Third Quarter shooting display leads the Chix to 10-0.

The Chix of Zeeland East have been one of the surprise teams in West Michigan this season and tonight they showed exactly why. The Wildcats of Jenison came to town and were looking to pick up a big road win to turn their season around. The first half was played very tight and Jenison’s defense looked to be up to the challenge as they headed to the break just down by 4 at 28-24. These two teams featured differing games all night as Jenison did their work from outside while the Chix did much of their early work inside. Eric Evans paced the Cats with 9 in the first half while Zeeland’s Josh Groenhof matched Evans with 9 of his own.

The second half was much different however as Riley Andersen and his Chix teammates came out of the break with a shooting display that would set the Cats back for the rest of the night. Andersen hit a trio of deep balls as the Chix jumped out on a 16-5 run to begin the third that gave them the lead they would hold on to the rest of the way. Eric Evans did his best to keep Jenison alive with 18 second half points of his own including four 3′s. Zeeland hit the free throws down the stretch to ice this game en route to a 63-52 victory.

Quick Hitters

Jenison

• Eric Evans struggled early but found his shot in the second half and put on a rather impressive display but seems to have little help alongside of him. Luke Diekevers struggled tonight but as a sophomore, night’s like these are going to happen and there is little the Wildcats can do about it. Evans did turn in 27 points for the night and is one of the better scorers in the entire OK Red.
• Diekevers was off his game and was frustrated by the refs all night long. The Jenison big man was outmatched by the Zeeland bigs all night and it led to his 7 point performance tonight.

Zeeland East

• Riley Andersen’s 11 second half points blew this one wide open after a scoreless first half. The hot outside shooting was missing in the first half but the Chix found it early on and they showed how they got to be 10-0 on the year.
• All night long Zeeland dominated the boards and the entire paint game tonight. Their size will give teams issues all year long and will single handily win them games. Groenhof dominated the first half down low and the Zeeland bigs seems to be never ending.