MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer struggled to close out Jenison Friday night, but in the end the Rockets had enough in the tank to pull out a 62-56 victory, halting a four-game losing skid.
R-P built a 22-point lead in the second half behind great play from Marvin Moore and Brayden Mitchelson as well as solid team defense, but the Wildcats were undeterred and fought back with an effective press defense. The visitors made R-P sweat a bit down the stretch, though they never had the ball with a chance to tie it up.
"It was a really ugly last three minutes of the fourth quarter, but we
ended up getting the win, and an ugly win is better than a pretty loss,
as Coach said in the locker room," Mitchelson said. "That's
huge for us."
Mitchelson and Moore have been the heartbeat of the Rocket offense all season, and that was no different Friday night, though how they went about it was. In the first half, it was all Moore, as the junior scored 14 points on his way to 20 for the game. He sparked the team early by hitting a three-pointer, then stealing the inbound pass and converting an easy layup to put the Rockets ahead 9-8. His assist to Drew Brooks moments later on a three-pointer extended the lead. He ended the first half with a buzzer-beating jumper, making it 26-21 for R-P.
In the second half, Mitchelson took over. In contrast to Moore's crisp ballhandling and smooth jump shot, the senior likes to get loose for open three-pointers and attack the basket, both of which he did well in scoring 19 second-half points to end the game with 22.
"It's huge for both of us," Mitchelson said of his dynamic with Moore. "We know we
can trust each other to go get a bucket whenever we need, run sets with
each other, run pick-and-rolls, and trust each other to find an open shot with a drive and kick."
The Rockets (3-8, 2-2 O-K Green Conference) got four straight points late in the third quarter by hitting two free throws before Brooks was fouled in the lane while battling for position in the paint. He then sank two charity shots of his own. R-P's scoring run was up to 27-8 before the Wildcats began pushing back, thanks to their defense and shooting by Preston Ginzer, who scored 14 points in the fourth quarter alone (23 overall).
Coach J.R. Wallace said he joked to his team that they were attempting to break the Jenison press "like my eight-year-old out there...throwing bounce passes out front and doing things that we don't do
against the press break."
"What a press does for you
is, it gets you lathered up and gets you revved up," Wallace said. "That's what you
don't want to be. You want to be calm and collected and knowing your
attack spots."
Wallace did note that the team has not performed as well in second and fourth quarters this year, and he's been looking at ways to keep his players fresher in the back half of each half.
"We brought up one young guy and tried to let him play some of the
second quarter and tried to figure out some things that way," Wallace said. "We've got a
couple guys missing with the flu bug. That all plays a
part in it."
Wallace, who previously coached at Grand Valley State and hasn't worked closely with high school players since his stint coaching the girls team at Wyoming Rogers, said he's been energized by working with the Rockets.
"They're great kids, and it's always nice to have great
kids that you can pour into," Wallace said. "It's not just basketball. We're trying to
figure out where Brayden is going to go to school next year and figuring
out how Marvin wants to be recruited and where he wants to go."
For the rest of this season, though, the emphasis will continue to be improvement, and R-P has shown a lot of that early in the season, with hopes of giving the best teams in the district its best shot in March.
"I feel like if we can knock down the open shots, and me and Marvin can play like we did, I feel like we can compete
with anyone at this point, and compete in the rest of the conference (season) to get more wins," Mitchelson said.
