Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School

South Christian’s Carson Vis (11) led with 24 points despite some strong defense from Catholic Central. (WKTV Greg Chrapek)

By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor

Two of the premier teams in West Michigan high school basketball over the years collided once again when the South Christian Sailors cruised into the Grand Rapids Catholic Central gym Tuesday evening.

Thanks to a strong second half, the visiting Sailors came away with the victory in the latest chapter of their rivalry as they turned back the Cougars 50-40.

As they have many times, the two teams entered the game ranked in the state in Division 2. South Christian entered the game ranked 10^th and Catholic Central 17^th in the latest Michigan High School Athletic Association power rankings.

The game lived up to its billing and was a close struggle most of the way before South took charge late in the third quarter.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said South Christian Coach Taylor Johnson. “It felt like a Big 10 game. It was hard to score. Both teams were well prepared. They (Catholic Central) had a good defensive scheme and I liked our defensive scheme and we just hit a couple more shots in the third quarter that kind of extended that lead and we just kind of held on.

“That’s a good team. Chris (Catholic Central Coach Chris Pearl) is doing a good job. They got us with some different coverages that we haven’t seen before and I thought we made some decent adjustments in the second half.”

South took the early lead as the Sailors jumped out to a 10-2 advantage in the first quarter. Catholic, however, closed out the quarter strong as back-to-back three pointers by Brieland Watkins and Izaya Lathridge closed the gap to 10-9 at the end of the quarter.

The two squads traded the lead back and forth during the second quarter. Catholic Central took a 13-10 lead before South battled back to tie the game at 18. The Cougars finished out the first half on an upswing and took a 22-21 lead int halftime.

“Their ball-screen defense was giving us some trouble,” Johnson said. “They were really trapping and pushing Carson (Vis) out. We have to do a better job of getting the ball in the middle of the floor and getting the ball opposite. We will work on it. We will get better.”

Sailors’ 8-point run builds 37-28 lead

The game remained tight until late in the third quarter. Up 29-28, the Sailors finished the third quarter with an eight-point run to take a 37-28 lead. The key to the run was back-to-back three-pointers by Caleb Pleune and Carson Vis.

South Christian’s Caleb Pleune plays defense against Catholic Central’s Brieland Watkins. Pleune scored nine points for the Sailors. (WKTV Greg Chrapek)

Playing with the lead, the Sailors were able to hold the Cougars at bay during the final quarter. South Christian also sealed the game at the foul line in the final quarter as 11 of South’s 13 points in the fourth quarter came at the charity stripe.

“Carson (Vis) is a tremendous, tremendous player,” said Catholic Central Coach Chris Pearl. “I think he did a good job of getting to the hoop and attacking. I think our guys got a little down. They saw a lot of the free throws and we started settling for a little bit of threes. We just have to get in that attack mindset.”

Vis led South Christian’s offense with 24 points, and was especially effective at driving to the basket and drawing fouls nailing 14-of-18 at the free-throw line. Vis also knocked down a pair of three-point shots. Davis Kemper added 10 points, highlighted by knocking down 3 three-point shots. Pleune also drained a trio of treys as he finished with nine points.

“I appreciate the fans coming out,” Johnson said. “Winning on the road is always hard to do here. A win at Catholic, that’s a really good win for us.”

South Christian’s Nolan Fackler (13) looks for an opening on the perimeter of the Catholic Central defense. (WKTV Greg Chrapek)

Lathridge led the Cougars with 19 points, while Watkins added 13.

South Christian improved to 10-4 overall, and is 5-1 in the OK Gold, a game behind Northview.

“The season has been up and down,” Johnson said. “I still don’t think we’ve found our groove yet. We’re growing, but we still have a long way to go. I still don’t think we’ve played our best basketball.”

Catholic Central fell to 9-5 overall, but are first place in the OK White at 5-0.

“We’ve had a tremendous second half of the season and we are going to keep that going,” Pearl said. “We’re 5-0 in the conference and we have goals to accomplish. We’ve had eight straight conference championships and we are hoping to build off of that.”

Carson Vis led the Sailors with 24 points. (Courtesy, Eric Walstra)

By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor

In their first meeting last month at Grand Rapids Catholic Central, the South Christian boys basketball team had the lead for much of the game, but couldn’t close the deal.

In the rematch at South Christian Tuesday evening, South Christian took the lead early and never looked back as the Sailors handed Catholic Central its first conference loss since 2017 with an 82-54 win.

“It was an unbelievable defensive effort,” South Christian Coach Taylor Johnson said. “Our defense set the tone. We came out and played some tough man-to-man defense the entire game. We also made some shots early and that always helps.”

As they did in January at Catholic, the Sailors jumped out to an early lead. They scored the first five points of the game and led 8-2 in the early going. At the end of the first quarter the Sailors were up 17-12.

“They (South Christian) were a lot more physical and were the tougher team tonight,” Catholic Central Coach TJ Meerman said. “Things were not going our way and our defense was not like it has been.”

Sailors enjoy 10-0 run before halftime

Catholic Central was within three points in the early going in the second quarter when the Sailors began to heat up on the offensive end of the floor and ratcheted things down on the defensive end. Up 25-22, South Christian closed out the first half by outscoring Catholic Central 10-0 to take a 35-22 lead into the locker room.

Senior Sam Medendorp highlighted the run with a dunk that fired up an already pumped-up Sailor home crowd. Medendorp then capped the scoring just before halftime with an offensive rebound and putback that put the Sailors up by 13.

“This win is huge,” Medendorp said. “This is something I’ve wanted my entire high school career. We’ve come so close before. In my sophomore year we lost to them at the buzzer in the district and earlier this year at their place we lost by two after leading most of the game. This time we got on them early and never let up. This feels so good.”

South Christian came out in the second half and continued to keep the pressure on the Cougars both offensively and defensively. South went up 39-24 early in the third. Catholic Central cut the South lead to 47-34 later in the quarter, but the Sailors finished that quarter strong, and took a 55-36 advantage into the fourth.

Carson Vis takes a jumper over the outstretched hands of a Catholic Central defender. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)

Carson Vis scored 24 for Sailors

South Christian sophomore Carson Vis, who led the Sailors in scoring with 24 points, helped lead the way in the third.

“This feels so good,” Vis said. “We played together as a team and didn’t let up the entire game. We rebounded really well and played some great defense. We knew they had something like a 77 game conference winning streak, but we worked so hard for this. We really wanted it.”

South Christian continued to build the lead in the final quarter as it was determined to not let the Cougars back into the game. South stretched the lead to 61-38 early in the fourth. The Sailors then outscored Catholic 14-6 to close out the game.

“They (Catholic Central) are an unbelievable team,” Johnson said. “They’ve won state championships, so we knew we had to play our best. We just wanted another shot at them after losing that first one. We’ve come so far as a team since the beginning of the season.

“We got out to a slow start with the football team playing for the state championship, but we’ve been coming together since then. We’re playing really well right now and if we stay humble and keep playing for each other we can get even better.”

Along with 24 from Vis, South Christian received 22 points from Jake Vermaas. Jake DeHaan added 14 points followed by Medendorp with 10.

Jake Vermaas, who scored 22 points, looks for an opening. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)

With the win, South Christian improved to 12-1 in the OK Gold, 17-3 overall. The Sailors return to action Friday when they host Cedar Springs and then close out the regular season next Tuesday when they host East Kentwood.

Kaden Brown led Catholic Central with 27 points, while Durrel Brooks added 17. The Cougars fell to 12-1 in the Gold, 14-6 overall.