Centreville boys beat Eau Claire
A strong fourth quarter by Paw Paw broke a tie after three quarters and led the Redskins to a 64-48 win over host Sturgis Tuesday in a Wolverine boys cross-divisional game.
“They came with a gameplan, they came and executed a little better than we did,” junior varsity coach Andy Phillips said after the varsity game. “And some of their non-scorers hit shots, some of our guys that usually hit shots didn’t hit shots, that was the story.”
The teams were tied at 37-37 after the end of three quarters.
Paw Paw (5-3) opened the scoring with a basket by Luke Toliver, but it was quickly answered by Brecken Stewart off a feed from Zach Chapman.
The Redskins then responded with a 9-1 run to open the advantage to 48-40 with 5:14 to go in the contest.
Sturgis (4-2) stopped the run on a 3-pointer by Chapman with Drew Murphy getting the assists.
Tolliver answered with a triple and then after a layup by the Trojans Thomas Kurowski, Toliver hit three of four from the line to put his team up 54-45 with 3:52 remaining.
The Trojans would get no closer.
“Give credit to Paw Paw for switching up the defenses and coming to play really tough on the road,” Phillips said.
The Trojans started quickly jumping out to 7-2 lead on baskets by Stewart and Murphy sandwiched around a triple by Chapman.
But it could have been more, Sturgis missed some opportunities to take control early.
“We had some opportunities on turnovers to execute and convert those turnovers, but they just didn’t “fall tonight,” Phillips said. We had a lot of opportunities, open looks as well and I think we shot 19 or so percent from threes. It just wasn’t out night from the outside.”
The Redskins bounced back to take a 13-12 lead on a triple by Toliver. Chapman hit from beyond the arc to put the Trojans back in front, before Karsen Barnhart tied the game late in the period at 15-15.
Paw Paw took advantage of a trey by Ryan Brennan and a three-point play by Barnhart to open up a 25-18 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the second quarter.
“That was one of the struggles we had, we didn’t want other guys on their team to have career nights, since we emphasizing and crowding Toliver,” Phillips said. “We didn’t want other guys to hit shots we didn’t expect and give them credit they had a few guys come in and hit some shots that we weren’t expecting.”
The Trojans rallied to cut the deficit to 26-24 by halftime.
Sturgis opened the third quarter strongly taking a 33-28 lead near the midpoint on a layup by Kurowski off a feed from Murphy.
But consecutive triples by Jakob Rickli, Toliver and Zachary LeForge put Paw Paw back in front by four.
Two free throws by Chapman and a short jumper by Stewart knotted the game, 37-37, heading into the final eight minutes.
Stewart led Sturgis with 14 points, Chapman chipped in with 13, Sam Leck scored seven, Kurowski finished with six, Murphy added five and Joe Wynes had three.
Toliver finished with a game-high 24 for Paw Paw, Barnhart tallied 13, LeForge tossed in 11, Rickli ended with five, Hayden Beck added four, Ryan Brennan had three and Matt Lehto and Nick Schley each had two.
The Trojan junior varsity raised it’s record to 2-3 with a 54-41 win over Paw Paw.
Treyton Wallick topped Sturgis with 16 points, Lane Kimes tossed in 13, Brayden Martinez notched nine, Ethan Andrews finished with eight, Zayne Ward added five, Keyshon Rhodes had two and Josh Bennett had a free throw.The Redskins were led by Nolan Beck with 15, Jack Westerhoff tallied eight and Levi Penning added six.
Centreville 84, Eau Claire 30
Centreville got 30 points from Hayden Stauffer on Tuesday night. It was nearly enough to pick up the win over Eau Claire as the Bulldogs won 84-30.
“Our goal coming back after our long break was to come out and play with intensity on both ends of the floor and execute the offense,” Centreville coach Mike Hunter said. “We played well, decreased our turnovers from previous games and were able to work as a team to get the win.”
Centreville scored 34 first-quarter points, Stauffer having 12 of them while Ross hunter added eight. Eau Claire trailed 34-5 after one. In the second, Centreville added a dozen more and led 46-14 heading into the locker room for halftime.
The second half was more of the same, Centreville posted 29 in the third and led 75-27 entering the final eight minutes.
Stauffer hauled in eight rebounds in the win, Hunter finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Kyzer Bowen finished with 12 points, McClain Lemings added 10 points with five rebounds.
Sam Todd tossed in six points and handed out five assists, Lacob Larrison had four points with five assists, Nick Weber had four points while Justus Chupp had three points.
Bloomingdale 52, White Pigeon 49
White Pigeon dropped a 52-49 decision to Bloomingdale on Tuesday.
“We played a great game tonight but came up short,” White Pigeon coach Jeff Baechler said. “Proud of my boys.”
Bloomingdale led 14-10 after one quarter of action, but a 16-point second quarter for the Chiefs gave White Pigeon a 26-22 edge at the break.
Bloomingdale came back to hold a 30-23 advantage in the second half.
Carter Grant led White Pigeon with 14 points, Kamren Garten tossed in 13 while Austin Yoder added 10.
Stone Kemp chipped in seven points, Noah Krull finished with five.
Three Rivers 64, Allegan 59
Three Rivers got the best of Allegan, 64-59, on Tuesday evening.
“Overall this was a good win for us,” Wildcat coach Brian Burg said. “I have to give Allegan credit, they play hard inside and outside on the offensive end.”
Allegan led 59-57 late in the game, but Three Rivers was able to score the final seven points.
Three Rivers was led by Tirrell Hausmanis with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Parker Ellifritz tossed in 14 points while adding three rebounds.
Jalen Heivilin had 15 points and seven boards for the Cats.
Riley Garver contributed seven points, Brenden Brown had five points and seven rebounds, Gavin Charvat tossed in four points while hauling in three rebounds.
Jensin Blyly chipped in two, Nolan Mark made a free throw for Three Rivers.
In junior varsity action Three Rivers won 66-34. Devon Gidley led the Cats with 15.
Freshmen action saw Allegan 40-36. Dontray McKinney led the Cats with 10.
Constantine 65, Gobles 55
Constantine improved to 4-1 on the season with a 65-55 win over Gobles on Tuesday.
The Falcons were led by Seth Wright with 21 points and seven rebounds, Hunter Bacheller added 13 points while both Nolan Malcom and Zach Bittner each had 10 points.
Trey Salisbury tossed in eight points with seven rebounds, Dawson Kiess added three points.
Decatur 46, Mendon 26
Decatur picked up a 20-point win over Mendon on Tuesday, 46-26.
The Hornets were led in scoring by Hunter Lovell’s 12 points. He was the only Mendon player in double figures. Lukas Crotser added six points and Chris Holder tossed in five points.
Tommy Yueng connected for two while Cole Decker made a free throw.
Marcellus 57, Bangor 51
Marcellus beat Bangor 57-51 on Tuesday.
Trevor Henry, Eli Robinson and Zach Shelton all had 11 points for the Wildcats.
Jack Sumners finished with 10 points, Kaeler Stafner had nine, Carson Sumners added three and Derek Flory finished with two points.
Brandon Watson contributed to this report.