Fans from both Zeeland East and Holland Christian packed out the Holland Civic Center tonight to see a highly anticipated match-up between the two top teams in the OK Green. The Chix of Zeeland East came into the contest having lost only one game all season, and were sitting pretty atop the conference with an impressive 14-1 record (9-1 in conference play). The Holland Christian Maroons, 9-5 on the year, looked to knock off the Chix and in doing so give themselves a 9-2 conference record, which would put both teams at a tie for first in the OK Green.

I don’t think I have ever been to a high school basketball game with as much excitement and chaos coming from the stands in pre-game warmups and player introductions. The Holland Christian faithful was out in full force, forming one of the biggest, loudest, and brightest (literally; choosing to deck themselves out in neon colors) student sections that you will see in West Michigan high school hoops. The Chix student section was right there behind them though, making there way out on a snow filled evening to support their squad. By tip-off the Civic Center was rockin’ and the overall atmosphere and excitement level hinted that this one would be a fun one.

Things didn’t quite turn out this way, unless you were a Zeeland East fan that is. The Chix jumped out to a quick 12-2 lead, capped off by a steal and breakaway throw down from Riley Arendsen. The Maroons were able to close the margin down to 9 by the end of the quarter, with the score 16-7, but unfortunately it didn’t get any closer for the rest of the night.

Just one minute into the second quarter the Chix were already in the bonus, thanks to 9 team fouls from Holland Christian in the games first 9 minutes. Lead by senior Zac VanBeek , Zeeland East really began to pull away in the second where they out-scored the Maroons 18-9. VanBeek had an exceptional game coming away with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. ZanBeek stands at 6’4, and is one of the more complete players I have seen this entire year. As the his stat line would suggest, the kid can do it all, and he is a unique weapon that can hurt you in numerous ways. Behind great play from VanBeek and others, the Chix went into the locker room up 34-16.

From here Zeeland East never looked back, and the lead soon hit the 20 point mark, and the route was on. The Chix went to the post a bit more in the second, feeding big man Josh Groenhof who finished with 15 points and 6 boards. ZE also found some solid shooting from Arendsen in the second half, as he was able to knock down some nice looking jumpers to tack on 10 for the Chix. By the end of the quarter it was 53-35 and this one was all but over.

The Maroons could not establish any type of presence in the post (even with 5 players over 6’4 on their roster), and could not convert on enough jump shots to stay with the Chix. The two bright spots on the night for HC were Jon Maas and Kyle Steigenga. Maas made sure that he was out-hustled by no one, and finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Steigenga led the Maroons with 15, and as a sophomore shows an immense amount of potential. I could see Steignga growing into a VanBeek type of player in the coming years for Holland Christian. He too is 6’4, has a very versatile game, and the two have a very similar playing style.

ZanBeek put there cherry on top for East with an emphatic two handed slam, plus a foul, with just 5 minutes to play and the place erupted. From here the Chix coasted to an easy 71-54 win and proved their supremacy in the OK Green.

The win was also a monumental one for the Zeeland East program, as Head Coach Mickey Cochran took home his 4ooth win for the Chix. In the games final moments East fans held up signs to show tribute to Coach Cochran.

Chix fans hold up signs reading "400" on one side, and "MC" on the other to honor Coach Cochran

The 14-0 Godwin Heights basketball team is something to behold. You think you know Kevin Badger. Maybe you’ve seen him play. You question their schedule, although they don’t pick their league. They don’t just win games, they dominate them. This fun and loose team doesn’t seem to care. Saturday they share the stage with defending state champ and 13-0 Tri Unity Christian. West Michigan All Star decided to turn the spotlight on a little bit early for the Fighting Wolverines.

Coach Chad Conklin gives us a much deeper look at his method.

The West Ottawa-Grand Haven basketball rivalry is more than just a game. It is a cancer fighter, too.

West Ottawa is hosting the 3^rd annual Pink Out game on Friday, February 10^th during the boys and girls basketball doubleheader at West Ottawa’s North High School. Both West Ottawa and Grand Haven will wear special edition pink accented jerseys.

All proceeds will benefit cancer research at Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids. It is part of the institute’s Community for a Cure initiative, which brings communities together to raise awareness about cancer, celebrate survivors, honor loved ones who have died and support cancer research.

During the first and second years West Ottawa donated $15,000 and $20,000 to the American Cancer Society. This year they are looking to build on that success.

The color pink often symbolizes support for the fight against breast cancer, however, Pink Out supports all forms of cancer. Players will be showing this support by wearing jerseys displaying names honoring those affected by cancer. Pink Out T-shirts will also be sold for $15.

Doors will open at 5pm for a pre-game celebration that offers food from Hog Wild, Qdoba, & Dairy Queen for $7/person. The girls varsity will tip off at 6pm & the boys varsity will follow at approximately 7:30pm.

Pink Out is brought to you by the Sports and Entertainment Marketing class at West Ottawa High School with help from the marketing class from Grand Haven. Any questions about the event should be directed to Instructor Shayna Carlson at 616-994-5127 or ja@westottawa.net.

High school basketball games don’t get much better than the one that just took place in East Grand Rapids. The Rangers of Forest Hills Central had made the trip to take on the struggling Pioneers (3-10 on the year), in a non-conference game that seemed to heavily favor FHC who were 8-5 and contending for the OK Black title. Yet, with just one second remaining, only down a single point, the Pioneers found themselves with one last, improbable, chance to win the ball game.

But first, let me tell you how we got here…

Coming out of pre-game warmups I got the sense that EGR had almost no jitters, and was a squad that was ready to  just go out and have some fun on the basketball court. Maybe with a 3-10 record, they weren’t feeling a lot of pressure to win this game, but they still knew they could. The team as a whole just appeared very loose, but still focused at the same time. Forest Hills, in opposition, was all business. From the get go, the Rangers seemed to be in control of this one, knocking down open jumpers left and right, and containing the Pioneers on defense with a crisply run 2-3 zone mixed in with some man here and there. The Rangers hit 4 deep balls in the first quarter and jumped out early to a 19-15 lead.

Within the first 30 seconds of the second quarter Ranger junior, Adam Dykema knocked down back to back bombs to quickly turn a 4-point lead, into 10-point lead and give FHC an early chance to pull away. Dykema was lights out all night, and in my second game covering him has become one of my favorite players to watch. Dykema may not be physically imposing or freakishly athletic, but his pure jump shot can easily strike fear into opposing defenders. What I really like about him though, is that he is much more than just a shooter. Once defenses key in on this part of his game, he starts using his unexpected quickness and handles to blow by defenders and attack the paint. Dykema put on a clinic from behind the arc, and finished with 22 on the night.

With the score 38-27, East’s Marcus Hall was able to drain a HUGE three ball as the second quarter buzzer sounded, to cut the lead back down to single digits and give the Pioneers some extra momentum heading into the locker room. Hall had an outstanding game himself, drilling 3 three-pointers, and leading EGR with 17 points.

The third saw much of the same for Forest Hills, as the continued to make it rain from down town. Dykema stayed red hot from deep, and Connor Carmody and Drew Taylor also joined the fun hitting two long balls a piece. The Rangers hit a ridiculous 13 three pointers in all, and for a while it seemed like they just could not miss a shot. But behind strong games from the likes of DeAndre Grady, Matt Alt, Austin Howell, and Marcus Hall the Pioneers were able to stay with in striking range. Grady kept tempo for EGR, handling the ball for most of the night and coming away with 13 points, 4 boards, and 5 dimes. East also began to press in the third which was a fantastic decision, and active hands and quick feet lead to TO’s which led to easy buckets and trips to the free throw line. By the end of the third EGR found themselves down just 56-53 and the game was theirs for the taking.

The fourth was played at a frantic pace, and back to back buckets from Austin Howell knotted the game up at 59 a piece with just 2 mins remaining. On Forest Hills next possession Dykema hit his SIXTH three of the night in what seemed like it might be the dagger. However, Marcus Hall responded right back for East with a triple of his own with a man right in his grill. The Rangers wasted no time and immediately pushed the ball after the hoop, and Micheal McCullough was able to take it to the rack, get fouled, and convert on one of two freebies to put FHC up 63-62 with only 4 ticks on the clock.

DeAndre Grady then took the inbound pass, sprinted up the court, and chucked up a wild three that wasn’t even close. The buzzer sounded and the Rangers celebrated what they thought was a win. What no one had realized was that EGR Head Coach Jared Redell had called a timeout just before the shot and one second was put back on the clock.

So here it was, an inbound play from half court and just one measly second on the clock. One last hope. Grady was handed the rock on the sidelines, and the game was in his hands. With a prayer, he lobbed up an incredibly accurate pass towards his hoop and out of nowhere, Marcus Hall came skying towards the rim to tip it home off the backboard. The place went nuts, and Hall was thrust into the air by classmates who had stormed the court. Like I said, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Caledonia, now 11-4 and 6-3 in the OK-Gold, came out of the gates hot taking an early 8-2 lead.  From then on, however, the going got tough…real tough.  Going scoreless for nearly 9 minutes, the Scots offense went ice cold as the Bengals used a 20-2 run to take a 22-12 lead into the locker room at halftime.  The Scots shot a miserable 26.1% from the field in the first half while the Bengals were not much better at just 38%.  Bengals seniors Shakur Sanders and Daryl White were basically free to do whatever they wanted on the offensive end as they diced through the Scots defense for easy transition buckets.

The second half started out much the same as the first with the Bengals taking their biggest lead with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd at 32-16.  However, a quick 5-0 burst to end the third gave the Fighting Scots their first sign of life since the opening minutes of the game as they trailed 32-21 entering the final quarter.

A full court press by the Scots to start the 4th proved to be the right ingredient in the upset mix as the Bengals lost control of the momentum and became flustered.  Holding a 37-25 lead with 5:11 remaining in the game, the Bengals seemed to have weathered the Scots storm until the Stephen Spencer Show began.  In a span of less than two minutes Spencer netted 10 points, cashing in on two 3’s as well as two mid range jumpers.  A deuce added by senior guard Murphy Esterley, coupled with four missed free throws by the Bengals, knotted the score at 37 -37 with just 2:20 remaining. 

A timeout called by the Bengals went for naught as they quickly turned the ball right back over to the Scots and Spencer would not be denied.  Another 2 from their senior guard gave the Scots their first lead since the opening minutes at 39-37 with the clock showing 1:55.  After a bucket by Ottawa Hills guard Sanders to lock it at 39, Esterley again came up huge as he knocked down a deep 3 to give the Scots a 42-39 lead with 44 seconds to go.  The crowd rejoiced.  However, a steal by White underneath his hoop gave the Bengals two points plus a foul.  The free throw missed badly but the rebound went to Abraham Dock of the Bengals who banked in an 8 foot jumper giving Ottawa Hills a 43-42 advantage.

However, nothing would deter the Fighting Scots from winning this game, they had come too far, they knew this game was theirs.  They held true to their name and fought to the finish.  A basket scored by 6’3 center Michael Ruddock with 20 seconds left gave the Scots the lead for good and in fitting fashion Stephen Spencer stepped to the line with ice in his veins knocking down both ends of a 1 and 1 to seal the deal.  A stunning 46-43 victory for the Scots sent the Bengals home with their first conference loss of the season.  This truly was a team win for the Scots who again showed their resiliency and solidified the fact that you can’t ever count this team out.

Spencer finished with 16 points for the Scots to lead all scorers while Daryl White and Shakur Sanders led the Bengals with 12 and 10, respectively.

Here is Todd Bloemers after his team’s unbelievable comeback win.

Fremont was looking to continue their winning streak which stood at ten on Tuesday night when they matched up with fellow out-right conference leader in their own respective league the Sparta Spartans. Sparta was hoping to end Fremont’s run and establish themselves as one of the top teams within West Michigan. The Fremont Packers and the Sparta Spartans both are listed as honorable mentions in WMA’s Best of the West rankings heading into this week and in the end after a profound fourth quarter comeback and 60-58 victory for the Spartans they may just crack our top 10.

Fremont blew this one open early with a quick 11-0 lead but was matched by the resiliency shown by the Spartans of Sparta all night along as the first quarter ended 18-16. Fremont throughout the night looked to be the more complete team with more players as options to go to for points and Sparta did themselves no favors with early turnovers. Fremont’s Mike Siegel played an outstanding game resulting in a game high 24 points as he was able to effectively shoot from range hitting four triples and drive through the lane for easy makes.

Packer big man Lucas McKian also had a nice night dominating the boards and tallying 14 points from some strong moves down in the post.

Fremont held  leads of 34-25 at the half and 47-37 after 3. The fourth quarter was where Sparta caught fire and just kept on coming scoring 23 fourth quarter points. Their were two stand out players for Sparta in the fourth Matthew Jensen and Zach Leach. Jensen made his biggest basket on the night swooping down the lane in transition for the lay up cutting the Fremont lead to 58-55 with 1:17 left. Now the pressure was beginning to mount for Fremont who had not played without the lead all night as they took to the line for the one-and-one after a foul on the Spartans. Fremont would fail to hit the freebie and Sparta would take over possession giving Leach the opportunity to pull up and make the triple on the other end of the floor to tie the ball game. After a botched play by Fremont Sparta would once again have the ball and call a timeout with just over 30 seconds on the clock. The ball was instructed to go to Leach and here is how it went down.

:08 seconds would remain on the clock for one last desperate shot for Fremont that was taken way as Jensen intercepted the inbounds pass ands sealed the 60-58 Sparta win. Leach would finish with 18 and Jensen with 11 but it was the leadership and fight of these two young men that gave Sparta what may arguably be their biggest win of the season. Fremont will have to regroup quick as they will battle Grant tomorrow night in a pivotal Lakes 8 contest that is a make up from a cancellation back on January 13th. Sparta is not scheduled for competition again until the 24th when they will travel to Comstock Park.

Tonight’s OK Green match-up at Wyoming Park promised to be a good one. Both Zeeland West and Park have been struggling of late hovering around the .500 mark but it was good to see two teams fight hard for 32 minutes. Sometimes teams with nothing to lose put on the best show. Park did just that with a 79-64 victory that came much harder than the final score indicated. After the Vikings took a 10 point lead into the break it was the Dux time to make a run. A 16-6 run to start the 3rd quarter tied it all up at 49 and Zeeland West was looking good with Jordan VanDort scoring 8 in the paint before and elbow to the nose left him bloody and he never really recovered that dominance as the 3rd ended with Park up 6.

Jesse Love made 8-10 4th quarter free-throws on his way to 19 points for the game to ice it away for Park. As time ran under a minute to go and Zeeland Coach Mark Werley calling out for no fouls it was Love who drove and flipped the ball up to a slashing Casey Mott who threw down the one-handed alley-oop to put the exclamation point on this one! Zeeland West falls to 7-7 overall and 5-5 in the Green while Park now sits at 7-8 overall and 5-5 in league play.

Quick Hitters

Zeeland West

• The Dux were led by Braden Werley who had 15 but a costly foul and subsequent technical pretty much put this one away for Park. Werley had done a good job all night limiting Love, who did much of his damage tonight from the line, while also knocking down big buckets when his team needed an answer. Jared Ensing and Zach Dreyer had 13 and 10 respectively and dominated the glass at times but failed to convert on some key offensive boards.
• Jordan VanDort had 12 and that 8 point run of his in the 3rd quarter really gave the Dux life. The 6’5″ 280 lb SOPHOMORE is really a great story after suffering a very bad knee injury in the Division 4 State Title game at Ford Field. VanDort has rehabbed and come back in an amazing way, it’s great to see him playing well.

Wyoming Park

• The Vikings used their athletic advantage all night with aggressive defense and drive and dish looks for Casey Mott all night. Jesse Love was able to find Mott for bunnies all night which led to 25 points for the Vikings big man.

Check out Love setting up Mott

• It wasn’t all Love and Mott however, Fernando Wade was the star of the first half with his 3 deep balls and 17 total points in the first 16 minutes. Wade would finish with 26 to lead all scorers and simply had too many wide open shots and was far to creative in the lane for the Dux defense. His nine second half points seemed like a slow half and he easily could have hit 30 if not for some missed free-throws.

We asked you guys who should be #1 in our rankings and 250 of you chimed in! We can’t help but listen to the fans of West Michigan and with that being said we have a new top dog. Let us know what you think about or rankings of the top teams in WM and don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook and then suggest us to your friends because we are giving away a huge prize pack when we reach 2,300 likes!!

1.) Greenville (14-0)

The fans have spoken and Greenville is our new top squad in WM! Who the Yellow Jackets play has a lot to do with it as they play in a rather deep league. Reeths-Puffer on Tuesday and then we head up to Greenville for a showdown with GR Christian that could put this conference away for the Jackets.

2.) Godwin Heights (13-0)

I’m not excited to drop this team to number 2. Godwin cannot help what league they play in and will get a chance to prove their metal against Tri Unity this week. A big win will say a lot about this deep and talented team. You must see these guys play!

3.) Tri Unity Christian (13-0)

The Defenders are winning by an average margin of 24 points per game! Godwin lies ahead and this will be another chance for this “little class D school” to prove it’s doubters wrong, again.

4.) Rockford (11-3)

Friday the Rams took back control of the OK Red and now look towards avoiding a letdown against a sneaky Grand Haven team before heading to Jenison on Friday.

5.) Shelby (12-0)

There is just zero competition for the Tigers right now. It makes it hard to judge this team but the time will come for people to notice this talented group.

6.) East Kentwood (12-2)

The Falcons had a great week and now face some lower end competition to get their game right before a tough week of Rockford and Hudsonville the week after next.

7.) Zeeland East (13-1)

The Chix bounced back this week with a pair of W’s and look to put away the OK Green before Districts where the plan on rekindling some past magic.

8.) Hudsonville (10-4)

Dropping a close one at Rockford is nothing to hang your head about. Hibbitts will catch fire and be a very tough out come March. Trust us.

9.) Ottawa Hills (10-3)

The Bengals will be your OK Gold champs after last weeks win at South Christian. Shakur Sanders and his stingy teammates will now focus on getting better for a spring-time run.

10.) Grand Rapids Christian (10-3)

Christian gets a shot at revenge against Greenville on Friday. The Eagles need this one in a bad way and I expect them to play like it.

Honorable Mentions (in no order)

Caledonia (10-4)

Caledonia will have their shot at home against Ottawa Hills but I was at the first match-up and I really don’t think much has changed.

Muskegon Heights (9-4)

Another split week for the Tigers was capped with an embarrassing loss to Romulus, credit this team for taking on some of the big dogs in the state however. This team needs to get on a run.

North Muskegon (10-4)

Krannitz and Co. picked up some good wins last week. Can they top Shelby however to boost some confidence?

Sparta (10-3)

The Spartans suffered a bad loss to Cedar Springs on Tuesday and will now play out of league with Fremont and Grant on the docket.

Fremont (10-1)

This is a very talented and balanced team led by Luke McKian. A match-up with Sparta on Tuesday will be a nice test for the Packers.

We hope to see you out at a game and will keep you posted on where we will be. Don’t forget that we will update you every Monday on the new WMA rankings. As always feel free to discuss below!

Anytime cross-town rivals hook up for a conference battle it is sure to be a great show for everyone in attendance. With the vast range of WMA’s coverage however we cannot be at every game and we understand that you can’t either. Good thing for all of us attending other games we have Don Kok who was able to take in Jenison and Grandville and give us all a sense of actually being there with his vast photo blog. Jenison was able to grab the victory with a 57-42 road win with a balanced attack paced by Eric Evans’ 15 points for the Wildcats.

Grand Haven took home a key OK Red win Friday night against Muskegon 57-48. We welcomed in Jodi Schaap to the WMA team for the night to shoot this one for us. Jodi doesn’t normally shoot sports but took a stab at it and grabbed some killer shots for us! To see even more from this one check out her slideshow and see some of her other work.