By John Jarvi
Local Sports Journal
SPRING LAKE – The Spring Lake Lakers spread the floor on offense and attacked on defense and came away with a 45-41 non-league boys’ basketball victory Friday over neighboring Grand Haven’s Buccaneers.
The Lakers used a 12-2 run late in the third quarter to take control of the game and then fought off the Buccaneers in the fourth quarter.
Nate Batts drives in the lane for Spring Lake as No. 22 Ross Koella contests the shot. Photo/Jason Goorman
Spring Lake, now 3-1, won its second game in the last three years in the series which started up again in 2007. The overall series dates back to the 1970-71 season, which Grand Haven leads 25-6.
The victory completed an outstanding week for Spring Lake. The Lakers turned back Mona Shores 72-66 Tuesday and came back to win their second game in a row against a Class A opponent in beating the Buccaneers, who are now 1-2.
“Beating Mona Shores and Grand Haven in the same week is a nice week for Spring Lake basketball,” said Bill Core, the Lakers’ coach.
Core said his defense played an outstanding game. The Lakers spotted the Buccaneers’ size up front, but weren’t dominated.
“I just knew with their size advantage in the post, we were going to have to be aggressive without getting too many fouls,” Core said. “We did a pretty good job of that. None of their three-point shooters got hot tonight, either.”
Grand Haven opened with an 11-5 lead in the first quarter, and pulled ahead 27-26 in the thirdd quarter on a 3-point basket by Schaefer Thelen. But that was the last time the Bucs led.
Spring Lake went on its 12-2 run and took a 38-29 lead through three quarters. The Lakers scored the 12 points on nine trips down the floor during that span.
Grand Haven’s Zac Holman drives to the basket against Keegan George. Photo/Jason Goorman
“It got a little bit away from us when they got up by nine points,” said Bob Eidson, the Grand Haven coach. “We were just not getting in front of it on defense to stop their gap penetration.
“We took a lot of great-looking shots, and we just didn’t have enough go in. They hit a couple clutch free throws down the stretch.”
Kyle Zietlow and Zachary Montgomery each had 11 points for Spring Lake while Keegan George had nine. Montgomery also had six rebounds and Mark Williamson five for the Lakers.
Adam Abraham and Zac Holman each had 10 points and Thelen eight for Grand Haven. The Buccaneers led 29-24 in rebounds with Abraham grabbing seven and Nic Holwerda and Ross Koella five each.
