Reeths-Puffer survives scare in hall of fame victory over Coopersville

By Ron Rop
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – The Reeths-Puffer Rockets had to hang on for dear life on Wednesday night in the second game of the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Holiday Classic.

Elliot Schneider (23) takes a shot for Reeths-Puffer. Photo/Tim Smith

The Rockets, playing on their home floor in the 21st annual event, led by 14 points after three quarters then had to stave off a pesky Coopersville Bronco team. In the end, the Rockets earned a 66-61 victory and handed the Broncos their first loss of the season.

Reeths-Puffer relied heavily on its big three scorers to take down the Broncos. Travis Ambrose, Jaxson Whitaker and Marvin Moore provided most of the offense for the Rockets. Ambrose finished with a game-high 26 points, including 13 in each half, Whitaker with 21, of which 14 came in the second half and Moore, who had just nine points, but they all came in the first 4 minutes of the game when the Rockets raced out to an 18-13 lead after one quarter.

The lead grew to 29-21 at the half and continued to increase throughout the third quarter. The Rockets’ seven-point lead early in the third quarter doubled to 14 by the midpoint of the quarter.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Reeths-Puffer led 56-42 and it sure looked like the Broncos were in for a long fourth quarter.

However, Coach Pete VanKempen and his team were not going down without a final surge that lasted much of the final quarter.

A 14-2 run in less than 5 minutes suddenly had the visitors back to within 58-56 heading down the final stretch.

“They made three 3’s and when you’re battling Pete’s teams, they are going to battle you to the end and he’s going to get them into a position to be successful,” Aardema said. “He’s got a good team. They played hard. We got a little fatigued and instead of running our stuff, we were super tentative.”

Reeths-Puffer’s Travis Ambrose (21). Photo/Tim Smith

After Whitaker hit a pair of free throws, Coopersville’s Porter Kretschman hit a 3-pointer to pull the Broncos to within 60-59. But, the Rockets maintained their composure. Whitaker scored a bucket, Ambrose hit two free throws as did Antrel Jones to put the game away.

Ambrose added 10 rebounds to his 26 points and Jones added four steals.

Kretschman led Coopersville with 18 points.