LMCU Basketball Blitz Show - Week 5

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to head to the hardcourt. Here on ninety
six won the game with the only weekly high school
basketball show in West Michigan.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Packed up high to claiment down the left sideline with
the dribble. That's Levi Stewart over the hatt and good
looking a free docks and got it.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Dial it up another trip o'brooks hat and he's their
leading score coming in at twelve points per game. Kicking
right side WI pitch. That's Addison leaving at short.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
And a y pitch.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Don't flying through with a rebound and off the window
with a ballow Markers went up, lots of contact, got
it stripped. Here comes bond bought in transition.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
For a bread a Carol the Alliop slam.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
That might be your Tens Family Stores highlight of the game.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Pretty basketball there that's going to afford the CC timeout.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is the LMCU Basketball Blitz presented by Lake Michigan
Credit Union and also brought to you by J and
H Family Stores, Vandor Lon Holme Improvement, Kids Food Basket,
Trinity Health, Sporting You Wing, Doozy Hals, Jepson Physical Therapy, Discount, Door,
Straight Line Fence, Rapid Radios Uptown Cheapskates stores in Granville,

(01:05):
kent Wood and Holland MKD Funeral Homes and Meyer.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
And we move on to February, getting closer to the
Road to the Breslan Center with our LMCU high School
basketball Games of the Week, both girls and boys. Full
coverage of the tournament by the Way, coming your way,
the Road to the Bresident Center, presented again this season
by MKD Funeral Homes. My name is Brett Pikita, He's
Jason Hutting, and welcome in. And we say this because
the month of February is already short before we start

(01:34):
the Magic of March Jay, but even shorter on the
boys side. The high school basketball fans gotta get used
to because the boys go first this year. They're gonna
be in district action at the end of this month.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
Yeah, two weeks from tomorrow ends the regular season in
boys' basketball, and we're gonna have an entire district tournament
in the month of February. Gonna be fine, I mean
sooner than better, right, I mean, tom tired of waiting, Let's.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Go, and we're gonna have our entire crew as part
of our coverage. Jason Hunt and buck Gino, myself, even
Tom Kender in the bullpen if we need him as
ready to go on the Lake Shore. It's gonna be
a lot of fun with our coverage, will intermingle the
girls and the boys coverage obviously starting with boys district
final action in late February. And just a reminder, we
do have our February schedule up Trinity Health High School

(02:18):
Basketball page. Check it out nine to six to one,
the game dot com, would Radio dot com, it's all
there along with our podcast of our basketball Blitz show
is brought to you by Lake Michigan crediting or any
of our game of the Week broadcast. And by the way,
just a quick shout out before we dive into the
girls in our top ten rankings this week, how about
the game we have? This was kind of a reset

(02:38):
in our schedule. But next Tuesday, you and I are
going to be at the home of the Eagles, that
beautiful new gymnasium I call it arena they have there
at Hudsonville that was opened last year. But Hudsonville on
the boys' side in an okay red showdown in the
rematch with Rockford, it was a two point game at
Rockford earlier in the year. You'll not be out there
for the call six forty five with pregame cover this

(03:00):
coming Tuesday.

Speaker 5 (03:01):
Interesting, we're gonna talk about the boys in a little bit,
but interesting to see where Hudsonville be when you get
there's still one game behind Rockford, just the okay red
loss at Rockford, but losing to Byron Center on Tuesday.
They are at grand Haven tomorrow night, so it'll be
interesting to see where we are when we get to
Hutsville next Tuesday.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
All right, and let's dive right in perfect segue to
the girls, because it was Rockford visiting grand Haven last
Friday night with a great double header for both the
boys and the girls, and the Rams pull off a
sweet But obviously we're focusing on the girls skier and
taking a look at our top ten rankings, and that
was my top two teams, Rockford and grand Haven. I
know you've got Wes Cathog in the mix, but just
great to see grand Haven for a second time playing

(03:39):
Rockford as tough as anybody in the area.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
Yeah, I'm not here to correct you. Obviously, it doesn't
matter that much, but we're trying to pull hairs here
when we're ranking these teams, because obviously Rockford's number one.
Final scoring the game was forty five to thirty fours.
Was an eleven point win for Rockford. I watched most
of that game. I don't want to say it wasn't
as close as the final score. Rams jump out to
a seventeen to two lead at they in the first quarter,
and we're like, oh, here we go. To grand Haven's credit,

(04:03):
they buckled down, they came storming back in the second cord.
They got back in that game. But then second half,
Rockford kind of pulled away again, and yeah, it ends
up being an eleven point deficit. When you look at
Rockford scores much closer, much closer than really any of
their other games all year, the two Grand Haven games
with a twelve point win and eleven point win.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
So there's no.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
Question to me that Grand Haven's in the top three
team in the area. But Rockford is just the best
team and they're getting Ciano Wolf back tomorrow night. I
heard her on Michigan Sports Radio on Monday night at
halftime of the Boys game, breaking news here. She has
been well, I'm not breaking news that was broke on Monday,
but she went through warm ups with the team and
she's ready to go, going to play for real tomorrow

(04:40):
night against these comings, and it's.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
Gonna take her probably a few games obviously to knock
the rust off. But you just add her to the
equation and look what Rockford did to a very good
whole team. Yeah on Tuesday, what was it sixty five
thirty two? Yeah, I mean just phenomenal. And this is
where and Brad Wilson chatted with us about this when
we covered Rockford for game or when he was on
the show at the start. They're going to get better

(05:03):
because of this. Other players played to fill her minutes
and now you're that much deeper come tournament time.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
Yeah, that's and that's just where we're at with Rockford.
And they're doing that to really good teams. And that's
why I'm sure that teams and players aren't really interested
in moral victories, but that's almost what you have when
you're grand Haven and you didn't get beat by thirty
against Rockford. Sure you got beat, but at least it
was somewhat respectable. And I feel you're going to use
that as an argument to keep grand Haven at number two.

(05:30):
I'm going to keep them at number three. But Rockford's
just they're that good. And then to throw Seano Wolf
back into the mix, I think they're a team that
can really make a run at a state championship.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
So two quality wins Grand Haven on Friday night in
Division play forty five to thirty four, then Hold on
Tuesday of this week sixty five thirty two. Rockford number
one for both of us at sixteen and one, six
and oh a top the Okay Red Division. And before
we get into two and three, want to remind you,
by the way, we're going to find out more about
the Falcons program West Catholic just one loss for them

(06:00):
as we sit this week, as Derek Pyez is going
to join us in our Montel Construction Coaches Corner, first
year varsity coach's first program. He's been a freshman coach,
learned under Casey Glass in Hudsonville. Has Elena Diaz, one
of the stars of the Eagles when she was going
through played Division one basketball, now running track and field
for GVSU as an assistant coach. I mean, what a

(06:21):
great role model and mentor for those girls. It's a
very experienced club that all they've done for West Cathock
as a program is the last three years ended at
the Breslin Center in the Division two semi final.

Speaker 5 (06:33):
And you look at what Wes Catholic has done since
we last had a show. Right Friday night, they beat Whalend.
I mean you and I both have a ton of
respect for Whalen. Solid team, well coached, certainly hovering right
around our top ten. They won that game sixty to
thirty eight at Whaland. And they turn around Tuesday night
they play East Kentwood at home. Now you can say, wow,
East Kentwood six and nine. But East kent has been
a really good program for a long time. Eric Larks

(06:54):
does a great job and they have some talented players
that are young. Well, East Kent would led that game
Tuesday night by a point at the half. You know,
Large is a really good coach. He mixed it up,
played some zone kind of three. West Catholic off a bit,
Falcons recover, ended up winning by seventeen. That's what good
teams do, you know, they find a way. And West
Keloch's kind of been a second half slash fourth quarter
team this year, which is part of the reason they

(07:15):
won thirteen straight games. So I'm keeping West Catholic at
two in Grand Haven at three. Interested to hear if
you kept yours two and three as well.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
I'm going Grand Haven two, West Catholic three, which is
what I'm at because Grand Haven did have a loss
to rock For but Nice wins. They beat Caledonia in
a makeup on Monday forty four to twenty and Mona
Shores then on Tuesday forty four to twenty five. Who
are the two co leaders when you look at it
as far as the Okay Green Division's concerned.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
Yeah, and all those teams that we just talked about,
the team's West Catholic beat and the team's Grand Haven beat,
they're all hovering right in that same area where we're
trying to figure out who to rank these teams at nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
So quality wins for both teams, it's really tough to
decide who's number two and who's number three. But you
and I've stayed the same with me with West Calock
two and you with Grand Haven two, so that there's not
a whole lot of changes. Right Like South Christian Nice

(08:04):
win Tuesday night over throwing up with Kellogg, they're rolling
at fourteen to two. And they're getting ready for at
West Catholic tomorrow night, so they stay four. Grandam's Callock
Central didn't play Tuesday because of course for Stills Eastern
doesn't have a varsity girls team this year, but they
beat Granted up It's Christian on Friday, so they stay five.
Forest Sills Northern fourteen and two after being for Steels
Central on Tuesday, they're at six for me. And then
then the big upset with the big game, I think

(08:25):
we need to talk about Zealand West beating Holland Christian. Yeah,
double ditch last Friday night, huge win for the Docs.
Shordan Clausen really good in that game, and so Holland Christian.
It's first lost since early December to South Christian. They're
now thirteen and two, but they still have a two
game lead, and that okay, Black.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
I tell you who I really like from the Falcons
West Catholic, and I'll get a chance to see her
in person coming up tomorrow night. I'm going to cover
that game, by the way, South Christian and West Catholic
for Flax seventeen Sports gonna be out there. No radio
for that. We'll get them later in a showdown with
Muskegan non conference before the tournament starts. But sophomore post
player Alexis Asakome, we loved your last year as a freshman,
averaging fourteen points per game eight rebounds. But she went

(09:07):
double double double double in those wins over Whaling at
the East Kentwood, especially against the Falcons you talked about
that was a tight one heading into the fourth quarter.
Sixteen points, ten rebounds for the sophomore.

Speaker 5 (09:17):
Yeah, she's been outstanding and she was really good last
year as a freshmen. She was varsity ready as the
ninth grader, clearly, and she's taking that next step. It's
honestly fun to think about where she can get to
if she continues to ascend it this rate.

Speaker 4 (09:28):
All right, So before we get to those last few spots,
which always seem to change week to week for us.
In our top ten girls rankings, I have same as you,
South Christian four. They're thirteen to two, six and one
matchup with the Falcons tomorrow night. Catholic Central at five
is ten and three five and zero atop the ok
White Forest Hills Northern. They're loss to Catholic Central puts
them one game back in the White at number six

(09:50):
for me at fourteen and two overall. Then Holland Christian
is seven, and Jace, you're starting to kind of wear
on me a little bit with I'm listening to you
each show and kind of saying, all right, what do
we do. I put Hudsonville out of the ok Red.
They've kind of bounced back. I didn't even have them
on my top ten. They're number eight for me this week,
and as you mentioned, they've got a big game at
Grand Haven both boys and girls. Nice doubleheader like Rockford

(10:12):
was last week. But the Eagles twelve and five, four
and two in OKAY Red play.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
Yeah, you know, they beat Byron Center on Tuesday and
Byron Center's on sixteen and it was a single digit
game in the final minutes, but Hudsonville won. Josie had
another big game. They're eleven and five. They played a
really good schedule. They had beat South Christian this year.
So yeah, I've had them top ten and I'm agree
I have Hudsonville eight as well.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
All right, So then I go Zealand West nine, Monas
Shores ten for me because they do have that win
head to head over Caledonia, even though they're tied as
far as one loss each in division play, and then
teams like Caledonia are honorable mentions for me. Kenneway Hills,
Cedar Springs and Kennewall Hill's two losses. I mean, they
lost to Kent City on Saturday, who I know is
a good program, by three, and then they lost to

(10:56):
Cedar Springs on Tuesday.

Speaker 5 (10:57):
Well, how about Cedar Springs great win Tuesday night at
Keno Hills in double overtime. Faith Carson, who's outstanding as
a junior. Right last year played with her sister, she
was a sophomore. They were good last year. New coach
this year, Charles Johnson's doing a good job. They hit
Faith hit at big three at the end of the
first overtime, right they were down three and there's five
seconds to go. They call time out there inbounding baseline

(11:20):
out of bounds and they run an elevator screen and
they get Faith Carson for a three and she buried
it forces the second overtime, and then the RedHawks kind
of take care of business in the second overtime.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
So you look at this River City's alliance.

Speaker 5 (11:31):
You've got Cedar Springs at six and two, and then
you've got Kenawa Hills and Lowell five and two, Greenville
five and three, So you got four teams within a
game and then a only they'll not completely out of
it there at four and four, just because there's so
much parody to be two games back with four games
to play, it's not impossible to make up.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
And I believe Kenawa Hills in Greenville meet tomorrow night
as well, right they do.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
So, I mean there's a lot to play for here
in this river City's alliance, and it almost feels like
we're headed towards at least a shared title, if not
three or four teams.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
All right, So I gave you some of my audible mentions.
I know you always have some other ones because you
go twenty deep, but.

Speaker 5 (12:05):
I'm actually twenty seven deep on the girls.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
Okay, So who else do you like? You want to
give a shout out this week?

Speaker 5 (12:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (12:10):
So I went with you.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
Eight nine, ten, Hudsonville's in the West, Mona Shores ten.
It is just really hard for me. Mona Shores has
the win over Caledony, but they lost to East Grand
Rapids and then they got beat by Grant Haven this
past Tuesday. But you got to put somebody there and
they did beat Calderon you head to head, Caledon to
beat Whalen head to head, and I'm thinking about Muskegan
there again. I say this every week. If they had
CC bonding Mariah saying they'd be top three, but without
them they're still close to top ten. But they did

(12:33):
have the loss to Mona Shores, so I did end
up going Mona Shores as well. Like you, I have
Caldoni Whalen right there. Fremont's another team. Nice win over Luddington.
They're in the driver's seat now. They should easily win
that West Michigan Conference Lakes Division at fourteen and two.
Really like Fremont. How about Northview, you know, they were
really good in December, had some tough losses in January,
big win over Wyoming on Tuesday. So northviewt nine and

(12:55):
seven has some quality wins.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
What we're saying is these districts are gonna be a
lot of fun because I don't think necessary and all
of them there's clear cut favorites. Whaling would be another
audible mention obviously with me with Harmony Laker now being
a senior and leading them, and how we saw them
against South Christian a couple of weeks ago. All right,
coming up in the Montel Construction Coaches Corner, we're gonna
stay with the girls theme. Here Derek Pyees, new head

(13:17):
coach in his first year, taking over the program from
Jill Vander, ending the success of West Catholic. We'll talk
to him about Falcons basketball, his style coming up next
as you're listening to a week five edition of the
LMCU Basketball Blitz exclusively here on ninety six to one.

Speaker 6 (13:31):
The game.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
And a wide pitch trying to step through around him.
A tunnel.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
Good bids the left hand rebound.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
It's tunnel. Here's Tikester at the front, Corn Bolga.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
For three cuts, please Plaga running b the fumcans back
to that's a cup.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Let's go into the coaches corner now we do it
every week talking to an area.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Coaching the boys girls side. We're going to go girls
side this week and it's brought to you by our
friends at Montel Construction. Don't forget you can see my
home team at the West Biskin Home and Garden show
coming up at the end of the month. Montel Construction
dot Com a great resource as well for your next
exterior project, and we welcome in Jay, first year head
coach the varsity level for West Catholic. Derek Pyees joined

(14:21):
this longtime assistant freshman coach at Huttsonville, worked under Casey
Glass with some of those great Eagles teams that came
through the ranks, and Derek joins us right now. Derek,
congratulations fourteen to one the Falcons of West Catholic seven
and zero with top the Okay gold Monster game coming
up tomorrow night against South Christian. We'll talk to you
about But how's it feel to have your first varsity

(14:42):
job and with a program like West Catholic.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
Oh, It's been a long time coming. A've varsity coaching
position has been at the top of my list for
a few years now, and I'm just blessed to have
kind of fallen into arguably probably the best coaching they
can see that came up within the past year or two.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
You know, you took you take over a program that's
done really well, right, I mean three straight trips to
the Breslen Center, some really good talent. So how do
you handle you know, not change it too much because
I've had so much success, but still putting your stamp
on the program. Just how have you kind of gone
about doing that?

Speaker 6 (15:15):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I think it helps With my
AAU background. I've coached either a lot of these girls
or coached against them, so I'm familiar with, you know,
that kind of high level talent and skilled being around that.
I've coached some big time games. My eighth grade AAU
team just was coming out for the national Championship in
Chicago this past summer, So I definitely have the coaching experience,

(15:37):
and now I think my style compared to coach vs
it's kind of similar that you know, we're going to
kind of get after everybody on the defensive end, full
court press, and try to turn some people over and
generate offense that way. It makes it real nice when
you know you have four girls who averaged up the
digits for us and not any given night, you know
they could go from fifteen to twenty.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
How did that transition go to when you were introduced,
meet the team, meet the parents, because you got like
great senior leadership. I mean, Anna Ignatowski is back. She
battled through some injuries that were tough. Alicia Diikster of
course the senior, and Paige Seay London just fills it
up from the outside to your style. But you know,
going through that and taking over after Coach V what

(16:17):
they knew, was that a difficult process? Or how did
you go about that?

Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah? Yep, So I got in around June, met the team.
You know a lot of those girls had, like I said,
known me before from AAU, So the introduction part was,
you know, kind of smooth, but it was implementing my
system in contrast to what they've ran the previous three
years with Coach V. That was kind of a challenge
and it took us, you know, a few games into

(16:43):
the high school season to kind of like, you know,
figure out who we are as a team, where we
want to go with the basketball and offense, what our
tendency should be on the defensive end. It wasn't too
big of a transition just because Coach V and I
both are uponis of running jump, full court man pressure.
And the nice part about teaching that to the girls

(17:05):
who is they had already had it from Coach B previously,
so that would smooth transition on the defensive end.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
Coach I'm want to ask you about your leading scorer.
Anna Ignatowski goes for fourteen a game this season.

Speaker 4 (17:14):
A senior.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
Brett talked about how she's kind of battled through injuries.
You know, you've got Alexis who was really good last
year as a freshman. You've got obviously a Lisiadikster who's
been really good for four years headed Salido. But what
has worked for Anna to make her your leading scorer
this year and how impactful has she been to your team?

Speaker 6 (17:29):
Yes, she's been a huge, huge asset to our team.
I just think when you watch her play this year,
I mean she's missed the last two years with meat injuries.
I mean, the girl is she's had quite a journey
and I feel like now you know, you can tell
she's playing with a chip on her shoulder. She's motivated,
she's hungry. She's kind of reminding people of who she

(17:49):
is and what she's capable of because coming out of
eighth grade, I mean she was up there ranked, you know,
with Alicia Diikster, Maddy Yule from de Witt. I mean
that she's played travel ball with all those girls, like
she's that kind of caliber player and she's been showcasing
it this year for sure.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
What did you learn from working under a guy like
Casey Glass who was very successful at Hudsonville. And then
I always think this is cool when you have former
players at a young age. Maybe they're in college and
helping out or just out of college, maybe they're going
into teaching. But you got Elena Diez, who was an
outstanding player for Hudsonville coach class as your assistant coach.

(18:27):
I mean that's got to help as far as motivation,
understanding what you want and translating that to the girls.
And then they've got a mentor to look up to.

Speaker 6 (18:38):
I learned a ton under coach class, mostly kind of
you know, culture and team building and how to bring
girls together, you know, just coaching mindsets and confidence, the
mental aspect as opposed to just the x as and o's.
And then having a girl like Lena Diez, I mean,

(19:00):
she's done what our girls are trying to do. You know,
she's been there, done that, She's won a state championship,
she's played college basketball at the Division IE level. I mean,
what better role model to have than someone who's been
there and done it for these girls to look up to.
And she's been a huge asset for us this season
for sure.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
West Calla girls basketball coach Derek pie is our guest
in the Coach's Corner. Coach, I want to ask you
about you know, you start the season game two December
sixth you losed a really good Parma Western team, and
since then you've won thirteen in a row. What did
you guys learn and take from that early season loss
and how have you used it to get hot and
in play so well here lately.

Speaker 6 (19:37):
Yeah? No, I think that was always part of the
game plan when we were scheduling games is I wanted
us to get tested early, and Palmer Western's a great team.
I don't know how I mean if if people don't
follow high school girls basketball outside of West Michigan, some
people probably never heard of Palmer Western. I mean they
got three Division two or higher level players. Grand Valley

(19:58):
Commit had thirty points on us. Hard to win a
game when you give up thirty to one girl, but
we definitely learned where we needed to improve as a team,
especially on the defensive end, and then it kind of
put that ship on our shoulder and motivated not only
the team but myself as well. I mean, I'm first
year coach, and you know these fans and communities used

(20:18):
to seeing West Cavit go twenty two and one, twenty
three and oh through the regular season and there's a
brand new coach and he drops game two already. It
kind of motivated us. And now I think we're hitting
our stride, really getting aftered on the defensive end. And
like I said, we got four girls who are capable
of scoring double digits on any given night. Like that's

(20:40):
tough to defend.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
Whether you've played teams or not. I know, participating in
the Cornerstone University High School Loops holiday tournament's kind of
fun because you can go and you can scout and
see other teams or they might plan the same night
as you. And I want to ask your opinion as
a coach. I mean, girls basketball I think has come
a long ways. It's fun to cover. You and Rockford
have kind of been the pinnacle the last few years,
and I think are in that same conversation this year.

(21:03):
But you know, you look at a Grand Haven, you
look at a South Christian you're going to face tomorrow night,
Catholic Center, You're Alma mater, I know you played them.
I mean there's some really good coaches, really good girls
high school basketball right here. In West Michigan. They have
to go across the state.

Speaker 6 (21:17):
Oh. I think the parody in girls basketball on the
West Michigan side is it just keeps growing and getting better.
I mean, just look at the talent in the Oka Gold.
I mean, everybody's got one or two girls who you
know are going to play college ball. Multiple teams have
multiple players who play travel ball all year round. The

(21:38):
great thing about girls high school basketball in the West
Michigan area is growing and it doesn't seem like it's
going to slow down. It's just going to kind of
keep going and getting bigger, which is great.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
Yeah, Brett and I both agree the Okay Gold is
probably the deepest division in the area. When you look
at the Okay conferences, I mean just solid teams up
and down the list there. And you have a one
game lead over South Christian for first place and you'll
play the Sailors tomorrow night. You win at South Christian
earlier this year sixty two to forty nine. So when
you look at this game tomorrow night, what's important for

(22:08):
your team and what do you have to do here
to try to kind of put yourself in a great
position to win a confence championship.

Speaker 6 (22:14):
Yeah, I think first and foremost, we have to play
our brand of basketball, which is, you know, apply pressure.
They have a lot of talent on their team. They're
very well coached, they're disciplined, and they know who they
are and what they want to do. On the offensive end,
I mean, they're going to space you out. They like
to get up and transition. They'd like to get the
three point shot off, you know, So we're going to

(22:36):
kind of hopefully limit will heist to her three point opportunities,
at least off the catch may force her to put
the ball on the floor. You know. We've got to
try to limit prins getting paint touches and driving kicks.
And then we got to rebound the basketball. We can't
give out you know, second chance points or long rebounds
that lead to kick out three. So them that's kind
of where they get their points and they can score

(22:56):
on bunches.

Speaker 4 (22:57):
Derek, I want to ask you this question because there
was a longtime coach at Granville JV coach under Dan
Stevens when they had some great players, and I always
thought it was interesting because he didn't coach boys, loved
coaching girls. I don't know if You've had a chance
to coach both, but there are some differences, as you know,
and I want to ask you, have you ever coached

(23:18):
a boys team and what are the differences? What do
you enjoy about coaching girls basketball?

Speaker 6 (23:24):
Yeah, yep, So Actually I got my start when I
was in college. I was working at the YMCA and
I was coaching youth boys second and third grade league
and then kind of fell in love with it. And
then a parent had asked me if I would you
consider coaching her daughter's team. That girl was Gracie Rikowski

(23:44):
from Granville. She's nowt wals University, and that's kind of
where it kind of snowballed, and I got into travel
ball and then kind of just fell in love with
the girl side of the game. But I think there's
definitely some differences. I think the pace in tempo of
the game is a lot faster on the boys side.
Not to say that girls, you know, can't play fast,
but it's a different level. The part that I like

(24:05):
about the girls game is it seems like it's a
little bit more x's and o's. I say that not
to say that the boys aren't running, you know, incredible stuff,
but I feel like it's a chess match in on
the girls side.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
You know, I will add this to it. I've noticed
in calling games which we've done the last three or
four years now, I love the flow with the file
rules and everything. I love the flow because I don't
think there's as much physicality when the girls game. Not
that they can't be physical, you know that, but I
think the files aren't as much. Therefore it's not a
free throw contest at the end.

Speaker 6 (24:39):
Yeah, no, that's a great point. The flow of the
girl's game is definitely in the right place. I love
the real change that they made with the files. It
just the game seems to go smooth, and it seems
like we just let the kids play rather than you know,
one quarter takes you know, forty five minutes to get
through because you know, we're shooting treat those right coash.

Speaker 5 (25:01):
We're closing in on the end of the regular season here,
just a couple more weeks and it'll be March. As
you guys, you know, start to take a little bit
look forward. I realize that you're just kind of probably
focused on the next game and that stuff, But what
kind of things do you want to see from your team?
You know, you've got that great experience, You've got a
bunch of players that have made that run to the
Bresilent Center, and some multiple times. What do you want
to see from your team to make sure you guys

(25:21):
are ready to try to make another run when they
get when you get to March.

Speaker 6 (25:24):
Yeah, I think we just continue to have to get
better on the defensive end, especially stopping dribble penetration. And
I would love to see us share the ball even more,
I think compared to when the year started to where
we are now. Our assists are hired on this ever been,
which is great. And then I'd like to see us
put a complete game together for four quarters. You know,

(25:45):
we played last night to get East kent Wood, had
a sluggish start and then separated ourselves late. But the
good thing for us is like we haven't played our
best basketball yet, which is scary for other teams who
left play us because come March, like that'll be the case.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
You got West Catholic fourteen and one, fans South Christian
thirteen and two, and they're one two in the standings.
Falcon seven to zero, Sailors six and one. At the
home of West Catholic tomorrow night, it's the six o'clock
game before the Boys game. I want to be out
there coach covering for Fox seventeen Sports. I'm looking forward
to it. It was really nice for both Jay and
I to meet you and congratulations on year one going

(26:22):
well so far.

Speaker 6 (26:23):
I would say, yeah, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Man.

Speaker 6 (26:25):
Thank you guys for the opportunity. Look forward to seeing
you guys at the game.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Looking it against Elsie A coming off a screen, nowhere
to go. They swing it left wing, blank or off top.
Mellon back door got beautiful.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
That looked like Duke University that time as the setup
there high low osbind with a finishs been slapped.

Speaker 5 (26:57):
He slipped the screen that time, got open to the buck.
How about Mellon six foot seven at the top with
the excellent pass.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
These big guys can really do it all. Don't forget.
The LMCU Basketball Blitz is made possible by Lake Mischian
Credit Union as our title sponsor, not only for this show,
but the Game of the Week and of course our
Baskets for Kids campaign. We raise money with local student
athletes and how many threes they make during our Game
of the Week broadcast LMSU makes a donation to Kids

(27:25):
Food Basket and we sit now seven games through the
regular season, we will have ten and we are complete
at thirty three hundred dollars. No Game of the Week
broadcast this week. We have the week off, but our
upcoming game Tuesday, February eleventh, Market down Boys Okay Red
rematch Rockford at Hudsonville was a two point game at Rockford.

(27:45):
The Rams prevailed there and Jason I will be court
signed for that one. The home of the Eagles and
that beautiful new arena style gym they have there kind
of reminds me of Cornerstone University's mull Arena and it's
going to be a lot of fun. That place will
be rocking on Tuesday nights. Too bad it's not a
Friday night doubleheader.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
Well that's the thing I was thinking about this. So
the River City's Alliance, as we kind of dig into this, right,
the River City's Alliance doesn't do any doubleheaders, which I'm
not a fan of. They do all boys home girls away,
girls home boys away, all opposite sites. I love the doubleheader.
But what this allows the River City's Alliance is they rotate,
so for instance, I'm sure we'll talk about Greenville Allendale
on Tuesday night. I went to the game at Greenville

(28:25):
when Allendale and Greenville played Greenville one at Greenville that
was on a Friday night. Well, they turned around the
return trip at Allendale they played on a Tuesday night.
So that allows you to get every one of your
conference opponents. And I haven't dug into the numbers and
make sure that's how it ended up. I'm just going
by this example of Greenville Allendale, like, you can flip
it so it doesn't always have to be Tuesday, Tuesday
and Friday Friday. You could do it Friday early in
the year and a Tuesday late in the year. Well
and the Okay Red you could do that too, because

(28:46):
they do all double headers Tuesdays and Fridays, but they
do not flip it. So, like you said, the big
matchups sometimes end up on Tuesdays. And that's where we're
at with rock Re Dutson.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yeah, looking forward to that again. Six forty five pre
game coverage Approximate seven o'clock tip off the ALEMPSU game
of the Week this Tuesday, Rockford at Hutsonville. On the
boys side, that said, let's dive into our top ten
rankings on the boys side, Jay, and let's break it down.
We'll go top three like we did for the girls
and then kind of work from there. Rockford, just like

(29:15):
on the girls side, is my number one for the
boys side. They had that remake game with Whitehall because
of the snow out, and boy were they impressive. The
Rams beat cam Thompson and the Vikings sixty nine to
thirty seven.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
Yeah, I'm gonna go back even further. So Friday night
they played at grand Haven, right, which you and I
both like grand Haven. They've had a good season. I
have them on my top ten. I don't think you do.
But they win fifty seven to fifty on a night
where they shot four for twenty four from three, and
they still found a way to win against a good team.
And that's I think what makes Rockford number one. Then
you turn around Monday night and they play Whitehall and

(29:50):
they weren't four for twenty four from three. They were
making threes.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
And ask grand Haven about the time that they faced
him at Rockford. Remember right, it may started the year
when they made a ton of threes, and.

Speaker 5 (29:59):
You look at it, cam Thompson still got what twenty three.
I think in that game Monday night against Rockford or twenty.
He got at least twenty, but Rockford was really physical
with him. It kind of reminded me of the Jordan rules, right,
like no free passes for camp Thomps, and they were
going to be physical with him. And not that he
can't handle it, but sometimes when you're physical but they
don't call it, and you know how it's gonna be
called whatever, and it just it worked. Cam was really unselfish,

(30:19):
found his teammates. They just struggled to score a little bit.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
By the way.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
Whitehall bounced right back and won big on Tuesday night
against a pretty solid Big Rapids team at Big Rapids.
So this Whitehall team, you know, they ran into a
bus saw against Rockford, a team that was shooting it
really well at Rockford. Who's just I agree Number one
white Hall is still really solid.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
To me.

Speaker 5 (30:38):
I don't have him my top ten this week after
the Bloat lost to Rockford, but they you could make
an argument they're still a top ten team.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
Okay, So you and I unanimous Rockford number one at
sixteen and one six and o atop the Okay, Red
My question to you is, and I have not seen
them really in person. I saw a little bit of
their game with Mona Shores at Cornerstorm when I was
getting ready for my game after that, and so I
guess that counts. But again I went into my full attention.

(31:05):
I saw maybe a quarter and a half and then
it kind of got away. What doesn't Rockford half? In
my opinion, barring injury, what doesn't Rockford on the boys
side half? Because they've got three point shooters, they've got
guard play, they've got point guard play, they've got bigs,
they've got all kinds of talent from freshmen all the

(31:25):
way up to seniors. And they've got good leadership guys
that have played multi years varsity level under coach Kluff
and his staff. I don't know. I mean, I just
don't see a lot of chinks in the armor for Rockford.
It's gonna be interesting, Yeah, I think I agree. They
got a chance to make a deep run. D One's
really tough, though, it is. What don't they have?

Speaker 5 (31:44):
Like what the game's tied light to who you're going to?

Speaker 6 (31:47):
Right?

Speaker 5 (31:47):
We saw it against Hutsablee. He went to Eli Wolf.
But is this a team where you're like every time
the game. Are we gonna go to a freshman?

Speaker 4 (31:51):
Maybe?

Speaker 5 (31:52):
I mean, you got it done against Hutslell, maybe that's
the answer where you know, but this is a team
where and this is almost like is this really a
problem where you have too many good players? Like they
don't have Jake Bascomb maybe is the guy you would consider,
But like, who are they going to go to when
they really need a bucket?

Speaker 4 (32:06):
Yeah, they don't maybe have and this is not a
knock on them, but I know what you're saying, they
don't have the go to sure Fire, he's our guy
leader type of leader that we've seen from other teams
and other players.

Speaker 5 (32:18):
I would call Mikey de Kuiper there their leader. I
mean he's a point guard as a senior, he's the
most experienced guy.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
But I don't know, he's not the guy that you're
gonna maybe go or we're gonna draw this play up
for him because we need a bucker right now. Maybe
you could, you certainly could, and maybe you would, but
I don't think you have that one guy that just
stands out where you're like, that's the guy we're going to.
That's Trey McKinney. You know, that's that's our guys.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
An example would be in Northfield I think has two
of them, but it'd be Brady Swartz and it would
be cam Ryan's right. That's what we're talking about. If
you're trying to understand it. It's no knock on Rockford
and the talent and the players they have. They just
don't have a person like that yet in their development.

Speaker 5 (32:51):
Yeah, and maybe that that'll work to their benefit, right,
because when those times come, they have multiple guys that
can win the game for him.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
All right, let's go then next two? Do you have
number two?

Speaker 5 (32:59):
Well, it's he's I mean it's got to be Miskegan
because they beat a really good ant Arber hero On
team by twenty on Saturday to QUITNAS.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
I mean that's a great win.

Speaker 5 (33:07):
I guess, a really good opponent and without James Martin,
without James Martin and James Young stepped up played really
well in that game. And that's the thing about those guys,
and they're kind of like Rockford in that way, and
is that they don't have the one guy, especially without Martin,
but they got a bunch of guys that can do it.
And hey, well we see Rockford Miskeigan in the district
final on February twenty eight.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
I know Keith Guy would rather have the big Reds
with James Martin, but here's my question with them, and
I agree with that. I got Mskegan too at fourteen
and two six no in controlling the Okay Green. They
got a big matchup tomorrow night, though it's the rematch,
hosting Byron Center. Byron Center at least as we speak,
without their big and Cam Carroll, so they're not a guy.
But when you look at Muskegan, is there enough time?

(33:48):
And I think there is, because the boys a week
quicker for them to re establish roles and if they
don't get James Martin back, they're set to go and
play their best basketball in March.

Speaker 5 (33:58):
Well, I think I think, no question. I mean, I
think you can already make an argument they're doing that.
I mean, they just beat anaber here on by twenty
without him, so it almost feels like they've already figured
out how to play without him, and it's certainly trending
that way. We'll see what happens tomorrow night when they
played Byron Center. Both teams down a key piece but
still a really good game.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
And like we talked about with seantle Wolf now coming
back for Rockford. That's the benefit if James Martin can
come back from a Skegan that you'll get come tournament time.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
And same with cam Din Carroll, right like if he
comes back, just a benefit or when when he comes back.

Speaker 4 (34:27):
And speaking of that, we'll get to that because at
number three, a change for me if you missed it
on Tuesday night, great win for Joe Rodriguez and Byron Center,
who I saw a week ago lose at Uniti Christian
that was their first game without camp Carroll. Then they
come back get a one point win last Friday night
on the road at monas Shores within the Oka Green Division,

(34:49):
and then they win at home against Hudsonville by two
points on Tuesday night. Great wins. And remember that's what
he said, this is going to challenge our team, what
do we do without Cam Carroll? Those were nice wins
for them.

Speaker 5 (35:01):
Yeah, you know Monashers actually at the free throw line
in the final second down, one missed both free throws
and Byron Center gets out of there with a win.
And then I watched on the stream most of Tuesday
night's game against Hudsonville and you know, Hutsonville controlled that
game for a while. Joey Miller had a nice, nice
game for the Eagles, but Byron Center when it came
winning time, you know, Jayden Bowman ended up leading them
with fifteen points. Remember, with Carol out, he's the only

(35:24):
guy on the team over six to the plays and
Bowman had a couple of buckets in the fourth quarter
that ended up getting waved off and called his charge
files and he goes to the bench with a little
over six minutes to go with four personal fouls. And
Byron Center's playing with Easton Whitchers as their tallest player
at six foot two, right, and I thought Wichers was
outstanding at two threes. In that fourth quarter, they had

(35:46):
a ten to ozer run where they went from down
three to up seven. That kind of cinched it for him.
And that's a huge win against a really good Hudsonville team,
and that does make it. Last week we talked about
how we can't move Hudsonville ahead a Unity Christian because
Hudsonville beat Union Christian. Even though it was way back
in December. We were both sticking with that. Well, now
we have no choice but to move Unity ahead Hudsonville
because they both just played Byron Center both times Cam

(36:08):
to Carroll didn't play Unity one Hudsonville loss.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
So I'm with you, and we saw flashes with Bowman
in that lost Unity Christian where I said, hey, you
know what, he's doing a good job out there, especially
when he's the tallest guy out there against the bigs
Unity Christians. So great to see because he's going to
be that much better once they get Cam Carroll back
and he moves to a more natural position where he
either comes in for him or he can play when
they go two bigs at the power forward position. So

(36:33):
all right, I had Hudsonville at three obviously. Last week
they lose to Byron Center, so I shuffled the deck
a little bit. Unity Christian three. Remember just one loss.
There's still seventeen to one, ranked number two in the
state this week in the AP rankings Division two. Then
I've got Northview four, Byron Center five, and then Hudsonville.
I dropped from three to six after that loss behind
Byron Center.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
Yeah, so I'm keeping Northview three, which is where I
had him last week. Yes, they lost Saturday to Orchard
Lake Saint Mary's at a Qui by a point forty eight. Okay,
Trey McKinney didn't play. I'm here to tell you that
Saint Mary's is really good even without Trey McKinney. And
again we talked about this last week. I like teams
that schedule up and play really good opponents. That's why
I've liked Motor Shores, even though they can't. They've just

(37:14):
lost all of these incredibly close games to all of
these incredibly good teams. I don't have Mona shows rank,
but I still think they're a dangerous team. But so
I'm seeing Northfew at three at thirteen and four. You know,
all of their losses are to teams not in our
viewing or not in our coverage area outside of the
Rockford game, which I have Rockford number one, And all
of their losses are really good opponents. And of course
they beat South Christian, Northew's beat some really good teams.

(37:36):
They beat Warren Lincoln, they beat some really good teams.
So I kept Northview three. I went you to Christian
four Byron Center five. All right, South Christian I have
at number seven. They are twelve and four, seven to
one in Okay Gold Division play they're lone loss to Northfiew.
That rematch will be coming up and that is going
to be one of our LMSU Game of the Week broadcast.
Jason Hutton and Buck Gino will bring that to you

(37:59):
when I'm on face cation. But I think South Christian
you could make a case that they should be higher,
at least from my rankings. I think they are playing
some of their best basketball right now and I feel
like I'm short changing, but I have them at seven
Grand Up. It's Catholic Central at eight, Grand Haven, nine
Greenville ten. Greenville did suffer their first loss of the
season the other night, Okay, So I also think you

(38:21):
can make the argument to South Christian be ranked high.
That's why I have them ranked higher. So I have
South Christian at six, in Hutsonville at seven, And again
this is really tougher. These are all really good teams
with really good wins that have played really good schedules.
I do keep South Christian behind Byron Center. I get
I was December fourteenth. It was a long time ago
Byron Center did beat South Christian headad. It was a
long time ago. And then so there and then I

(38:41):
have Granma's Callock Central eight, Cougar's go to grand up.
It's Christian last Friday win by twenty five. They beat
for Sils Eastern on Tuesday night. I think this is
a really good callics team. They're really good defensive team.
They held Christian to thirty three last Friday, and they're
a really good rebounding team as well. So they do
the little things. I think. You know, obviously their district's
loaded with Covenant and Unity, but they are hosting that.
So I actually move Grant even up to number from

(39:02):
ten to nine. Even with the loss to Rockford. I
have the Buccaneers at nine, and then I moved Trioity
Christian into my top ten with Whitehall exiting. With that
loss to Rockford's Triity Christian. I get it. They have
a bad loss right at Cornerstone in December they lost
to West Catholic. I'm just gonna give the benefit of doubt.
They just had an off night that. I mean, you
look what they've done. They've won set eight straight games now.

(39:24):
They beat School a really good Schoolcraft team on Monday
by double digits. They beat Covenant in the game we called.
I just think the training is trending and I don't
put even an ounce of credit into the AP rankings.
I know you're always referencing them. Trinity Christian is number
one in the state and Division four. This week they
are the defending state champions, so I went Defenders at
number ten.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Here's the teams that I think are trending win or lose,
but just the way they're playing and the quality of
opponents they are playing. You and I agree on South Christian,
You and I agree on Northview, and I think you
and I agree Trying Tody Christian. Those are three teams
right now that I can tell you I wouldn't want
to play now. The danger of it is, where are
we It's February sixth, you know what I mean. You

(40:06):
still got a couple of weeks to play, not a
full month because the boys district starts earlier. So can
they bottle it up and keep it going? And I
think they can. South Christiano is licking their chops, so
that rematch for Northfield coming up. But two those three
teams right now really stand out to me. I think
they're playing some really high level basket. No, I couldn't
agree more.

Speaker 5 (40:25):
I think those teams are certainly ascending at this point
you look at Greenville. I was really close to ranking
them this week, and then Tuesday they lose to Allendale
sixty seven to sixty. Allendale's a team I want to
throw in there as a trending team, but there's just
so much parody in this River City's Alliance. They lost
to Kenawa Hills Monday night in that makeup game from

(40:46):
January twenty first, So at twelve and five, now Allendale
remains a game behind Greenville in the River City's A line.
So Greenville seven to one, Allendale six and two, and
then you have Coopersville and Kenawa Hills with three league losses.
Now Greenville's kind of getting into an easier portion of
their schedule here. They've alread played Allendville twice, They've already
played Coopersville.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
To they did beat by the Way last Friday.

Speaker 5 (41:04):
Night, correct, So Greenville is probably in a pretty good
spot to win this River City's Alliance. I do think
they have to play Kenawa Hills one more time, but
there's a lot of parody there and Greenville at seventeen
to one, they continue to find ways to win close games.
They finally and this is just going to happen when
you play that many close games, you know eventually your
luck for better lack of a better term, is going

(41:25):
to run out a little bit. But seventeen to one
is still super impressive.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
We've seen this once before and I can't remember. I
think it was on the boys side, not the girl's
side the last few years. But look at that district
at Reese Puffer that you've referenced a few weeks now
on the LMCU basketball blitz. I mean you could have
multiple teams, not too multiple teams go into district play
with two losses or less. Right with Rockford, Greenville and Muskegan.

Speaker 5 (41:51):
District of death is the way I like to do it. Yeah,
I mean so yeah, Miskigan's got two losses, Greenville and
Rockford have won. But here's the crazy thing. Like I
was asked this recently, who's a dangerous team? I'm on
the Mona Shorts bandwagon. Yes they're six and eleven, but
are you ready to play? You know they're going to
be in it. Eventually one's gonna fall their way, right.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
Can I tell you this? I am rooting for Mona
Seorge Greenville. The matchup won't It's not gonna happen though
it's not. I know, we got to wrap up the
boys segment and coming up our uptown Cheapskate players of
the week's stay with us, plus some big games to
check out, if not tomorrow night this weekend, as you're
listening to a week five edition of the LMCU Basketball Blitz.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
This is the LMCU Basketball Blitz on your home for
high school Hoops and West Michigan's home for Sports, ninety
six to one The Game WMAXFM, Holland Grand Rapids.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
Final segment coming up for this week five edition of
the LMCU Basketball Blitz, exclusively here on ninety six to
one The Game. Jason Hutt rejoining me in studio, and
just a reminder, if you miss any of our Basketball
Blitz shows eight, we'll make up the season by the
time we're done getting ready to the road to the
Brezilent Center. You can check them out. Trinity Health High
School Basketball Page brought to you by our friends at

(43:09):
Trinity Health helping out communities, and it's right there at
nine to six one The Game dot com. You can
also find it on our sister station, Wood Radio dot com.
All right, it's time now for our Uptown Cheapskate Players
of the Week. We've got a Girls and Boys for
the Lakeshore as well as the Girls in Boys for
the Grand Rapids area. It's brought to you by Uptown
Cheapskate locations in Granville, Kentwood and Holland and they buy

(43:31):
what you loved yesterday, sell what you want today, clean
out your closet and earned cash for your clothes. I
did it over the holidays. Plus, you can become an
Uptown Insider and get monthly deals at uptown cheapskate dot com.
Each one of our honorees each week gets twenty five
dollars gift God and do some shopping on us at
their nearest location for Uptown Cheapskate. All right, let's start
with the Lakeshore Jay and you'll go first with our

(43:52):
Girl player of the week.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
Yeah, let's go. Kennedy Gustuson for Sagatak had a big
game in the Never Forgotten Game Saturday and a fifty
six thirty three win over Fennville. Lady Trail Blazers are
eleven and one this year. They've won eight in a row.
They have two big matchups coming up against South Haven,
who's eleven and one, and they still play comes with Christian,
who's really good as well. What did Gustavson do against.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Fennville nineteen points let all scores.

Speaker 5 (44:16):
She's been an outstanding player for a long time for
Kevin Tringali.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
Great post player, and they never forgotten these annually obviously
for the passion of West Leonard with Fennville. Great to
see what they've done to just kind of honor and
pay tribute to him each year with those games. For
the Lake Shore Boys side of things, I'm gonna go
with Moses Vanderbilt fifteen points, six deals, all of them
were big by the way, six rebounds in a win

(44:39):
over their rival the Dutch from Holland High on Tuesday
night this week. Congratulations to them they get the victory,
forty nine forty five. They improved to ten and six overall,
five and three in the Okay Black Division.

Speaker 5 (44:52):
Yeah, and that Okay Black Union. Christian's gonna win that league.
And then everybody else is just so even in the
Okay Black that they're all fighting for second place. And
there's about five teams that can take over second place,
Holland Christian among them.

Speaker 6 (45:06):
All.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
Right, Now, let's go to our Grand Rapids Area Players
the Week, brought to you by Uptown Cheap Skate. I
will go first, and I'm going to go with West
Catholck And just to remind her, I will be covering
it for Fox seventeen Sports tomorrow night their big showdown
in the ok Goal the rematch with South CHRISTI is
right behind him in the standings, and I am going
to go with Alexis Asecome, the sophomore post player. She

(45:26):
was up last year as a freshman outstanding almost average
is a double double fourteen points and eight rebounds. But
all she did and wins over Wayland Andy's Kentwood in
her last two games is go double double, including sixteen
points and ten rebounds in that win Tuesday night over
the film.

Speaker 5 (45:42):
And she's not just doing against anybody, She's doing it
against good opponents, which makes it even more impressive. And
so for the Gernerrads Area Boys Player of the Week,
I'm going with Allendale senior Alex Denise. I really like
his game. He's a lefty, he's tough, he can play inside,
he can play outside. Twenty three Tuesday, as Allendale became
the first team this year to beat Greenville sixty seven
to sixty. He's closing in on a thousand career points.

(46:03):
He's been over thirty multiple times this year, including at
Greenville when he had thirty one back in January. So
Alex Denise another big game for the Falcons.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
Before we get to our weekend schedule. Big games that
Jay's got for you Tomorrow night as well as if
there's any on Saturday. I want to remind you our
February schedule, with our three regular season games left before
we start the road to the Brezien Center, is now
up on the High School Basketball page and it starts
this Tuesday, February eleventh, Jane. I'll be out there for
the Okay Red rematch on the boys side Rockford at

(46:31):
Hudsonville and that'll be six forty five with the pregame
coverture on ninety six to one the game. Then one
week from Tuesday, February eighteenth, it'll be Jason Hutton filling
and for me on the play by play, Buck Gino
court side with the color and they get the rematch
because we got snowed out the first time of Norfew
at South Christian on the boy's side, again a six
forty five pre game, and then we end the regular season.
Girls are later than the boys. Boys are already being

(46:53):
district action, but mark it down. Tuesday, February twenty fifth,
Buck Gino and now head out to Muskegan High for
what are expected to be a great non conference showdown
West Catholic taking on the Lady Big Reds.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
So most of these matchups Tomorrow night we've already touched on.
Byron Center Muskigan Boys huge game is good. One can
go two games clear in the Okay Green with a
win Byron Center trying to pull even. Both obviously down
a huge player, No James martin Muskegan, and we don't
expect him to Caroll to play for Byron Center. Hussonville
at Grand Haven, right, I mean, this is the battle
for second place behind Rockford in the Red and Hudsonville
has the big matchup Tuesday with Rockford. To stay within

(47:25):
striking distance, they need to win.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
And last Friday was Rockford a great double header. This
is a great doubleheader both girls and boys with the
Eagles and the Bucks.

Speaker 5 (47:33):
Yeah, clearly a battle for second place in the girls side,
like nobody's catching Rockford, but still both teams trying to
build towards March. You talked about South Christian West Catholic Girls,
which you'll be at on Friday night, huge game in
the Oka Gold. How about the Covenant Christian Boys, right,
I mean, they always load up that schedule. They're thirteen
and two, they're in Division two this year, so they'll
go to the Holland Civic Center tomorrow night to play
Holland Christian and then Saturday they're going to play at

(47:54):
North Muskigan undefeated Norsemen and Adam Dugner. So that's going
to be a heck of a two games for Covenant
Christian there. And you look ahead to Saurday, some interesting games.
Wilson Chandler Classic at Grandups Callock Central, so you got
the Callick Central Girls taken on East Kentwood, you get
the Callick Central Boys taken on pop Paw and then
you got Rockford taking on Ferndale, which will be interesting.
And I wanted to touch on the battle in the

(48:15):
Gigloo at Portage Northern on side. If you've never been
to Portage Normal Man great gym. It's a wooden dome.
It's awesome. If you love the Dutch Dome, it's just
like that. So they have five games, the last three
of which at four o'clock Bearing Springs gotwin Heights. Then
at six o'clock Mona Shores. We know it'll be a
close game taking on the host porters Northern Huskies. And
then the last game of the night, how about South

(48:35):
Christian Bellville at eight o'clock.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
Wow, I like that. On the boys side, Tiger's.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
More known for football and their girls team's number one
in the state, but their boys team is really good too.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Yeah. And I tell you what, the South Christian boys
we talked about during the segment with the boys, really
one of those teams that's trending right now. Wouldn't want
to play them, wouldn't want to play northfild won't want
to play Rockford obviously either. Throw them in the mixer.
But they've been number one, and then you throw in
you know, Christian and South Christian and boy, it's just
going to make for a great tournament. Road to the
presidents that are both boys and girls brought to you

(49:08):
again this season right here on ninety six one the
game by our friends at MKD Funeral Homes. Well a
special thanks and we got a first chance to sit
down with him and talk with him. A new head
coach at West Cathock on the girls side, Derek Pies
Jordas in the Montel Construction coaches Corner for Jason Nutton.
My name is Brett Pikita. Enjoy the games coming up
tomorrow night. Maybe I'll see out at West Catholic and
we'll see you next Thursday night, six to seven. Right

(49:29):
here another edition of the LMCU Basketball Blitz on ninety
six to one the game.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
This has been another edition of the LMCU Basketball Blitz
presented by Lake Michigan Credit Union and also brought to
you by Jay and H Family Stores, Vanderlown Home Improvement,
Kids Food Basket, Trinity Health, Sporting You, Wing, Doozy, Hals Jepson,
Physical Therapy, Discount, Door, Straight Line, Fence, Rapid Radios, Uptown,

(49:55):
Chief Skates Stores in Granville, kent Wood and Holland, MKD, Funro,
Homes and Meyer. Be sure to join us next Thursday
night starting at six for another edition of the LMCU
Basketball Blitz. And just a reminder, if you miss an
episode or want to hear one of our Game of
the Week broadcasts, go to the Trinity Health Michigan high
school basketball page at ninety six onethegame dot com and

(50:18):
search under the podcast section you're listening to West Michigan's
home for sports. Ninety six won the game.