand new streak. Shelby had other plans. The Tigers entered 3-0 and their success can be credited to their outstanding defense. Shelby had held opponents to 38 points per game which was best in the West Michigan Conference. That outstanding defense played a big part in their 66-47 victory Friday night.

Shelby began the night scoring the first ten of twelve points before Montague began their best stretch of the night. The Wildcats gained momentum on the legs of Junior Brandon Moore who scored 8 first quarter points. Moore would finish with just 12. At the end of the first quarter Montague was still playing a competitive game with the score 16-13. In the second quarter Shelby really began to apply the  full-court pressure and held Montague to a mere 3 points. The rest of the way was much of the same with Shelby pressuring on both ends of the court and Montague failing to find an answer to beating the press.

For the Shelby Tigers it was JR James leading the way as a dominant force down low totaling 19 points on the night. The Tigers also got offensive production from DJ Beckman who finished with 20 points and Lucas Landis who added 10. Chase Casebolt had a strong game as well utilizing his jumper to score 10 for the Wildcats.

Both the Tigers and Wildcats are off till after the holidays. The Wildcats return to action January 3rd at Orchard View and the Tigers on January 7th at Manistee.