By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
After his East Kentwood basketball team defeated Hudsonville 61-49 to clinch the OK Red Conference championship Friday, Kentwood coach Mike Thomas said the Falcons have the best high school atmosphere in all of America.
With the way the Falcons ignited the home crowd, few people would doubt him.
Some of the veterans of the East Kentwood sports scene said the Kentwood fieldhouse hasn’t been as loud as it was Friday since the days of Loy Vaught in the mid-1980s. With the conference title on the line, the Falcons gave their fans plenty to cheer about.
Falcons down early
After falling behind 15-3 in the first quarter, the Falcons whipped the crowd into a frenzy as they stormed back at the start of the second quarter to take a 22-18 lead.
As it has all season, defense provided the fuel for the rally. East Kentwood began the second quarter by reeling off 14 unanswered points to turn a 15-6 deficit into a 20-15 lead. Marshaun Flakes, Darryl Thompkins Jr. and Christian Humphrey all came up with key steals to ignite the rally while Humphrey also came up with a big blocked shot.
“I think we came out a little flat,” Thomas said. “We switched to a zone defense in the second quarter and I thought that caused them some problems.”
Hudsonville, however, was not about to fold in the battle of the conference co-leaders in a winner-take-all final game of the conference season.
Hudsonville back on top in the third
Hudsonville surged ahead in the third quarter with a run of its own to take a 35-30 lead. Kentwood then closed the third quarter strong to regain a 40-38 edge going into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Falcons again turn up the heat on defense. East Kentwood held Hudsonville scoreless the first four minutes of the final quarter. During that span the Falcons extended the lead to 47-38.
East Kentwood closed even closer to its first conference title in several seasons when it built the lead to double digits at 53-43 with 1:14 remaining in the game.
Hudsonville made one final run, and in the next 30 seconds cut the Falcon lead to 53-49 after three-point buckets by Griffin Baker and Gibson Heethuis.
The Falcons were not to be denied, however, and closed out the game with an exclamation point by scoring eight unanswered points in the final 47 seconds. The run was capped by back-to-back dunks from Humphrey and Flakes in the final 10 seconds of the game that brought the house down.
‘Best high school basketball atmosphere’
“I’ve coached at a lot of special places, but this is by far the best,” said Thomas, in his first season coaching the Falcons. “I’ve never experienced a crowd like this in high school. I believe we have the best high school basketball atmosphere in all the USA. With the replay screen, our student section. They are like a sixth-man for us.
“We haven’t won a conference title in like seven or eight years and to win it in my first year here is special. I’m new to this community and the community has been so welcoming. I wanted to give them something back, but this is just the beginning.”
Senior Marshaun Flakes led East Kentwood in scoring with 23 points. The win was extra special for Flakes who is one of the seniors on this year’s squad.
“It feels real good,” Flakes said. “I haven’t won anything at all in my four years here. This was one of our goals this year. It was great to see all the fans come out and it feels even greater to get the win.”
Fellow senior Christian Humphrey added 14 points, followed by Darryl Thompkins Jr. with 10.
“We really came together as a team this year,” Hatchett said. “The way we have been winning is with our defense. That is the way we came back tonight. Winning the title feels great.”
With the win, East Kentwood finished the conference season with an 11-3 record and improved to 16-5 overall.
Brayden Szamrej led Hudsonville with 15 points and Mason Dykstra with 14 points. The Eagles finished the league season at 10-4 and fell to 15-6 overall.
