By Drew Dargavell, WKTV Sports Intern
ken@wktv.org

South Christian’s boys basketball team seems to be unstoppable right now as they are winners of 19 straight games, champions of a district and now regional tournament, and one game away from a trip to Michigan State University’s Breslin Center for a state Final Four game.

South Christian (now 22-3) will play in the MHSAA state Division 2 quarterfinals, a neutral-site game to be played at Calvin College Tuesday, March 12, at 7 p.m., against Hudsonville Unity Christian (22-3, and winner of the OK Conference-Green). The winner will move on to the Breslin Center at Michigan State University for the state semifinals on Friday, March 15, at 5:30 p.m., and, possibly, the finals on Saturday, March 16 at 6:45 p.m.

South Christian’s last loss came on Jan. 4 against rival school Grand Rapids Christian, a team against which the Eagles ultimately avenged that loss, beating them 56-50 on the road on Feb. 1.

Two of the Sailors biggest wins of the year, however, both came against Grand Rapids Catholic Central, who went undefeated in the OK-Conference Blue and had only two losses in the regular season — one of which came against South Christian on Jan. 19 by a score of 54-42.

But in their second meeting, in last week’s regional final, everything was on the line, as South Christian looked to avenge their loss to Catholic Central in last year’s regional final. (Catholic Central went on to finish as state runner-ups a year ago.) In the rematch, the Sailors defeated the Cougars, 64-62.

After the game, South Christian head coach Jeff Meengs told WKTV that the game wasn’t about getting revenge on Catholic Central, however, but rather “the team just loves the thrill of advancing and keeping their state championship hopes alive.”

Catholic Central came into the game on a 12-game win-streak of their own, coming off of a blowout win in the regional semifinals against a then 15-7 Muskegon Orchard View by a score of 75-43 after taking out Grand Rapids Christian (16-5) and Ada Forrest Hills Eastern (12-10) in district play.

South Christian was also coming into the game off of a blowout regional semifinal win, defeating Coopersville by a final of 62-35, giving them their 18th consecutive win. Senior Luke Schrotenboer had a huge game, scoring 30 points while knocking down 4 3-pointers and shooting 12-of-16 overall from the field.

This regional final rematch was a very close one throughout, with a halftime score of 28-27 in favor of Catholic Central. The second half was very back-and-forth with the game eventually getting tied up at 62-62 with 11 seconds remaining.

Then, with the ball, South Christian senior Connor Kok drove the ball up the court and knocked down a mid-range jumper from the wing to give South Christian a 64-62 lead and force Catholic Central to heave up a last-second half-court shot that missed the mark and gave South Christian a payback win to move on to the state quarterfinals.

Kok was not only the hero at the end of the game, but led the way in scoring, putting up 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 on 3-point attempts. Kok also contributed five assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Senior Peyton Vis, who led the way in district play, put up 16 points and added three steals.

The team stats in the game were very comparable, but one key difference that stood out was the offensive rebounds in which South Christian had a 12-4 advantage over Catholic Central.

“Limiting them (Catholic Central) to four offensive rebounds was definitely key,” coach Meengs said. “And we only had eleven turnovers against an impressive defense, so I think those were two big factors in the game.”

This was not the first time South Christian has won it on a last second shot in the tournament as Tyler Buwalda hit a game-winning three against Godwin Heights in the district semifinal game.

“Our players are not afraid of the moment,” coach Meengs said on his team’s ‘clutch factor’. “They are confident under pressure and enjoy the big moments.”

The Sailors were looking for more than just revenge on last year’s regional final, as they now march on to the state quarterfinals with hopes of going the distance.

But first South Christian has to take care of business in the state quarterfinal matchup against a strong Hudsonville Unity Christian team, in which the Sailors are very familiar with. Unity Christian will enter the contest with a 23-2 record. Their last loss, however, came at the hands of South Christian.

“They were a little rusty earlier in the year coming off of the football season” Meengs said in a joking tone of their win against Unity Christian early in the season.

Like South Christian, Unity Christian is coincidentally on a 19-game win-streak as well, and are winners of the Ok-Conference Green, going 12-0 in conference play. Unity Christian comes into the state quarterfinals off of a tough regional final matchup against the defending Division 2 state champions, Benton Harbor, who had only lost one game all season. Unity Christian came away with a 63-54 win.

Coach Meengs told WKTV that this is a very interesting matchup because they know this Unity Christian team very well and vise versa. He said that not only did they play them earlier in the season but that these teams play each other in the offseason as well.

“All we can really do is go out there and play our game,” he said.

South Christian and Unity Christian will meet again on March 12 at 7PM at Calvin College. The winner will go on to play the winner of Ludington (13-10) and Alma (19-3) at the Breslin Center in the state semifinals.

For more updates on both girls and boys basketball playoffs, visit wktvjournal.org/sports.

Comments

comments