WHITEHALL — The silence - outside of Manistee's team-wide celebration - was deafening in the Whitehall gym Tuesday night as the final buzzer sounded on the Mariners' 55-54 upset victory.
Manistee star Kaden Kott got loose from the Viking defense, took a deep pass and made a layup with less than a second left, undoing Camden Thompson's made free throw that gave the Vikes a 54-53 lead with six seconds to play.
Officials then ruled that 0.6 seconds still remained when Whitehall (15-5, 9-1 West Michigan Conference Lakes) called timeout following Kott's layup, but a desperation pass to Thompson fell harmlessly to the court.
"Credit to Manistee, they did a lot of things that were
really good," Whitehall coach Christian Subdon said. "They wanted to win...They played extremely hard and they earned it."
The loss took a lot of the wind out of a night dedicated to celebrating Thompson, whose jersey number 23 was retired in a pregame ceremony. Once the Vikings' season is complete, Thompson's jersey will hang in the gym and it will not be issued to another player, commemorating his successes - he holds the Whitehall school record in every meaningful statistical category.
Manistee, though, surely came into the game with confidence after playing Whitehall close in the teams' first meeting in December, and the Mariners played like it early, taking a 14-13 lead after a quarter. Using active hands on defense, Manistee repeatedly knocked the ball away from the Vikings and were able to convert turnovers into points.
Thompson fueled a late second-quarter run to put the Vikings up 32-25 at halftime, scoring six late second-quarter points and assisting a couple of other baskets. It appeared Whitehall was about to assert itself, as it so often does in these situations.
Whitehall's Camden Thompson puts up a shot against Manistee's Landin Sowa during Tuesday's WMC Lakes game at Whitehall. The Vikings lost, 55-54.
However, Manistee refused to go away. The Mariners were still down only seven going into the fourth quarter, and a very uneven stretch of basketball - 10 fouls were called on the two teams in less than 2:30 of game time, including two intentional fouls against Whitehall to open the quarter - kept Whitehall from being able to pull away.
"We have to adjust to how the game's being called and then play above it," Subdon said.
"There were some calls that went against us, a big stretch that let them
back into the game, and we didn't adjust to how
the game was being officiated. That's on me. I
should have called a timeout and talked to them about it."
Manistee tied the score at 50 shortly after that stretch, but didn't take a second-half lead until a three-pointer by Landin Sowa, coming off a Viking turnover, with 1:10 to go made it 53-52. Thompson then made 2-of-4 free throws on consecutive possessions to give his team the lead before Kott provided the decisive play.
"Bad coaching put us in bad spots," Subdon said. "I
didn't have us on the right set at the end and it cost us. I've got to do better."
The Vikings, who fell to Allendale Monday, hadn't lost consecutive regular-season games - or any games in WMC Lakes play - since January 2023. Thompson said the team is adjusting to its return to a full lineup - Kal Koehler, who missed three games after an elbow injury against Rockford Feb. 3, played his first game since then Tuesday night - but with districts on deck, Whitehall knows it must spring back to form soon.
"We've got to make sure we're continuing to get better," Subdon said.
"That's the thing. Right now we've hit a little lull...It's a wake-up call for us."
Thompson scored 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Whitehall. Kott countered with 18 points for the Mariners.
