By Tom Westerholm
LocalSportsJournal.com
The long-time rivalry between Whitehall and Montague continues on Thursday when the Vikings travel to face the Wildcats in a crucial conference showdown.
Here’s everything you need to know.
DATE & TIME
Feb. 9 – Whitehall @ Montague, 7 p.m.
RECORDS
Whitehall: 11-5 overall, 5-1 in the West Michigan Conference – Lakes Division
The Vikings dropped a tight 75-71 loss to Covenant Christian in Grand Rapids on Friday, but they have won seven of their last eight games after a slow start to the season. Whitehall coach Christian Subdon said the long playoff run in football bled into the team’s start, but the Vikings have improved every game, particularly recently.
“We had to figure out how to play basketball again,” Subdon said. “So that contributed to three early losses and then we really picked it up, and now we’ve been playing better. … We’re getting better and we’re nearing where we need to be to make another playoff push.”
Whitehall is second in the conference and 8-1 on their home floor, but they are just 3-4 on the road entering their game at Montague. They face Manistee and top-ranked Ludington next week.
“My team knows how important this game is,” Subdon said. “Obviously it’s Montague, we always want to beat Montague, but we have goals past just beating Montague.”
Montague: 9-5 overall, 5-2 in the West Michigan Conference – Lakes Division
The Wildcats lost four games in five attempts earlier this season, but they have won five in a row since – most recently a 57-39 victory over Orchard View. Per Montague coach David Osborne, the Wildcats went through a shooting slump and a defensive slip in December, both of which have since been corrected.
“I think our guys fully have an understanding of what our expectations are now, and it seems like the clearer expectations have kept us out of some problems we were having early in the season,” Osborne said. “Things are more on track and where we thought they would be than earlier.”
Montague, which is currently third in the conference, has a big stretch coming up, with back-to-back games against the two teams ahead of them – Thursday’s contest against Whitehall, followed by Tuesday’s home showdown against Ludington.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Whitehall
Cam Thompson – 22 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists
Thompson leads Whitehall in nearly every statistical category and has scored 672 points to date. Subdon believes the 6-foot-5 sophomore could be close to 1,000 before the end of the season.
“He does all the intangible things that you need,” Subdon said. “Last year he wasn’t a very good defender, and I told him that. This year, he’s one of our top defenders. He hits the glass, he makes great passes … He just does it all for us.”
Kal Koehler adds 11.6 points per game behind Thompson. Subdon also praised senior guard Jack Houtteman, who has risen from JV to varsity alongside his head coach.
“I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s been playing phenomenally,” Subdon said. “The stats aren’t going to jump out … but he’s shooting 35 percent from three and 45 percent from the field, and he just does the right thing. He’s always in the right position. I can’t ask anything more of a guy.”
Montague
Isaiah Atchison – 10 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.8 blocks
Atchison is a do-everything forward for the Wildcats. At 6-8 with a 7-foot wingspan, the sophomore both protects the rim and presents a versatile, athletic offensive threat while pulling down the second-most rebounds in the conference.
“He’s really the catalyst for us on defense,” Osborne said. “He’s been doing a great job bringing energy. He’s just a tough matchup because he’s a 6-8 kid with a 7-0 wingspan that can dribble the ball, he can pass the ball, and he’s a pretty good shooter. So he’s really finding his way right now, and we’re excited.”
The Wildcats are a well-balanced team of scorers with six players averaging six or more points per game. Junior Owen Raeth and senior captain Braeden Johnston average 9.9 and 8.8 points per game, respectively.
“[Johnston] has really been playing well pretty much the entire season,” Osborne said. “ … Braeden is one of the kids that really is unselfish and didn’t want to shoot the ball early on, but realizes now that a big part of his role is to score. When he scores, that really helps everybody else around us.”
THREE KEY QUESTIONS
- How can Montague try to limit Cam Thompson?
Thompson was the Player of the Year in the conference as a freshman, and he has improved this year – most notably on the defensive end, where he defends nearly every opposing position. Subdon praised his star as a constant worker who hits the gym even when the team has the day off from practice.
“He just works hard,” Subdon said. “That’s what a lot of star players, I feel like, they miss that part of it. They are just good because they are. He’s made himself into what he is, and he’s still not satisfied with that, which is the scary part for everybody else, because he is still a sophomore.”
Like Subdon, Osborne lauded Thompson’s talent and work ethic, but singled out Atchison as a crucial piece of the puzzle.
“Whitehall is playing really well right now, and they really are a matchup nightmare for anybody in the sense that they are athletic,” Osborne said. “They are a tough matchup for anybody. I would say as far as the starting five, we match up pretty evenly. Both teams are fairly good sized, both teams are pretty quick, but I think it’s a pretty even matchup across the board.”
- How do two teams with similar styles slow each other down?
For Whitehall, the key to success is taking away what the opposition wants to do. If an opponent wants to play fast, the Vikings try to slow them down. If the opponent wants to slow it down, the Vikings try to speed them up.
“We want to be up in your shirts defensively,” Subdon said. “We’re going to put a lot of pressure on you.”
Montague, meanwhile, plays a similar style – a solid defense with shooters who can get hot and burn an opposing team.
“We’re very similar [to Whitehall],” Osborne said. “We’re a fast-paced team that can get up and down the floor, pretty aggressive defensively, we like to create a lot of our offense through our defense. But I think one thing we have improved on the last few weeks is really settling in and running a half-court offense. I think sometimes when you play fast defensively you tend to play too fast offensively, and we’ve really slowed that down in the sense that we’re making better decisions.”
- How will the history of the two teams come into play?
Over the last few years, Whitehall has pulled ahead in the long-time rivalry between the two neighboring towns – Montague’s last regular-season victory came on Jan. 10, 2020. Whitehall’s 58-48 victory in December – which included a 26-point outburst by Kal Koehler – marked their sixth straight win over the Wildcats.
Both Subdon and Osborne said the nature of the rivalry can make their matchups unpredictable, but the two teams hold a healthy amount of mutual respect for one another.
“I think both communities, the administration, coaches, we do a really good job of making sure — there’s no qualms about it, we’re going to compete hard, and we want each other to lose the game when we’re playing each other,” Subdon said. “But other than that, we’re rooting for one another.”
“We’re separated by a bridge,” Osborne added. “We’re the same community.”
Still, both teams recognize the history and significance of the rivalry.
“When it comes to this game, it’s really about winning the game,” Osborne said. “Nobody really talks about conference loss or this and that. We talk about winning the Whitehall/Montague game.”
