By Ron Rop
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – If only the Muskegon Community College men’s basketball team could bottle up their first-half performance and bring it out another time.

Photo/Joe Washington

On Wednesday night, the host Jayhawks racked up 54 points in the opening half and cruised to an 87-74 victory over rival Grand Rapids Community College.

The MCCAA North Division game was played at Bartels-Rode Gymnasium.

“I thought we played very well in the first half,” said MCC veteran coach Gene Gifford. “It was almost like a clinic. Offensively, we got some transition baskets and when we didn’t, we set up in our half-court offense. We executed and shared the ball very well, we rebounded well and I was really pleased with our offense. And, even our defense held them to 28 points. We worked hard on defense and I thought we had a lot of energy.

“I was really, really pleased with the first half,” said Gifford.

That opening half was indeed a welcomed sight for the Jayhawks. Freshman Darius Williams gave the Jayhawks an early spark with nine points in the first 6 minutes of the game. He finished with a team-high 22 points. In the first 10 minutes of the half, MCC enjoyed a 25-9 lead. Joe Russau, off the bench, also sparked the home team with eight points in the span of 4 minutes.

The Jayhawks left the floor after 20 minutes with a 54-28 lead and plenty of momentum they hoped would carry through the second half.

While the second half got a bit sloppy here and there, the Jayhawks held off the Raiders for the victory.

“Sometimes it’s hard when you play like that in the first half, to maintain it in the second half,” Gifford said. “That’s what we’ve been working on … get the lead, build on it and go from there. We knew they would make a run. They are a decent team.”

MCC saw its 26-point halftime lead dwindle a couple of times, but the visitors never got their deficit below 14 points.

Besides Williams with 22 points, Jadakiss Lewis finished with 21 points and seven rebounds. Jacob Mueller added 11 points and Russau finished with 10. The leading rebounder was Jacob May, who had 11 rebounds. He also had six assists and five steals.

MCC (9-14, 5-5) travels to Bay College in the Upper Peninsula for a game on Saturday.

Take a look at more photos shot by Joe Washington.