By Jim Goorman
Local Sports Journal

Tradition rich Tri-unity Christian rode the hot shooting of  Mark Sjoerdsma and a defensive surge in the second half to defeat the visiting Muskegon Catholic Crusaders 61 -38 on Friday night.

The 6-foot-6 senior center  made two 3-pointers in the third quarter and 12 more points in the fourth to spark the Defenders to their River Valley victory.

After a sluggish first half in which Tri-Unity only led 21-15, they erupted for 40 points in the final two quarters.  Their aggressive defense led by Joey Blauwkamp and Daniel Cole and some key Catholic turnovers changed the course of a game that was close at halftime.

After trailing in the early going by a 13-4  score, MCC went on a 6-0 run to end the first quarter.

In the second quarter, however, MCC hit for only single digits (5 points) as they did in the fourth (8 points) which led to the loss.

John Daniel’s two consecutive triples inspired the Crusaders in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter saw the home team outscore and outlast MCC with a 22-8 edge.

Mark Wachter, a 6-foot-4  Tri-unity forward,  scored 14 points to complement his teammate Sjoerdsma. Unfortunately for the Defenders, Sjoerdsma on an alley oop pass hurt his knee with 50 seconds to go in the game and was removed.

Leading MCC in scoring was Senior guard John Daniel with 11 points while Brant McCollum notched seven points and Cari Campbell had six.