Local Sports Journal

Kyle Mastenbrook’s first game as the Western Michigan Christian boys varsity basketball coach did not turn out as planned on Tuesday night.

That’s because Grandville Calvin Christian’s Brad Visser shot the lights out and carried the Squires to a 71-59 nonleague victory over the host Warriors.

Visser, a senior sharpshooter, canned eight 3-pointers en route to 33 points for the Squires.

“The thing with him is you can’t let him get going,” Mastenbrook said. “After he hit a couple, he did feel it. We contested a lot of shots.”

Visser wasn’t a factor for the first quarter, but he took over the game the final three quarters and effectively ruined the Warriors’ home opener.

After a 10-all deadlock after one quarter, the visitors began to build on their lead as Visser warmed up in the second quarter. By halftime, it was 29-25 and a 20-9 run in the third quarter made it 49-34 heading into the final quarter.

Bernard Smith, a junior post player, led WMC with 16 points. Henry DeKam added 11, sophomore Jacob Ray had eight, James Jackson seven and Alex Rop had six.

“It was fun, but it wasn’t what I wanted,” said Mastenbrook, who was coaching his first-ever varsity game. “But I enjoyed it. We get another chance to go at it on Friday.”

Jerry Mastenbrook, Kyle’s father and veteran coach at Kalamazoo Christian, was in attendance along with other family members and friends.

Kyle Mastenbrook took over for veteran coach Jim Goorman, who was the Warriors’ head coach from 1979-2012.