MONTAGUE — While snow flurries fell outside, a flurry of three-pointers from Fruitport buried Montague Wednesday night in its home opener. The Trojans knocked down eight treys and downed the Wildcats 62-43.
Montague (1-3) grabbed an early lead when Cortland Schneider scored five straight points in the first quarter, and the 'Cats were right there after eight minutes with the score tied 13-13. However, their offense sputtered in the second quarter, and the Trojans took command of the game behind star DayDay Williams, who reeled off 11 first-quarter points on his way to 23 for the game, and Dexter Lillmars, who had 10 of his 15 points in the second quarter. By halftime, Fruitport held a comfortable 32-17 edge. Montague was never able to get much closer than that.
The Wildcats appeared tentative and unsure of themselves on offense at times, which isn't unexpected given how little experience the team has, and as importantly, how little time they've played in game situations together.
"It's just figuring out what your identity is," Montague coach Nick Thaler said. "I
believe that we are a good team. There's no doubt in my mind that we
can compete with anybody. It's just these little things that
we do in contests because we haven't been together for a long time, or
trying to integrate new guys, trying to figure out our rotation. The little mistakes, they add up in a contest, especially when
you're playing against an opponent that's going to make you pay on
the other end."
Thaler recalled mistakes like a missed box-out on a missed free throw that led to a three-pointer, missed defensive rotations that led to another trey, and getting caught up in a defensive switch on a dribble handoff. Those are all mistakes that, there's reason to believe, can be fixed with more time.
It hasn't helped the 'Cats that they've played a very difficult early schedule. A strong Hart team with recent success was followed two games later by consistently tough Spring Lake and Fruitport, and on deck are more imposing foes - Whitehall, Ludington, Fremont and North Muskegon. The hope is that the early lumps will pay off later in the season.
Montague's Jack Degen drives past Fruitport's Evan Butler during Wednesday's game at Montague.
"You want to challenge yourself by playing tougher opponents
and playing schools that maybe are a little bigger than you or have a
lot of returning players," Thaler said. "There's a fine line with that.
Obviously, you don't want to go too big because it could demoralize
your players, too. There's going to be a lot of growing pains in
December for us, but by the time January and February roll
around, we're going to be a far different team."
One ray of hope was the second-half effort of Kellan Francis. Francis entered the season with high expectations after a very efficient season shooting the ball last year, but has gotten off to a slow start as he adjusts to a larger offensive role. However, he did score 10 second-half points Wednesday to end the night with a team-best 12, attacking the basket more often. Thaler said he's hopeful Francis will become more assertive in looking for his offense.
"He's one of the
better shooters on this side of the state," Thaler said. "We need him to be more
productive. We have a lot of guys that are unselfish, which is a great quality to have, but when you're
playing basketball, you've got to be gritty and you've got to play tougher,
and sometimes you do need to be selfish and have that dog in you to take
over a game."
As the team plays together more and more, it remains optimistic growth will happen quickly.
"We've just got to get more confidence and trust ourselves and trust our
teammates and just go from there," Thaler said.
