Local Sports Journal

For the second straight game, the speed of the Mona Shores Sailors carried them to a nonleague boys basketball victory.

On Friday night, the Sailors used that quickness, and some timely 3-point shooting, to defeat the host Western Michigan Christian Warriors 68-43. The Sailors used the same formula for victory earlier in the week against Whitehall.

“We have very good quickness and it has bothered both teams,” Sailor coach Gene Gifford said. “We have quickness throughout the positions, but our guards really put a lot of pressure on people.”

Besides the quickness, the Sailors used some 3-pointer prowess to grab a quick lead on the Warriors. Marcus Tumblin canned a pair of treys in the first quarter en route to a game-high 19 points. Logan Haugh added 12 points while Adreon Billips and Cameron Mathews added 10 each. That balance caused problems for the Warriors all night long.

“I thought tonight was  real physical game,” Gifford said. “I think some people thought we couldn’t play physical basketball, but I thought tonight it was a physical game by both teams.”

The Sailors led 15-9 at the first stop and 37-19 at the half. WMC made a late run in the third quarter and cut into the deficit, but the Sailors surged again in the early stages of the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach for good.

“Both teams played hard and it was a great game to be a part of,” Gifford said. “I was very pleased with our defense.”

WMC was led by senior post player Bernard Smith with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“He’s a load down there and that’s a compliment,” Gifford said. “He’s a heckuva college player. I will be calling a couple colleges about him, but I think they already know about him.”

Devin Eekhoff and James Godwin had six points each for WMC (0-1).

Mona Shores 68, Western Michigan Christian 43

MONA SHORES
Marcus Tumblin 6-4-6 19, Jamarius Williams 1 0-0 2, Anthony Wilson 1 0-0 3, Adreon Billips 4 0-0 10, Cameron Mathews 4 2-3 10, Kobe Burse 3 3-3 9, Logan Haugh5 2-2 12, D’Quitaye Ross 0 1-2 1. Totals 24 12-16 68.

WESTERN MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN
Alex Rop 2 0-0 4, Jacob Ray 1 0-2 2, Bernard Smith 4 7-9 15, Jared Varnado 1 0-0 2, Sam Mast 0 2-2 2, Devin Eekhoff 2 2-4 6, Derrick Holt 1 2-2 4, James Godwin 2 2-4 6. Rubin Han 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 15-23 43.

Mona Shores 15-22-14-17–68
WMC 9-10-15-9–43

3-pointers: Tumblin (3), Wilson, Billips (2). Fouled out: none. Technicals fouls: none. JV: Mona Shores 66-54.