Hudsonville Knocks East Kentwood From Unbeatens

For the Hudsonville Eagles (4-3), it was a chance to silence the doubters and cement themselves in the discussion of being one of the top teams in the area. For the Falcons of East Kentwood, however, it was a chance to prove that their 8-0 record to begin to 2011-12 campaign wasn’t fools gold.

The Eagles, whose three losses have come from the hands of Rockford, Zeeland East, and Tri-Unity, were able to secure a one point victory Tuesday night @ Muskegon led by their Senior leader Blake Hibbits. Hibbits, who had 24 points on the night, plans to attend Samford University next year to play both basketball and baseball. East Kentwood on the other hand, put a drubbing on Grandville Tuesday night outscoring the Bulldogs 18-0 in the first quarter for the easy victory. The Falcons were led by their two studs, Miles Robinson and Mel Harris, scored 15 and 12 points respectively.

But Friday night was different, a packed house on a cold snowy night in Hudsonville for a battle between two of the OK-Red’s leaders. With M-6 bragging rights on the line as well as the OK-Red lead, it was the perfect set-up for a winter night in the Salad City.

Hudsonville Head Coach Eric Elliott had his game plan set in stone and his players followed it to a T.  A stifling 2-3 match-up zone suffocated the Falcons right from the start of the game as they struggled to find any type of consistency offensively. A strong first quarter from Senior Guard Brad Lidgard helped Hudsonville take a 10-5 lead after the first quarter and EK never got closer until only 2 minutes remained in the game. Hudsonville’s half court trap press forced the Falcons into numerous turnovers and bad shots as well as giving them a deer in head lights type look in the first and second quarters. The second quarter was a real yawner as the teams combined for only 8 points with Hudsonville outscoring East Kentwood 5-3 to take a 15-8 lead at halftime. Hudsonville was really able to exploit East Kentwood’s weaknesses and took advantage of the absence of East Kentwood’s Junior starting point guard Jaylen Carter who warmed the bench recovering from wisdom tooth surgery.

Overall Hudsonville’s size and strength were just too much for the Falcons to handle. The combination of B.J. Van Loo who finished with 12 points, Blake Hibbitts who finished with 10 and the wave of lengthy troops Coach Elliott could bring off the bench proved to be the difference in this game.

EK was able to give the Eagles a run for their money late in the 4th quarter cutting the lead to one after a Hudsonville turnover with a basket by Miles Robinson but after two free throws by Hibbitts and a timeout by Falcons Head Coach Jeff Anama, East Kentwood had 8.8 seconds to try to send the game to overtime. A shot by Robinson clanged off the backboard and was rebounded by Falcon Junior Arthur Pearson who heaved another desperation three to no avail and the Eagles stormed the court as they knocked the Falcons from the ranks of the unbeaten and catapulted themselves into a tie for second place in the OK-Red.

Hudsonville was able to shut down East Kentwood’s top scorers holding Mel Harris to just 5 points and Miles Robinson to 14, no other Falcon had more than 4. It was a typical OK-Red match-up, a physical, hard fought, low scoring game. It was the type of game Hudsonville likes to play and they did so in traditional fashion as they took care of business by a final score of 35-32.

Here are the final shots by East Kentwood.

Hudsonville Head Coach Eric Elliott after the game talking about his game plan and his team moving forward.