PENTWATER – Pentwater’s boys basketball team ditched Black Friday deals Friday, Nov. 29, opting for a dominant 66-35 win over Hesperia instead.
The Falcons were shorthanded heading into their matchup with the Panthers, playing without a few rotational players due to injury. Starting senior guard Will Werkema-Grondsma was also missing, having left town for Thanksgiving celebrations. That left Pentwater Head Coach Ashley Lubera with just seven players to work with in the team’s season opener.
“We have a couple guys injured right now that we need to get back on the roster,” Lubera said. “There was also one gone for family reasons, but that’s OK. I mean, when you play the day after Thanksgiving that can happen.”
Down a few players, the Falcons flashed their talent early. Pentwater scored 11 straight points to start the game, riding senior forward Mikey Carlson for seven of those. Trey Johnson also got involved, scoring eight in the first quarter to push the Falcons out to a 20-9 lead early on.
Hesperia struggled to find a consistent attack offensively, costing themselves multiple possessions on turnovers. Pentwater was all too happy to capitalize on those, driving towards the hoop on transition opportunities.
“We looked like we were half asleep,” Hesperia Head Coach Scott Warsaw said. “I give (Pentwater) all the credit. They wanted to play tonight and apparently we did not. We were sloppy with the ball and sloppy on defense.”
There wasn’t much scoring in the game’s second frame, but Pentwater did enough to distance themselves. The Falcons owned a 32-14 advantage at halftime.
Jared Tanner and Ian Fox tried to lift Hesperia back into contention in the third quarter. The Panther duo combined for 11 points in that frame, but were unable to match a scoring onslaught brought on by Pentwater’s senior class.
“It was height and strength versus each other tonight. We both fed our posts the best we could and tried to find our advantages. I just think we have a little more guard ability,” Lubera said. “We were able to go inside out and my bigs did their best against (Hesperia’s) quality bigs. (Tanner and Ethan O’Neil) are solid post players, and they scored well. We just had to be able to outbalance their inside game.”
Carlson scored an additional eight points in the third quarter, pairing with senior point guard Jonny Arnouts who matched that same output.
With a 52-27 lead after three quarters, Pentwater had enough of a lead to take their foot off the gas a bit. Hesperia responded by going on an 8-2 scoring run, but the Falcons put a bow on their win with late points from Arnouts and Kaleb Brown.
Carlson led the Falcons with a double-double, scoring 22 points and adding 12 rebounds. Arnouts added 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while Johnson had 11 points, five rebounds and four steals.
For Hesperia, O’Neil had a team-high 13 points while Tanner added eight points and eight rebounds.
