Norseman come out on top in shooting frenzy with Oakridge.

The Oakridge Eagles entered into North Muskegon Tuesday night looking to prove the West Michigan Conference was a four team race while the spectators for Tuesday nights game were expecting to see another show put on by one of the elite scorers in Western Michigan, North Muskegon’s Spencer Krannitz. Patrick Giddings of Oakridge decided this was going to be a two star show and the Eagles left North Muskegon with their place in the West Michigan Conference still undecided.

In a contest that featured fifteen three pointers it was a shooters night for the Eagles and the Norseman. Both teams came out shooting the long ball with North Muskegon hitting a higher percentage early and the Eagles finding themselves down 16-11 at the end of the first.  Spencer Krannitz would score eight in the second which included the first six points of the quarter. With North Muskegon pushing the lead to ten Krannitz stole the inbound pass with 1.3 seconds left in the half and scored his final bucket of the quarter to give the Norseman a 33-21 lead at the half. Oakridge would then score the first eight points of the third quarter on their way to a total of eighteen in the third. Fourteen of which came from Giddings as he got hot from outside the arc hitting four triples in the third and a total of nine three pointers on the night. The lead would be cut to one at 40-39 to end the third and the Eagles would take their only lead of the night with 7:48 left in the fourth on a bank shot from Oakridge’s Mike Eacker to give the Eagles a 41-40 lead. North Muskegon would respond with a 9-0 run and force Oakridge to fight back once again. The Eagles would cut the score to 53-30 and got a great opportunity to tie with Giddings receiving an open look at a three that only hit the side of the iron. North Muskegon’s Zach Rummery would be sent to the line as Oakridge tried to extend the game to shoot a one and one. Rummery made his first to push the Norseman’s lead to two scores and seal a victory at 54-50. Giddings would finish with a game high 29 points and Chuck Clanton would add nine for the Eagles. The Norseman were led by Krannitz with 21 and Chase Raymond’s 10 point effort.

North Muskegon moves to 5-1 on the year and 4-0 in conference play while Oakridge goes to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the West Michigan Conference. Both teams will be in action this Friday night as North Muskegon travels to Mason County Central and Oakridge hosts Hart.