The boys JV basketball team played a thrilling game against Grand Rapids Christian on Friday night. The Rangers outlasted the eagles 38-34 in a relatively low-scoring, defensive game. Sophomore J Coe led the Rangers in scoring with 11 points and Tyler Hudkins followed with 8. 

The first half was a back-and-forth battle between both teams; the first quarter concluded with the score tied at 11. Both teams played terrific defense, and as a result, limited the scoring.

The second quarter consisted of the same defensive battle shown in the first. Tyler Hudkins’ aggression during his on-ball defense forced multiple turnovers for the Eagles and led to transition layups. The Rangers trailed 18-17 with 30 seconds left in the first half, but due to Quincy Henry’s buzzer-beating three-pointer, the Rangers reclaimed the lead and went into the locker room with a 20-18 advantage. 

“I thought our defensive play was great tonight; we made Grand Rapids Christian play at our pace and I think that is one thing that really helped lead to us getting a win,” Coe said.

The third quarter was won by the Eagles. Grand Rapids Christian sophomore Carter Goodyke led the charge for the Eagles, proving his dominance in the paint and making rebounding a much harder task for the Rangers. He would later go on to dress for the varsity game as well. 

“There was a point where we were down six in the third quarter and the kids were having a hard time shooting the ball from the outside,” head coach Ike Tilden said. “The kids didn’t give up though, they kept fighting and kept crashing and showed some really great resilience.”

The Eagles would continue to hold the lead for the majority of the fourth quarter. It wasn’t until the 3:45 mark that J Coe knocked down a deep three-point shot to put the Rangers up 32-30. 

“I thought we played well in all four quarters of the game and didn’t let up even though we were down by six at one point,” sophomore Matthew Seurynck said. “I also thought our defensive aggression was very good throughout the game, especially in the paint where we battled for the whole game,” Seurynck added.

With this win, the Rangers improve to 8-1 on the season and find themselves at the top of the conference standings. The boys are nearing the halfway point of the season and have some crucial games left on the schedule. This includes two games against Northview and Grand Rapids Christian, along with Forest Hills Northern on the road. This week, the Rangers will compete against Greenville at home, and then travel to Byron Center later in the week. 

“Greenville is another team that will definitely show some zone and makes us shoot from the outside and Byron (Center) has a really good group this year after they pulled up some freshman and have a really nice team,” coach Tilden said. “I think we are going to fine-tune the little things and once we get that ironed out, I think we will be in good shape.”