After losing their first game of the season to Traverse City Central, the Rangers blew out Reeths-Puffer 55-9 in their first home game of the season.
The defense for the Rangers during this game was outstanding, as Reeths-Puffer was held to just nine points. All of the boys were communicating on defense and doing the fundamentals. Reeths-Puffer was rarely ever able to take a good shot at the basket and when they did they almost always missed.
FHC started out fast in the first quarter. In the first few minutes of the game, freshman Marwan Abbas was playing very well as he hit two threes and got an easy layup to start things off for the Rangers. The Ranger defense was excellent as they weren’t giving Reeths-Puffer space to dribble or pass the ball with. After a very frustrating start for Reeths-Puffer, they called their first timeout of the game with two minutes left in the first quarter.
Abbas saw the defense as the best part of their game as after the game.
“The biggest part of the win was defense for sure,” Abbas said. “They only scored nine points on us.”
Even after the timeout, Reeths-Puffer was still struggling as FHC was forcing turnover after turnover and getting multiple steals. At the end of the first quarter, FHC was beating Reeths-Puffer 17-2.
The second quarter was much like the first as the Ranger defense was still playing very well. The FHC offense could have been a little bit better at the start of the quarter as they had missed multiple shots that they could have made.
After the game, freshman Will Costello noticed the struggling offense.
“We definitely need to work on finishing our layups and making free throws as we missed a couple,” Costello said.
Even though their offense was struggling, their defense remained stellar, and that made Reeths-Puffer call their second timeout of the game with 5:55 left in the second quarter with FHC up 21-2. A little bit after the timeout, the Rangers defense got a steal which ended with an easy fast-break layup for Tim Chu. The Rangers got a lot of fast break opportunities this game. Costello had also gotten multiple easy layups as lots of the scoring for FHC came in the paint. At the end of the half, FHC was up 31-5.
All of the second half was much like the first half with Reeths-Puffer struggling to score and the Rangers playing amazing defense. FHC got some more steals and fast breaks. There were a few more three-pointers and layups for the Rangers as well.
In the end, FHC was the better team by far and it showed. In the end, the Rangers won by 46 points and the final score was FHC 55 Reeths-Puffer 9. Head coach Antonie Draper noticed that this was one of the best displays of defense the freshman Rangerball team has ever had.
“The biggest key to victory was us playing defense together on the defensive end,” Draper said. “Our defensive communication was great and everyone played their role. One big thing we need to work on is our offensive plays and just our total offensive motion with guys getting into the lane with two feet and kicking the ball out.”
