Local Sports Journal

KENT CITY – It was an evening where the defenses struggled on Monday night in Kent City.

The result was an offensive kind of game that ended with the Western Michigan Christian Warriors posting an 83-69 victory over the Eagles.

The Warriors’ height gave the Eagles fits while the Eagles’ quickness and outside shooting gave the Warriors fits.

WMC’s taller lineup scored at will, at times, against the scrappy Eagles. Bernard Smith (6-foot-5) led WMC (7-2) with 31 points and 20 rebounds. James Godwin (6-foot-3) came off the bench to score 14 points and Jacob Ray (6-foot-5) added 13. Eleven of 12 Warriors scored.

Kent City, which made 9 3-pointers, was led by Nick Alt with 22 points, including four 3-pointers, and Jake Kreuger with 20 points.

“They went small to start and we went bigger than normal to start and that left mismatches on both ends of the court,” WMC coach Kyle Mastenbrook said. “They executed well to take advantage of that to scored 69 on us, which I’m not happy about.”

WMC led 20-15 after one quarter and 39-35 at the half. The teams combined for 48 points in a third quarter in which Smith scored 12 points in the paint for WMC and Alt scored 10 for the Eagles.

Kent City pulled to within one possession in the third quarter, but a surge to start the fourth pushed the lead to double digits for the Warriors.

 

 

Western Michigan Christian 83, Kent City 69

WESTERN MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN
Alex Rop 1 0-0 2, Jacob Ray 4 2-2 13, Devin Eekhoff 2 2-2 6, Derrick Holt 1 0-0 3, Bernard Smith 14 3-5 31, Kyle Kingma 1 0-0 2, Jared Varnado 1 2-3 5, Riley Arkema 1 0-0 3, Nate Dugener 1 0-0 3, Sam Mast 0 1-2 1, James Godwin 6 2-4 14. Totals 32 12-18 83.

KENT CITY
Will Wilson 3 3-6 9, Nick Alt 8 2-2 22, Randy Thompson 3 0-1 8, Jake Kreuger 7 5-8 20, Dustin Herringa 3 0-0 8, Brandan Barber 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 10-17 69.

WMC 20 – 19 – 25 – 19 – 83
KC 15 – 20 – 23 – 11 – 69

3-pointers: Ray (3), Varnado, Holt, Arkema, Dugener; Herringa (2), Alt (4), Thompson (2), Kreuger. Fouled out: Rop. Technicals: Rop. JV: WMC 69-36. A: 250.