MUSKEGON—The Muskegon Big Reds got out of the gate slowly in the evening finale of the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Classic, falling behind the East Kentwood Falcons in the opening three minutes, 7-2.
But from that point forward, the Big Reds showed they had a lot more cooking as they ran away with a 61-42 win over the Falcons.
Jordan Briggs and a tough Muskegon defense, led the way. Briggs finished with a game-high 20 points while the Big Reds’ defense held East Kentwood to just seven second-quarter points.
The Big Reds went on a 11-0 run after trailing 7-2 and forced the Falcons to play catchup ball for the remainder of the night. Muskegon closed out the first quarter with a 16-12 lead as five Big Reds found the scoring column in the first quarter.
Muskegon increased their lead to double digits by halftime 30-19, outscoring the Falcons 14-7 in the second stanza with balance scoring, again from five players.
The Big Reds continued to increase the lead in the third quarter as Briggs and Maurice Sain Jr., each tossed in six points and Muskegon entered the final eight minutes with a commanding, 46-30 lead.
Joining Briggs in double figures for Muskegon were Maurice Sain Jr. with 14 points and Ethan Hill with 10 points. The Big Reds did struggle at the free-throw line, connecting on just 12-of-21 shots.
East Kentwood was led in scoring by Jah Hatchett with 16 points and was the only Falcon to reach double figures.
The Big Reds are now 2-0 overall are off until Friday, January 7 when they host to Zeeland West (3-1) in a O-K Green matchup.
Check out photos from the Big Reds’ win shot by Tim Reilly.
