Local Sports Journal
A quick start produced a quick and ultimately a nonleague boys basketball victory for the Western Michigan Christian Warriors.
The Warriors evened their record at 1-1 with a 60-40 victory over the host Fruitport Trojans.
In the game’s first 25 seconds, the Warriors had a 6-0 lead. By quarter’s end, it was 21-7.
“I liked that we were able to play tough defense and turn defense into offense,” WMC coach Kyle Mastenbrook said.
From there, the Warriors cruised, although the Trojans battled back on several occasions, but could not cut the deficit to less than 10 points.
“Then in the second half, we were able to run some plays and get the ball inside,” Mastenbrook said. “We were a lot bigger than Fruitport, but they played tough.”
Bernard Smith led the Warriors with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. Jacob Ray added 16 points and seven assists. Alex Rop and Kyle Kingma had six points each. Rop had four steals and Kingma had six rebounds.
“It’s tough to contend with him (Smith) anytime,” Mastenbrook said. “But I like other guys stepping up. Jacob Ray putting in 16 was huge for us.”
Travis Grimm led Fruitport with 12 points. That total included a pair of 3-pointers. Matt Umstead added six points.
Western Michigan Christian 60, Fruitport 40
WESTERN MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN
Alex Rop 3 0-2 6, Jared Varnado 1 1-2 3, Jacob Ray 8 0-2 16, Bernard Smith 6 8-12 20, Kyle Kingma 3 0-0 6, Sam Mast 1 0-0 2, Derrick Holt 2 1-2 5, Riley Arkema 0 2-2 2. Totals 24 12-22 60.
FRUITPORT
Shawn Knox 2 0-0 4, Matt Umstead 2 1-3 6, Travis Grimm 5 0-0 12, Zack Garber 2 1-2 5, Brian Horacek 1 0-0 2, Leon Johnson 2 0-0 4, Jason Carmean 1 0-1 3, Nathan Kriger 1 2-4 4. Totals 16 4-10 40.
WMC 21 – 13 – 13 – 13 — 60
Fruitport 7 – 13 – 8 – 12 — 40
Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. JV: WMC 69-22.
