Sanders, Defense propells Ottawa Hills past South Christian.

The OK Gold has typically proven to be one of the toughest leagues in the area to get through, but Ottawa Hills is making it look easy. Tonight’s game was anything but for the Bengals as South Christian kept up their tough play of late and at one point appeared to be in control. The Sailors extended a 3 point halftime lead out to 11 at the 4:00 mark of the 3rd quarter which was followed by a timeout by South Christian Coach Ken Hiskes. Following that break Shakur Sanders turned it on. The Bengal point guard had just 5 points at the break but became more aggressive and got to the rim while collecting 16 second half points. This burst turned into an 18-3 run by Ottawa following the timeout and a 5 point Bengal lead, a lead they would hang on to while collecting OK Gold win #7 60-50.

The Bengal defense tightened up and allowed a measly 7 fourth quarter points to go along with 13 second half free-throws to fend off the Sailors. Ottawa Hills has truly set the bar in league play this year and although Middleville and South Christian has had them on the ropes of late the Bengals have battled back and now sit at 10-3 on the year with the Sailors falling to 6-5.

Quick Hitters

South Christian

• Sailors leading scorer Kyle Kwaske was on early, hitting 3 long balls en route to 11 first half points but failed to find the score sheet in the 2nd half. Ottawa Hills did a better job of locating Kwaske in transition and the pressuring defense kept his chances to a minimum. The early shooting however kept this close at the half where South actually led by 3.

• Jordan Mulder played admirably all night with his ball control while up against smothering defense all night long. He also found 14 points to balance the Sailor offense. Jordan VanderWall came out of the break on fire, scoring all 7 of his points during a 9-3 Sailor run to start the 3rd quarter. South would only find 14 more points after that run however while Ottawa scored 32 the rest of the way.

Ottawa Hills

• Shakur Sanders leads this team and did so tonight with 21 points but the team defense of this squad is why they are here. South scrounged all night to get the ball inside and found little success, Ottawa pressures you all the way up the floor and it leads to many turnovers and easy buckets. If senior Antoine Wilson would have converted this one the first half may have ended slightly different for the Bengals.

• Credit Van Mayfield and his staff for making some great adjustments and getting his team to respond after a shaky and passive first half. Good teams can make those changes mid game and take control and much of that credit needs to fall on the coach. Mayfield has his Bengals cruising to a league title after a disappointing league standing last year (the Bengals did show their ability in the playoffs last year once they got healthy however).