By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
In a long basketball season, there are certain games that can tip the balance between a good season and a great season.
The East Kentwood boys basketball team experienced just such a game Tuesday at OK Red rival Rockford when it erased a 13-point halftime deficit and defeated Rockford 51-49 on a last-second shot.
Sophomore Jah Hatchett gets winning bucket
Falcon sophomore Jah Hatchett provided the game-winning basket with three seconds remaining in the game as he rebounded an East Kentwood miss and layed it in for the winning points.
The bucket gave Kentwood a win that was special in more than one way. First, the Falcons bounced back in a big way from their first loss of the season the previous Saturday against Birmingham Brother Rice. Second, the Falcons managed to do it on the road in a hostile environment, and third, they erased a 13-point halftime deficit to accomplish the feat.
“Big Win” says Marshaun Flakes
“This was a big win for us,” said East Kentwood senior Marshaun Flakes, in his third season on varsity. “We haven’t defeated Rockford in a long time. It was also a big win to get after our loss to Brother Rice. It felt good to bounce back.”
Bounce back was what the Falcons needed to do after falling behind by as many as 18 points during the first half. Rockford came out hitting on all cylinders and the Rams led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter. Rockford continued to build on the lead in the second quarter as it feasted on Kentwood turnovers and converted open opportunities.
Big halftime lead for Rockford
At halftime, Rockford went into the locker room with a 30-13 lead, while East Kentwood went back to the drawing board.
The Falcons made some defensive adjustments at halftime and came out in the second half looking like a different team as they picked up the defensive pressure. Using a full-court, trapping press, the Falcons forced Rockford into numerous turnovers and it was Kentwood that turned the turnovers into easy buckets on the offensive end.
“We made a few adjustments to our zone,” said East Kentwood Coach Mike Thomas. “We increased the pressure and started attacking. On offense, once we hit a three our guys really started to feel confident. It was like the light was turned on once they saw that first three fall.”
Marshaun Flakes drained that first three ball of the second half and that trey led to a torrent of points during the third quarter. Down 34-16 in the early minutes of the second half, Kentwood went on a 9-0 run that trimmed the deficit to single digits following a bucket by Jyair Harris.
The Falcons kept applying the pressure on the defensive end producing steals and getting some big blocked shots from 6-foot-9 senior Christian Humphrey-Rembert. Humphrey-Rembert recently joined the team just before Christmas when he transferred back to East Kentwood from La Lumiere prep school in Indiana.
EK grabs the lead by one to end third
Trailing 40-33, East Kentwood finished the third quarter with an 8-0 run and took a 41-40 lead at the end of the quarter on a bucket from Hatchett.
The contest went back and forth during the final quarter with the score tied twice and the lead changing hands four times as both squads played at a slow pace. Kentwood went up 49-47 on a bucket by Flakes with 2:03 remaining before Rockford tied the game with a pair of free throws with 1:36 remaining. After the teams traded turnovers, East Kentwood held the ball for the last 30 seconds of the game before Hatchett put in the final points with three seconds left.
“We are like a new program,” Thomas said. “I’m a new coach and we have some new players and a new system and it’s taken an adjustment period. There were some crazy things happening, but our guys just kept fighting back and never quit. I’m proud of the way the guys kept battling and never quit.”
Hatchett led the Falcons in scoring with 14 points followed by Flakes with 13 and Darryl Thompkins with 10. Harris added six points while Landon Storms added three, Ardrace Morris, two points and Humphrey-Rembert, two points on a highlight-reel dunk during the fourth quarter.
With the win, East Kentwood improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the OK Red. The Falcons return to action Friday at Grandville and then play Detroit Henry Ford on Saturday at 1:45 p.m. at Ottawa Hills High School as part of the Martin Luther King Day Hoops Classic hosted by Ottawa Hills.
