Spring Lake pulls off a shocker, knocks off previously unbeaten Whitehall in overtime

MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The calendar may read February 29, but for the Spring Lake varsity boys basketball team, March Madness has already hit.

Spring Lake’s Eli Morrison gets his student section going. Photo/Tim Reilly

In what he called one of the biggest upsets in his 24-year career coaching the Lakers’ boys, Bill Core and Spring Lake needed overtime to get it done, but still pulled a stunner against previously unbeaten Whitehall, 73-61.  

The Vikings (22-1), who entered Wednesday’s contest at Orchard View High School ranked No. 2 in Division 2, saw their remarkable season end in the district semifinals for the second straight season. Spring Lake, meanwhile, will look to knock off neighboring rival Fruitport for the second year in a row in the district championship. 

“We came in expecting to win, but that’s obviously no disrespect to Whitehall,” Core said, whose squad is now 12-12 overall. “But we came in knowing we’d gone through a grueling schedule and we were as healthy as we’ve been in a long time. We came in expecting a war.”

Core called it matching Whitehall’s physicality “without crossing a line,” and Spring Lake did a masterful job defensively in taking the Vikings out of their bread and butter, which is pushing the tempo and creating easy opportunities on the fast break. 

It never materialized for Whitehall and all-state junior standout Camden Thompson, who scored 18 points, but wasn’t a difference maker throughout, as he consistently battled through triple- and even quadruple teams from the Lakers’ defense.

It allowed Spring Lake to make it a nail-biter throughout. The Lakers had a 11-9 lead after one quarter, trailed the Vikings by a 22-21 score at the half and were tied 39-39 at the end of three and 51-51 at the end of regulation. 

It was in overtime when Spring Lake’s secret weapon revealed itself – deadly free-throw shooting. Core said it’s been one of the better free-throwing shooting teams he’s ever coached, as they’ve shot nearly 70 percent from the charity stripe for the season. Behind forward Karson George, the Lakers took it to another level on Wednesday, hitting a stellar 27-of-31 from the foul line, including a perfect 14-of-14 from George in overtime.

Whitehall’s Camden Thompson goes in for a 2-handed dunk shot. Photo/Tim Reilly

“I practice free throws every day at practice,” said George, the 6-foot-5 senior, who scored 21 points. “It’s just something I do, and I think I’m the best free throw shooter on the team and I stand by that.

“That first half, I started out missing an easy floater and another easy one, and I kind of felt out of it,” George added. “But I started hitting my free throws and that got me right back (in the groove).”

Spring Lake’s defense with under 2 ½ minutes left in overtime swung the tide. On back-to-back possessions, the Lakers made key steals on long, errant Vikings’ passes at halfcourt, nearly resembling defensive backs on the football field.  The first Vikings’ miscue resulted in a sweet drive and reverse layup by the Lakers’ Jaden Core. The next, Wren Dephouse beat his Vikings’ opponent to another long heave, and drew a foul. He sank both, putting the Lakers up 57-53 with 1:49 remaining. 

“Those two shots by Wren were big because that put us up four and I think it put a little bit of pressure on Whitehall,” Core said.

The Lakers continued to get stops and continued to drain their freebies at the line, eventually building a 62-53 lead. The Lakers finished 18-of-20 at the free-throw line in the last five minutes of action. 

Thompson hit a couple late 3-pointers to draw the Vikings back to within six, but they could creep no closer. 

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Whitehall coach Christian Subdon. “We really grinded. We had shots to win it, plays to win it, but we just didn’t make the plays we needed to, and unfortunately, that means we have to say bye to five seniors.” 

“They have great players,” the Lakers’ George said of the Vikings. “Cam Thompson is definitely the best player on the floor. But we knew we all had to play ‘D’ and basically answer every bucket. We just tried to trap Cam every time he touched the ball and don’t let him get any open 3s.” 

With Thompson drawing a lot of attention, the Vikings had others step up, including junior forward Kal Koehler, who connected on four triples and finished with 22 points. His triple early in the third quarter gave Whitehall its largest lead of the second half at 31-26, but the Lakers were not to be denied. 

Guard Zach Schlepp had a huge game with a team-high 22 points for the Lakers, while point guard Eli Morrison added 12. George and Jaden Core each grabbed five rebounds, as the Lakers also won the rebounding battle overall, 22-16.

Core said when the season is done, this win is one he’ll cherish for a while. 

“We came in expecting to compete and go down to the wire,” he said. “But when you take a breath and look at the big picture, we just beat a 22-0 team that’s ranked No. 2. That is huge.”    

Take a look at more photos from the night shot by Tim Reilly