The boys JV basketball team took down the Bulldogs of Byron Center on Tuesday, 70-57. Sophomore Levi McKenzie had 31 points for the Rangers, and ultimately led them to the win. 

The first half of the game was extremely sloppy for both teams. Turnovers were constant and neither team could find the bottom of the net when shooting from the outside. Because of this, though, the Bulldogs were able to take advantage of the careless play from the Rangers. The scoreboard read 16-16 at the end of the first quarter. 

The second quarter was the Timothee Larmande show. Timothee had seven points in the 10 minute period. Larmande’s contributions in the second quarter boosted the Rangers to a one-point lead heading into the locker room at the half, 30-29.

“My shots were falling today,” Timothee said. “My teammates gave me many opportunities to add to the scoreboard.”

After a tight first half of the game, head coach Jordan George and assistant coach Chad Bauchan took to the drawing board to find a way to break away from the Bulldogs. Whatever the coaches came up with worked flawlessly. The Rangers came out firing on all cylinders for the remaining two periods. 

“It was one of our best second-half performances all year,” Jordan said. “I was really proud of how the guys responded to us challenging them at halftime. We really focused on improving our rebounding and our overall defensive effort.”

Sophomore Nate Delaney did just that for the Rangers. Once again, Nate was a monster on the boards. Oftentimes, the opposing team was unable to reach the ball when it was above Nate’s head. He would go on to gather missed shots from the Bulldogs and outlet the ball to his guards. Delaney proceeded to foul out in the fourth quarter, but not before his work was done. 

The Rangers are now 9-2 on the season with one game remaining against the East Grand Rapids Pioneers.

“It is our last game of the season and we are looking forward to competing one more time,” said Levi after being asked about the upcoming matchup.