By Jon Styf
LocalSportsJournal.com
MUSKEGON – The results look familiar early this season from the Muskegon boys basketball team.
But how the Big Reds reached 10-0 isn’t.
They lost a trio of college-level talent in the backcourt from a state runner-up team, but this year Muskegon has returned with a singular purpose, one that drives them every day.
The next task at hand comes up Tuesday night when the Big Reds host the Reeths-Puffer Rockets, which also is undefeated in OK-Green play.
But the Big Reds want more. They want to win a state title, one they can pair with the schools’ football state title to create a first in Muskegon High School history.
“In life, there are very few times where you get the opportunity to right a wrong or get a second chance,” Muskegon coach Keith Guy said.
This team has that. And they are attacking that opportunity with discipline, understanding that the small details will be what determines whether they end the season hoisting a state championship or come up short.
“The little things always matter to a team that wants to win a state championship,” senior forward Terrance Davis said.
Which brings us back to those details.
Justin Watson says that every day, at least once, he thinks about what it would be like to win a state title and what it will take to get there. The senior is confident and he isn’t alone.
Playing good defense, remembering assignments, keeping the Big Red opponents away from the center of the court, keeping those opponents under 40 points and keeping their opponents under their scoring averages are daily focuses.
“The only thing that’s going to stop us from getting the championship is ourselves,” Watson said.
For M’Khi Guy and Terrance Davis, the focus began immediately after the Big Reds’ resilient football team won its state title. In a season that began with two tough losses and a title game that started with a 14-point halftime deficit to a De La Salle team that beat them in Week 2, it would have been easy to think it couldn’t be done.
But the Big Reds thought different, they came back and they ended the season as champions.
Right afterward, M’Khi Guy and Davis talked about winning one in basketball too, doing whatever it takes to bring a title back to Muskegon on the 10th anniversary of the basketball teams’ last championship.
“You have to be mentally stable and mentally tough and physical,” M’Khi Guy said. “Those things matter with being a state champion and winning tough games. You have to be the most mentally prepared team.”
M’Khi Guy called last year’s basketball state final run a “study guide for the test” as the team learned the importance of the little things in winning it all.
“If you watch NBA and college basketball, you hardly ever see a team win without winning the rebound war, having the least amount of turnovers, making free throws and shooting at least 70 percent as a team,” Guy said. “That’s what gets you to win in those big games against great teams.”
So that’s been the theme of this season, despite a later start than most teams because of football and a 10-day break from games in early January due to weather postponements.
The details are what matters.
Now, the Big Reds are in the heart of the conference schedule, figuring out their rotations and what will work for the long haul.
“We’re going to definitely see who we are in the next couple of weeks,” Coach Keith Guy said. “This is good for us. This constant game action will be good for us. We’ll get into a stretch where we have a rhythm.”
During this stretch, senior Montrel Oliver said that playing great team defense will be key.
“We know we have to be mentally prepared for it because that can take a toll on our bodies,” Oliver said.
Now, it’s a matter of putting it all together for a playoff run.
They know they can make one, and they’ll certainly be prepared.
“We took the mindset that we’ve got to be better than last year’s team,” Davis said. “We’ve experienced what it’s like to win and we want to experience that again.”