MUSKEGON — Muskegon silenced a Reeths-Puffer crowd hoping to celebrate a big step toward an O-K Green Conference championship Friday night with a fast start and physical defense that kept the Rockets off balance in a 48-28 Big Reds’ win.
The Muskegon win avenged R-P’s decisive win at Muskegon 10 days prior and ended a 12-game winning streak. The two squads, now tied atop the conference, are likely to be the top two seeds in their district when the brackets are announced Sunday, so a third meeting could settle the 1-1 deadlock.
Muskegon came out shooting well and made four first-quarter three-pointers, two of them by star Justin Watson, who led all scorers with 14 points. That 18-5 lead after eight minutes stood up all night, as Muskegon made life difficult for the Rockets, particularly Travis Ambrose, on the defensive end. Ambrose, who missed the team’s previous game with a hip injury, didn’t show any visible signs of ailment Friday but was held to five points and didn’t make a field goal.
“I thought they had a great game plan,” R-P coach Nate Aardema said. “They defended us really well. Credit to them. They were locked in and did a great job guarding us.”
The Big Reds came at R-P (15-2, 9-1 O-K Green) with physical defensive play that upset the Rockets’ bench, and their crowd, at several points. When asked if Muskegon played more physically than it had in the teams’ first meeting, Aardema just smiled and said it did.
R-P trailed 29-15 at halftime before making its best push of the game early in the third, scoring five quick points. Brayden Mitchelson’s three-pointer cut the Rockets’ deficit to nine. However, Muskegon swiftly responded with its own five-point run.
The Big Reds also displayed a willingness to slow the pace down, keeping R-P from playing at the pace it prefers. Especially when the Rockets showed a zone defense, Muskegon chose multiple times to dribble the ball outside the three-point line until the Rockets gave it a different look.
Mitchelson’s 10 points led a Rockets’ offensive attack that was held to its lowest point total since a 26-point game in January 2023; the Big Reds were the defenders then too.
“I’m proud of them tonight and I’m proud of them always,” Aardema said of his team. “That doesn’t change. They played hard. They competed. You’re not going to have it rolling every single night. Sometimes the other team just plays better, and that was the case tonight.”
Five games remain in the Rockets’ regular-season schedule, four of them league tilts they likely must win to earn a share of the league championship. Sandwiching those four is a showcase game in Grand Rapids against North Farmington, which holds the #5 spot in the state rankings - three ahead of the Big Reds and four in front of R-P. The Rockets may yet get another chance at Muskegon, but will know better than to count on it.
“We know our district,” Aardema said. “We know they’re in there...We’re going to continue to work to get better. We’re going to get some guys in the training room quite a bit, and we’ll see what we can do moving forward.”
