On Dec. 12, the boys freshman basketball team ended up losing this close game to Grandville 39-35. Coming into the game the freshman team was 2-2 and had just beaten Caledonia in overtime. The Rangers had been playing really well on the defensive side of the ball, and it had been showing in their games.
This game against Grandville was not their best showing of defense, however it wasn’t bad. One of the bigger problems for the boys is their offense as they need to learn their plays more and run them correctly to get more baskets. Freshman Jacob Witham stated that they have been working more on their offense.
“We’ve been working on learning new offensive plays because that’s where we need the most work,” Witham said.
At the start of the game, both teams were playing very good defense. The first basket of the game came off of a layup for Grandville with 5:43 left in the first quarter. Just a little bit after that, the first basket of the game for FHC came from Jaxon Buff. However, Grandville answered right back with another layup. The defense for the Rangers started to give in a little bit and their offense wasn’t doing great in the first quarter either.
Freshman Latham Young noticed their defense during the game.
“A lesson that we came from the game was that we need to be physical on defense,” Young said.
The Rangers were struggling to get rebounds over the tall Grandville team. Towards the end of the quarter, Grandville started to go on a little run and the quarter ended with Grandville leading 12-6. Buff was the only person on FHC who scored that quarter.
The not-great defense continued into the start of the second half for the Rangers. Grandville was getting open shots and FHC was turning the ball over. With 4:43 in the quarter, the Rangers called timeout. The score was 18-6 in favor of Grandville. Coming right out of the timeout, the Rangers got an easy layup by Jonah Haughee. Right after that, Jonah got a steal which turned into an easy jumper on the other end for Jacob Witham. The Rangers were starting to pick things up now towards the end of the half. With just under a minute left, Kason Schneider hit a three-pointer but unfortunately, Grandville answered back with a three of their own to end the half. At halftime, the score was 21-15 Grandville.
Throughout the second half, FHC stayed in it the whole time, but they never were able to take the lead and keep it. They went on a little run in the third quarter but it wasn’t enough. The boys played a little bit better in the second half as the defense gave up 18 points and their offense scored 20 more but it wasn’t enough to win it. It was noticable that there were a few things the Rangers could’ve done better at this game.
“We could have made our free throws,” coach Antoine Draper said. “Drove to the rim, boxed out, and rebounded better. Right now in practice, we’re working on boxing out. Next Game we will have our defensive intensity up all game, patience in the half court, and more transition scoring.”
