LMCU BB Blitz Week 2 2025

It's Week 2 of the LMCU Basketball Blitz with Bret Bakita and Jason Hutton.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to head to the hardcourt. Here on ninety
six won the game with the only weekly high school
basketball show in West Michigan.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Packed up high to claiment down the left sideline with
the dribble.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
That's Levi Stewart over the hatt and good looking a
free docs and got it. Dial it up another trip
o'brooks hatt and he's their leading score coming in at
twelve points per game. Kicking right side WI pitch. That's
Addison leaving at short and a y pitch. Don't flying
through with a rebound and off the window with a
ballow Markers went up, lots of contact, got it stripped.
Here comes bond bought in transition.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
For a bread a Carol the Alliop slam.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
That might be your ten X Family Stores highlight of
the game.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Pretty basketball there that's going to afford the CC timeout.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is the LMCU Basketball Blitz presented by Lake Michigan
Credit Union and also brought to you by J and
H Family Stores, Vandor Lon Holme Improvement, Kids Food Basket,
Trinity Health, Sporting You Wing, Doozy Hals, Jepson Physical Therapy, Discount, Door,
Straight Line Fence, Repid Radios Uptown Cheapskates stores in Granville,

(01:05):
kent Wood and Holland MKD Funeral Homes and Meyer.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Moving on down the road and the busidins Cent are
a week closer.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
As we'd welcome you into Week two of the LMCU
Basketball Blitz. My name is Brett Pikita. He is Jason Hutting,
your host, and we are so excited Jay, because before
we start anything and get into our Baskets for Kids
program and the boys basketball portion of our show, we
have coming up about the halfway point through head coach
Mark Keeler Hall of famer, just went over seven hundred

(01:37):
wins for the Trinity Christian boys basketball program and our
Montel Construction coaches Corner. You and I have known Mark,
covered him for years, some great players that have gone
through that program, but one of just four in the
state of Michigan ever in boys high school basketball to
collect seven hundred wins, and he did it just a
couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
An amazing coach, an amazing man. You know, if he
hadn't won seven hundred games in all these basketball games,
I probably would have never know him. And I'm so
thankful that I have because he's just he's always a
pleasure to be around, always has a great positive attitude
in mindset, and he's been great for so many kids
for so many years. And I'm sad to think this
is going to be his last year on the bench
for trying to Christian. But we still have the next

(02:15):
couple of months and we have Friday Night. I'm really
looking forward to going to Triunity. I always love the
Covenant Triunity game. It's always two good teams, a great game,
the Old River Valley Battle. So really looking forward to
talking to Coach Keiller coming up and then getting to
see him tomorrow night.

Speaker 6 (02:27):
We're doubling up for Defender fans.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
Not only do you get Coach Keeler tonight, then tomorrow
night is Jay alluded to on our regular season schedule,
and I got to get hunting credit because he was
the one who said, hey, we've got to get for
coach Keeler's last season, which he announced at the start
of the year, a trying to a Christian game on
the schedule, and what about Covenant Christian the Old River
Valley nostalgia there, and so we said, yes, we're putting

(02:51):
it down. So here we go Covenant Christian at nine
and two, trying to Christian coming at seven and two.

Speaker 6 (02:57):
We've never done a.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Game from the defenders new school, new gymnasium there off
of Wilson Avenue, not too far from my house in Granville.

Speaker 6 (03:04):
So excited. It's going to be rocking.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Two great programs, two state ranked programs right now as
far as the ap in their respective divisions. The weird
thing about it, though, is we dissect this game a
little bit, and we mentioned it last week on the show.
I can't believe that Covenant christ I'm still getting used
to it is a Division two school with their enrollment increase.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
Well, that's a big storyline and we'll go through it
in the show. We'll go through it tomorrow night. We're
calling the game. Obviously, you've got coach Kiler seven hundred wins,
you've got the Old River Valley rivalry. But Covenant moving
up to D two, four hundred and eleven students, that's
not a lot. They've been D three for the last
several years. Now they're Division two and you look at
they're in the district with Catholic Central and Unity Christian.
You talk about loaded, I mean the race for the

(03:43):
top two Seeds is super tight already. We've got plenty
of time to go here. But grandad Viscotch Central's playing
well right now. Unity Christian's been good all season long.
Covenant's just kind of I don't know how many people
even realize they're up in D two. But when we
get to not even March, it'll be February District tournament
and it's at Grand Rapids Catholic Central. I mean, that's

(04:03):
gonna be fun.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
How about back in the day when they were Class
D schools we use that classification and they were in
what we called a loaded district, and then you would
throw maybe a Calvin Christian in there. Calvin Christian was
a little bit bigger, but I mean the history Western
Michigan Christian as well in the Old River Valley. It's
gonna be a lot of fun. Six forty five. With
the pregame coverage tomorrow night seven o'clock, the tip off

(04:24):
Jay will be court sided with me Covenant Christian and
trying it to Christian for the LMCU High School Basketball
Game of the Week. By the way, Baskets for Kids
campaign for year three through four games of our ten
game regular season schedule twenty three hundred and fifty dollars
in three pointers.

Speaker 6 (04:40):
Do the math.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
That's forty seven averaging almost twelve a game a LMCU
every three pointer during our Game of the Week broadcast,
donating fifty dollars to the cause to help nourish local
kids and help it right here in West Michigan with
the issue of food insecurity, which shouldn't happen with our
kids in the school districts here that we have, so.

Speaker 6 (05:00):
So thankful for that.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
And Jay, as we talk about that, let's dive in
because three pointers were being drained over the weekend Friday
and Saturday. We talked about the loaded schedule for both
boys and girls, and we'll start with the boys side
of thing. Miskegan suffering their first loss on Saturday to
Brother Rice of the season.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
Yeah. Brother Rice is really good and that was kind
of a big matchup. We were all kind of pointing
to saying, got to see this one, and Skaking got
behind and could never really catch up. And over the
course of a season, in twenty two games, you're gonna
have games like that, and they played a really good
opponent and that wasn't Miskegan's best effort, but they had
come off a win over Byron Sentator the night before.
They had beaten Hudsonville on Tuesdays. So that's that state

(05:36):
final kind of week we talked about last week. So Miskegan,
you know, dust himself right off Tuesday night, they blow
out Caledonia by fifty four. So getting back on track
and one loss to a really good team on a
Saturday in January isn't going to kill you. You know, it's
gonna make you stronger. And that's why these teams are
playing these games. Miskegan's still really good and we'll get
into top ten rankings later, but I still have number one.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
Well, and let's just take a look at a top
three from last week, because a lot of them went
head to head, like Rockford and Byron Center, then Byron
Center Mischigne as you mentioned, then they played on Saturday.
And so when you look at Mskegan, Rockford and Byron Center,
Rockford and Byron Center both having nice wins on Saturday
against cross state rivals Warren d La Salle, Rockford blew
them out, and then you had Byron Center bouncing back

(06:20):
after that home loss in division played to Miskegan. They
get a nice win over Grand Blank.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
Yeah, I mean talk about a big game for Byron Center, right,
and I talk about how you know it's a Saturday
in January, no big deal. I mean Byron Center was
coming off losses overtime to Rockford and then at home
to Miskegan. I mean they didn't want to go oh
and three in the week. Again, it's January. It's not
the end of the world. If you do, you're playing
really good teams. But they showed up early game on
Saturday at East Camp. We played really well in that game.

(06:45):
You know, Camden Carroll continues to improve. Sounds crazy, right
six ' nine d one sinee, Like he keeps getting
better and better. Keyan Hinkle, you get Isaac Lee. I mean,
I love Byron Center, even with the losses to Rockford
and Miskeigan. Like, Byron Center's really good. They showed it
in that win over Grand Blank and then back in
a conference played with the win overroochspuffro on Tuesday.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
You know what it's great about Byron Center if you're
a Bulldogs fan, the fact that Rockford and Mischigan could
go off into their own district and have to battle
each other, and you don't have to worry about it.
You're still gonna be in a tough district, but you
don't have to have Rockford a Muskegan right out of
the gate.

Speaker 5 (07:17):
They don't even have Rockford Miskigan in the regional. And
that's what's going to be interesting when you talk about
Hudsonville and Northview and Byron Center, I mean, upset's happened.
I don't know if they'll all get to the regional,
but that'll be a really fun regional. I think a
regional that any of those three teams I just mentioned
could win, but they wouldn't play the Rockford Miskeigan winner
potentially until the quarter of state quarterfinal.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
All right, let's take a look at our top ten
rankings for Week two. With everything that shuffled out, these
Saturday games we have to work in. Some of the
games were played on Tuesday night, some were postponed. So
as we look at it right now, I'll go first
for the boys, you can go first for the girls.
Will flip flop from last week. So Miskegan is still
my number one team, even though they had that one loss.
They are nine to one, impressive on the road. Double

(07:58):
digit win at Byron Centers mentioned on Friday. I've got
Rockford at number two at eleven and one, ninety two
to sixty three over Warren de Lasal at East Kentwood
on Saturday afternoon. Is one of those multitude of games
that were such great matchups all the way across the board,
like you highlighted last week on the show. Then Byron Center,
I get them with a win over Grand Blank at

(08:20):
number three, and you can argue, you know what their
record is exactly because of a forfeit situation with Coveny
Christian early on in the season. And then I went
Hudsonville four. Speaking of bouncing back, Hudsonville lost to a
Skeigon on Tuesday night, but then a nice win over
Grand Haven and okare Red Division play seventy one sixty
six and rounded it out my top five before we've
here from you, Jay is Unity Christian just kind of

(08:42):
sitting there in the cat bird seed number five at
ten and one.

Speaker 5 (08:46):
Yeah, you know, I think the interesting part about your
top five we have a little just small differences. One
like you used to penalize teams for losing like it
didn't matter, and like now you and I were were
just similar because I agree Byrons number two lost like
I didn't drop Byron Center from number three. But I
really want to talk about in the top five is
I think there's an argument to be made for Rockford

(09:06):
to be number one. You know, you can watch the
pundits throughout the state. I have a lot of respect
for Steve Bell. You know, he does his top top
ten in the state in Division one and he's got
Rockford once spot ahead of Miskeigan. You know, the D
Zone they do a great job as well. You can
look at these state wide rankings and a lot of
people have Rockford ahead of Miskeigan. I think you're pulling
hairs here, trying to trying to figure splitting hairs, trying

(09:27):
to figure out who's number one. You look at it.
Rockford lost to Orchard Lake Saint Mary's. Miskegan lost to
Brother Rice, two outstanding teams both from the Detroit Catholic League,
and you can turn around. You can say, in my opinion,
Miskeigan's best win is the win of reest Lancing, and
you can say, well, East Lancing beat Orchard Lake Saint Mary's.
It's got to get a hoop classic. Trey McKinney did
not play right, So we have to remember that. I

(09:48):
still am gonna go with Miskegan at number one. I
think it's really close. I can't wait until February twenty eighth, right,
I mean, not only will it end February at Head
of Ino March, but district final at Redmond Potter Gymnasium.
Rockford and Miskeigan. We can get into Greenville a little
bit within the district and Greenville's is really good. But
I'll be surprised if it's not Rockford and Miskeigan. And
what a game, you know? So I have Miskegan one,

(10:09):
Rockford two, Byron Center three. Again no changes. I'm bullish
on Northview, okay, I mean, did you realize they beat
Warren Lincoln defending Division two state champion on Saturday. They
gotta get it Hoop Classic Like I really like Northview.
So I have Northview four and then Hudsonville five. And
can we just touch on a minute the game Tuesday
night at Rockford Hudsonville at Rockford and Hutsonville kind of

(10:30):
they fell behind by eleven in the second quarter, but
then they came out guns of blazed, and then the
third they kind of led most of that second half,
Jake Baskam did not score until there were two minutes
left in the game. Now he had two huge buckets
in the final two minutes, and Dylan Gross didn't score
until the final two minutes. He finished with two points.
But Eli Wolfe, the freshman, won the game on the
bucket with about two seconds to go to beat Hudsonville

(10:53):
fifty six to fifty four. And if you watch that player,
you saw that play to play Jake Baskom makes to
seal Joey Miller. I mean that's huge because Joey Miller
and help defense is gonna make that a much tougher shot.
So it's not always scoring the basketball. And this is
why Rockford's so good, because these guys do all the
little things it takes to win. And how about Hudsonville,
I mean, they've been right there in these games with

(11:13):
Muskegan at Mskegan, with Rockford at Rockford. So I still
have Hudsonville at number.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
Five, all right, and then six through ten look like this.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
For me, I've got Northview six, so I'm just one
off from you as far as where they are not
in the top five. But the next team at nine
and two. Then I go Grand Rapids Christian at seven
and four. I guess they're the team I'm a little
bullish on for the Eagles. Played a tough schedule. I
think they're playing better basketball South Christian. Like you said
last week, don't forget about the Sailors. We're gonna get

(11:41):
them against Northfield. A big showdown next Tuesday night at
South Christian.

Speaker 6 (11:45):
Looking forward to that. On the boys' side. Then I've got.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
Catholic Central seven and three, nine and they had a
nice win Tuesday night over Forest Till Central top two
teams there in the ok White fifty seven, forty four,
and then rounded up my top ten. Tom, you know
where I'm going. The Yellowjackets of Greenville still unbeaten at
twelve and Oh.

Speaker 5 (12:05):
Before you do buy six through ten, let me just
touch on Greenville because I did see him last Friday night,
a home win against Allendale. You know Allendale with Alex Ganesse.
He had thirty one in that game. I mean, he's
a tough customer.

Speaker 6 (12:14):
You know.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
They made a couple of runs at Greenville. Greenville's really good. Okay,
they'll preussure you with their defense, they'll turn you over.
Their guards are outstanding. I really like Michael Lindquist. He's
not very tall, but he's outstanding. He took a shot
to the face in the first quarter. Actually sat, I
don't know, five six minutes. All the head is Kyle
Graber come off the bench and absolutely play unbelievable ten

(12:35):
points in the first half, steals, making threes, getting to
the bucket. I like Greenville, I think just don't have
a lot of size. Yeah, they're not big, and I'm
interested to see how they'll handle teams that are as
long and athletic as Rockford and Mischigan in the district.
I mean, legitimately, Greenville could go twenty two and oh.
I mean sure, there's Coopersville again, There's Allendale again, there's
Sparta twice, there's games. But I twenty two and oh

(12:56):
is feasible for this Greenville team.

Speaker 6 (12:58):
I agree.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
I watched remember at Corners, so I told you they're
well coached. I like the style they play. I think
it fits what they have. But again, it's tough, especially
in this day and age, to not have at least
somebody like six ' four or sixty five to throw
in there. Because the Rockfords have size, Misskegan has size.
I mean everybody seems to have size. You're seeing more
seven footers now at the college level, everyone's got to

(13:19):
have a six ten six e level or seven foot
let alone two or three. And that's what's trickling down.
And so how do you match up with a basketm
at Rockford or you know, I mean you just look
at a pitch. I mean, everybody's got size at that level.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
In Division one, it'll be interesting. You know, Tuesday night
they beat Kenwell Hills. I mean Kenwell Hills is the
records about five hundred. But they're a talented group that
could sneak up on you. And that was a fifty
two to three, a little bit lower scoring game like
Greenville kind of scores, you know, and even on a
night where they didn't score a ton, their defense, as
you alluded to, showed ups. So yeah, I don't have
Greenville in my top ten, but I certainly can see it.
So I have Uni Christian at six ten and one.

(13:54):
Stayer's just kind of quietly going about their business, only
lost to Hudsonville December twentieth. South Christian. I love the
Sailors have won six in a row. They still have
Carson VISs who had thirty against Union on Tuesday. I
mean they're just all of a sudden back to old
South Christian a little bit of a slow start with
the longer football season, Granupit's Catholic Central is another team
trending and these two are going to play in about
a week and a half. Can't wait for it. South

(14:16):
Christian callch Central no longer league rivals, right, but Catholic
Central seven and three. Look at their three wins in
twenty twenty five, right, they beat Granupitz Christian, they hammer
Forestills Eastern and then a really impressive win over for
Cils Central on Tuesday game. They run out to a
fifteen to four lead after one quarter and win by thirteen.
So I've Grims Cux Central a I Whitehall nine at
nine to two. Cam Thompson. I really believe that Whitehall

(14:38):
is a top ten team in all of West Michigan.
I think when we get to the tournament D two,
lookout Whitehall and they play Rockford Bratt at Rockford on Tuesday.
You know we won't be on again until after that game.
So next Tuesday, Whitehall goes to Rockford and then we
can really see, you know what the Vikings are all about,
and I have grand Haven still at number two. The
Bucks go to Hudsonville last Friday, lose by five. They

(15:01):
turn around and beat Grandville on Tuesday night. So at
eight and three, I still have grand Haven in the top.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
I mean, look at some of the team's forestill central
in either one of our top tens. I mean the
list goes on on Covenant Christian not in our top tens.
And you know they're arguably one of the top teams
out there and now being Division two, do they deserve
a little more attention? Tryan Tody Christian. We mentioned at
seven and two, Holland Christian in that mix. I mean,
the boys side is just so deep.

Speaker 5 (15:26):
Well, aland Christian took a step back Americas. They lost
as the only right Tuesday. But how about Adam Dugner
and North Muscechigan still undefeated and they'll play Covenant next Tuesday.
I'm sure we'll get into that tomorrow night.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Just some of the boys conversation on this Thursday night,
Week two of the LMCU basketball Blitz. Don't forget trying
to the head coach Mark Keeler coming up next to
the Montel Construction coaches Corner Here on nainety six won
the game You're Home for High School Basketball. Listen for

(15:57):
the ninety six to one the Game high School Basketball,
a game of the Week boys and girls.

Speaker 7 (16:02):
Additions, Hadden Deep Play another one Bruce Hadden't from out
of this SeeU here at Cornerstone to catch all the
action being brought to you by Lake Michigan Credit Union
and also presented by J and H Family Stores, bandal
On Home Improvement, Kids, Food Basket, Trinity Hell Sporting, You Wing.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Doozy, and Holtz Jumps in Physical Therapy. Truly our pleasure
in the Montel Construction Coaches cornered this week here on
the Basketball Blitz to bring in a legend. He's a
Hall of Famer and Jason Nutt and I have really
enjoyed Natalie getting to know him and his staff and

(16:43):
following his kids, but just you know what he means
and starting up a program like triing Tod Christian High School.
He's their longtime head coach in his final season this year,
Mark Heeler and coach, Let's start with that first and
foremost congratulations. You went over the seven hundred win milestone.
Fourth coach and mission in high school basketball history to
do so. But going back to when it all started

(17:04):
and really starting this program, say with the middle school,
eighth and ninth grade teams and then working up to
eventually having a varsity does that seem like a long
time ago or not?

Speaker 8 (17:13):
Yes, I did. It was over forty years ago, so
that's amazing. My first year coaching was in nineteen eighty three,
eighty three, eighty four, and that was just eight to
ninth graders.

Speaker 5 (17:26):
Do you remember the first win? Right, you're sitting at
seven oh one? Now do you remember win number one?

Speaker 8 (17:32):
Well, we didn't you need it for varsity. I no,
I do not. I do not remember the first one.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
But coach you had one of the classic setups too,
And you and I were talking about this the other day.
I mean, you guys had to rent the facility from
the church. We called it nicknamed the Box from the
Defenders fans who loved it.

Speaker 6 (17:50):
It was fun to do a game from there. It
was a raucous atmosphere and.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
Crowd, but you literally didn't have bleachers, right, You had
to like have your players set up chairs, almost like
setting up for us service, so that people could watch
this basketball team.

Speaker 8 (18:04):
What we did we had to set them up. That
was hilarious. And then when we got to varsity, we
still hadn't had bleachers for that first year on varsity,
so we had to use a facility. It was Granville's
Middle school, but it doesn't even exist anymore. It was
down off Prairie and they since then they've torn it
down and I don't know what they put there, but
I can remember we had to That was our home

(18:28):
game against a legit schools, but the ones that were
really small, we're still set up chairs.

Speaker 5 (18:35):
Anytime you start a programming, it's in uphill battle, right.
You're you're teaching kids, You're you're trying to get the
best at them. Do you remember when you kind of
felt like you arrived? I mean, because Training Christians now
the best Division four Class D program in the state,
I think without question. Do you remember when or a
moment or a team or a season where you kind

(18:56):
of realized, you know, we are on the map like
people were spect Us now as a real basketball program.

Speaker 8 (19:03):
Yeah, I you know, there's some a lot of times
where I like when we won the state the first
time in nineteen ninety six, we never were even on
the top ten. I mean, and we weren't when they
do their ratings, you know, all throughout the year. I
think we might have made honorable mention when we hit
tournaments that year. No we'd ever heard of us and
things like that. And then now it's just like the

(19:25):
rate is not going. We lost a ton of players
last year. I mean, but when you did an established program,
you know your guys leaving themselves as well, So that's exciting.
I do remember one time we were we were doing
a scrimmage does it was back in the late nineties
early we're just at the turn of the century there

(19:48):
in two thousands, and I had some really good teams
that talent wise that year, and we were scrimmage in
and both Rockford and Forest Hills Northern that's when high
he was the coach there, and we would do scrimmage
and both of them would call me and want a scrimmage.
All the time. I go, why do you guys play us?
And they take their head and say, no, no, that's

(20:10):
a no win situations for us where I could do that,
but they wanted to scrimmage us. And I can remember that,
and I thought, and I understood, I really did. I
understood where they were coming from and it was it
was good for me because they both played nasty defense
and it's like we do, and it was it was
just what I wanted my guys to face and to
prepare them. And so I remember that and I laughed,

(20:34):
because when I first started, nobody would play us for
this area. We had to travel all over West Michigan,
Central Michigan, Northern Michigan just to get game mark.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
One of the things that I think is a true
tribute to why Amy trying to do Christian and the
school and how it's grown is the family atmosphere. And
you certainly embrace that from starting this program. And just
look at the players that you've had, and they all
want to send their kids there maybe now or want
to be.

Speaker 6 (21:03):
A part of this program.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
And I look at the Prisbee family and Bob Prisbee
and what he's meant to you, and now Evan Dard
to the program. And then you look at a Chris
came in and you've still got his brother who's on
staff with you, and statistician everything, You've got the vourhe'st brothers, Brandon, Brent.

Speaker 6 (21:19):
Brent's going to be your successor.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
I mean that's going to make you so excited about
what Defenders basketball has become as a program.

Speaker 8 (21:27):
Oh yeah, you know when when you say getting seven
hundred wins, it is definitely not about me, It's about
our school. I just love Triunity. I met my wife there,
she taught there, and uh, and my kids, my two
daughters both graduated from there and went all the way
through and uh, you know, for me, it was a

(21:49):
lifetime of.

Speaker 9 (21:50):
Being around, you know, people who had were like minded
and what we believed and they were so there are
awesome parents that I was involved with, and and also
players it was and coaches, some of my.

Speaker 8 (22:04):
Assistant coaches, and like you said, it is exactly right.
It was a family situation and I always felt like
I was part of a big family when it came
to Tri Unity Trainingity.

Speaker 5 (22:15):
Boys basketball coach Mark Keeler our guest in the coach's corner,
recently getting a seven hundred career win, one of just
four coaches in the state of Michigan ever to do it. Coach,
all your years and all your success, were you ever
approached by other schools to become their head coach? Did
you ever consider leaving Triunity Christian.

Speaker 8 (22:32):
At all, well, I will say this. I'm not going
to mention names or anything. I've had a couple colleges,
small Christian colleges that have approached me over the years.
But I also have had some other high schools, bigger
high schools and things that have approached me. I can
remember one time getting offered a substantial amount to come coach,
and their board president and their ad met with me,

(22:56):
and you know, I said, do you know what? This
is so amazing. I wouldn't have to teach. I don't
have the great papers. That's the first thing I got up.
I don't have the great papers. I can just coach.
And so I said, you know what, I'll go home
and I'll pray about it, and I'll talk to my
wife and talk to my wife. And my daughters were

(23:16):
in the middle school area. And if you can leave
your kids at Triunity, you don't even have to, but
you want to know someone I prayed by. I just
felt like, Hey, this is where I belong, this is
where God's planted me, this is where I want to
be and I want to influence people for christ and
that's that's what I wanted to do. And so it
was an easy call, well, I'd be rich, not in

(23:38):
not in monetary, but I'll tell you why. In relationship definitely, Yes,
I am a rich man and I have wonderful people
that have been a part of my life and still
m that were involved in the basketball program.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, Coach, we are excited. Friday night is going to
be our LMCU game of the week. We've never done
a game from your new high school and new gym.
I know you're excited about that, but it's also nostalgia
because the old River Valley Conference that Jay and I
covered for years, that is no more. You guys are
in the Alliance League. Covenant Christian you're going to face
on Friday Night used to be in it, and now
they're independent. The River Valley was something else with Western

(24:14):
Michigan Christian with Covenant Christian with you guys, and so
we get a little bit of that on top of
everything else of why we want to be out there.
But talk about this matchup, especially with Coach Schimmel and
Covenant Christian because as you know, I mean, they'd love
to come in and knock you off and they're riding
a nine game witting streak. You guys committed seven to two.

Speaker 8 (24:35):
Yeah. Yeah, he has a great team. He has a
great team, and they've grown, I mean their class B
this year, Brett, they're not even they've moved from I
remember when we were in the same district, right and
now they've moved all the way up and they are
literally in Division two and so but at the same time,

(24:56):
we've always had such a great rivalry and with Covenant,
and it's been a good rivalry, you know. And uh,
it's the right kind of rivalry too, you know, Tyler.
I have so much respect for him. He does a
great job. Awesome young man, and I'm always rooting for
him when they're not playing us, but but he is.

(25:18):
He's done a great job there too, and this year
their team is really balanced. He has a couple of big,
big boys and then he has some great guard play
to go with it. So it should be a lot
of fun. We're looking forward to it. I you know,
I think it's good. No matter what, we always come
away from a Covenant game and we've learned how to

(25:38):
handle and that's why you play teams like that. There
are quality and they really help us and prepare for
the tournament, which is always our goal.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
Coach I hear you describe coven At Christian and it
sounds a little bit like your team to me. I
think these teams are pretty similar. I mean, you've got
you've got Joey Mellon who's tall but can play inside
and out, kind of like Ben Elsinga. You've got Keaton
Blanker and experienced solid point guard. You've got Noah silver
Tender's coming and played really well for you. Tell us
about your team and what's made it good this year?

Speaker 8 (26:06):
Well, you know, we they have surprised me because they
have embraced We stress defense, and that is not always
popular from year to year. I get kids who it's
like pulling their teeth to get them to play the
defense I want. But the big advantage I have is
called playing time. And so if they don't play the

(26:27):
defense I want, it's easy just to have them set
beside me or or set set on the bench and
me being stand in front them and block their view,
whichever it might be. But anyway, it's just, uh, it's
important to get him to do that. And the guys
are coming a long ways. I mean, they their their
basketball IQ isn't where I would like it, but because

(26:48):
we have several seniors that are playing who did not
get a lot of time last year because I had
such a talented senior group last year. But at the
same time, Keaton and uh Joey did play and they
are doing a great job of being captains and leading away,
and so I'm really proud of our team. Yeah, and

(27:08):
the kids ever responded, they've been very coachable.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Head coach Mark Keeler of Trinity Christian Boys Basketball is
our guest here in the Montel Construction Coaches Corner. It's
brought to you by Montel Construction for your next exterior project.
Think Montel Construction. They're my home team and it's simple
to schedule that. Just call them direct at six one,
six eighth, five, forty nine sixty six and coach, I
want to end with this because recently we saw the
retirement of John Shilitou at Zeeland West forty plus years

(27:36):
on the gridiron coaching high school at different levels and
different i should say, at different schools, and he ends
it on the perfect Disney story. Note right, they win
a state championship and then he's riding off of the sunset.
Was there any thought at all after you guys won
the state title last year of maybe that was the
end before you did this year.

Speaker 8 (27:57):
You know, every year year evaluate what you're going to do,
and you know, I'm going to be honest with you.
I really did want to get seven hundred wins, and uh,
that was something that I'd been shooting for a f
ale while and not that it was the reason I coached,
but it was. You know, everybody asked me, I would
now that you've won, are you going to do stopping?

(28:18):
And my wife just retired, so I said, I talked
to her and she she gave me permission to coach
one more year, and I said, all right, and so
I will. And to be honest with our goal is
to win the state every year. And it's not something
that happens that often, but I tell you what you
do your very best, and so you always have those

(28:39):
thoughts in your mind. So who knows, maybe it will
still happen.

Speaker 6 (28:44):
Six days, we'll have a bid, chips to your credit.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Six more state runner ups, as you know, and so
it does happen quite often. And trying to be Christopher
boys basketball, but seven oh one and two eighteen, it's
been an unbelievable career and coach we can't wait to
see you on Friday night. Thank you so much for
joining us here on the show tonight.

Speaker 8 (29:02):
Oh look forward to it. Look forward to seeing you.
Both of you. I've known for a long time and
have so much respect for you and the great job
that you do in broadcasting high school basketball football. It
doesn't matter you guys just do a great job. So
thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
Welcome back to this week two edition of the LMCU
Basketball Blitz, brought to you by Lake Michigan Credit Union.
Our thanks to Coach Keiler joined us in the Coach's
Corner in the previous segment and Jay, it's time to
make our transition to the girls high school basketball side
of things. We do have to show for the boys,
have to show for the girls. Our next LMCU Girls
Basketball Game of the Week edition is coming up one

(29:52):
week from tomorrow night, January twenty fourth. It's an early start,
so right after the huge show at six o'clock South
Christian at Whalen. Really looking forward to that matchup. We
did it a year ago down in Whalen. It was
a great game. Harmony Lakers back and the Wildcats are
trending up. It'll be interesting to see where both of
us have them if they made our top ten rankings
or not. After I wouldn't say a slow start, but

(30:14):
they had a tough schedule there, but they've gotten it
going right now and they had a nice win over
Wyoming this past week.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Yeah, Whalen's you know, they're always going to be there,
and they're well coached and they played they played some
good teams early, took a little bit of lumps, but
now they got it back on track and they're and
they're trending in a really good okay gold I mean deep,
deep league, So it's gonna be fun to watch.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Looking forward to that one, all right, And we've got
a conversation we have to have now to start the
top ten rankings. And you and I talked about this
off the year, and I want to get into it
on the air, and it's again maybe slicing hares a
little bit. We'd love to see them meet on the
court to decide it, but they're in different divisions, so
it's not gonna happen this season. But what do you
do after Rockford? We both agree clear cut favorites. They

(30:59):
beat to Kempsey on Saturday. We'll get more into that
in a little bit. So they're definitive number one at
eleven and one. And then last week I had gren
Haven two, West Catholic three, You had West Catholic two,
gren Haven three.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
Who is that number two team in the area in
your mind?

Speaker 5 (31:14):
Well, real quick before we get to that, just on Rockford.
Obviously we've talked a lot about them. They're clearly number one.
Anna Y Pitch. She had twenty five in the game
we did against Miskeigan. She had twenty two Saturday, yep,
when they beat to cmpseee at the Old South Christian
High School. How about last Friday night against East Kentwood
Rockford girls' single game record thirty eight points, and then

(31:35):
she followed that up with twenty six on Tuesday against
Hudsonville eighteen in the first half. Remember she's not really
playing the fourth quarter of these games because they're up
by so much. So the drive for miss basketball in
full swing. For Annay Pitch, who's playing out of her mind.

Speaker 6 (31:47):
Do you know whose record she broke?

Speaker 1 (31:49):
No?

Speaker 6 (31:49):
Her own?

Speaker 4 (31:50):
She had thirty four in the district final game last year.
And in both those games, the one that she went
off for thirty eight against East Kent Wood last Friday
Night and the one where she scored thirty four. Didn't
play in the fourth quarter in either one of those games.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
Yeah, it's insane and not surprising that it was her
own record. All right. So on to number two between
grand Haven and West Cally. Let me first say, last
week on this show, you said there's a top three
in a gap, and I said there was a top two.
So I need to just say you were correct. You
know we've done this a lot, right, Brett's always right.
I should know that grand Haven certainly belongs in that
top three with Rockford and West Catholic. Now I think

(32:25):
we agree that there Rockford is separated itself a little
bit here. But in terms of number two, I think
it's an interesting conversation between grand Haven and West Catholic.
I am going to keep West Catholic there. At both
teams are nine to one. Both have lost to a
really good team. Grandaven's only losses to Rockford, West Callok's
only lost to Parmel Western, but grant Haven Monday night
going to Forestills Northern and winning fifty one to thirty seven.

(32:46):
That was a nine to zero Forests Northern team that
I ranked number four Forstills Northern led that game at
the end of the first quarter and kind of controlled
that first quarter thirty two to twelve. Grand Haven outscores
the Huskies in the second and third quarters wins fifty
one to thirty seven. Mallory whityd Deschek is really good
as a sophomore six foot three, thirteen and thirteen in
that win against Forestills Northern. Huge fan of Gillian Sorel.

(33:08):
But what really stood out to me watching that game
Abbie Spoons. She's listed at five to ten. I think
she plays taller than that, and you throw her in
there with White Shek Serral. I mean, this is a
really good team. They're extremely well coached by Katie Walcheik Fulmer,
I mean really well coached. And so they're allowing less
than thirty three points per game this season. You know,
you look at West Catholic. You got Alicia Diikster going Toledo.

(33:29):
You got Alexis Asacoma, you got Kenley Slanger, who's a freshman.
New's come on, let's just compare resumes for a minute.
I would say Grandaven's best win the Forestills Northern win.
I'd say West Kalox's best wins growing up its Catholic Central.
Now maybe I'm higher on the Graham's Couch Central girls
than some, but it's really close. You look at good wins.
Grandhaven is the only team to beat Midland. You know,
they beat Hudsonville. Both teams have beat Hudsonville, Springlake, Luddington,

(33:50):
Calvin Christian all good wins, West Catholic wins. You know
we talked about Grahamscout Central beat South Christian beat Whalen,
beat Holt on Saturday, Holts eight and two. That was
a big win. They just beat north View on Tuesday.
What do you like better offensive defense?

Speaker 8 (34:03):
Right?

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Grand Haven along less than thirty three a game, West
Catholic scoring fifty nine a game. I'd say West Kellick
a little better offensively, Grandaving maybe a little better defensively.
I think you're splitting hairs. I have West Caloc two,
Grand Haven three.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
All right, So here's my conversation with this, And again
there's no right or wrong opinion. We just felt it
was one of those things to dissect a little bit
more and pay attention to two fabulous teams that won't
have to face each other, which is good, although Grand
Haven will have to face Rockford as they do in
the Oka Red twice, but to get to the Bruslim Center,
they would have to go through a Rockford probably eventually
Division one and Division two. Here's what is the body

(34:37):
of work for me. Don't know Coach Pies as well
as I do Katie kowalchik Fomer, and I agree with you.
I mean, she's, in my opinion, one of the best
girls basketball coaches out there in the state of Michigan.
And it's not the coach Pies, is it. We just
don't know form after this, so he might prove to be,
and certainly he had big shoes to fill from Coach
Vander Ending has done a nice job with this group

(34:58):
and they're playing very good basketball, very cohesive right now
with just that one loss and impressive wins. But I
look at Katie and one of the things that jumps
out to me when she has a post player that
is really good. She teaches the post play very well.
Her and her staff. I mean, they get the most
out of those post players and they make them dominant

(35:21):
forces and rim protectors, which you don't always see in
girls high school basketball. She's very good at teaching that
position and as I look at Mallory and her development
even I'm excited to see her this year because I
thought as a freshman she was way ahead of the curve.
So you put that in the factor of she's got surrel,
she's got other pieces, and she's not afraid to change

(35:42):
up what she does according to what her opponent has
to try to beat them. Is impressive to watch and
what stood out to me, and I've seen it before,
but last year Rockford was a world beater. Last year,
right I was there and just got to watch the
game at Grand Haven, he threw a zone out and
extended Rockford with a three pointer. You're saying, why would

(36:04):
you zone Rockford? Well, she extended out with a different
look and played it on the perimeter where Rockford didn't
get good looks. Their ball rotation is so good. A
lot of times, what happens they keep passing until they
get a wide open three. They're gonna knock that down.
Grand Haven didn't allow that to happen, and as you know,
it was without their star senior leader who was committed
to Grand Valley State because she got injured, and they

(36:25):
were in that game. They played Rockford as good as
anybody this year except for to come see on Saturday
and so, and obviously they're lost early on. But I
just look at grand Haven and that to me is
the X factor, is the coaching there. And that's not
a negative on West Cat. We just don't know as
much or I don't know as much about coach Pyes.

Speaker 5 (36:43):
Yeah, and speaking of the tournament, just like we talked
about in the boys, same with the girls, and grand
Haven and Rockford would not play until a state quarter final.
Right It's currently scheduled at Mona Shore, So we'll see
if it plays out that way. Who knows if Miskegan's
gonna get healthy enough to challenge Rockford in the district,
that's certainly possible. Of course, the n Will is still
coming back for Rockford. I mean they're clearly number one

(37:04):
without her at this point. But the point is grand
Haven and Rockford would not play. They're gonna play again
in the Okay Red at grand Haven and then they
wouldn't play again until the state courtfinal.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
So just to clarify for our top three, this is
the way it looks. And then Jay will go on
with four for him. We both have Rockford clearcut number one.
He's got West Catholic two, gren Haven three, but it's close.
I'm the same way except grend Haven two, West Catholic three.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
Yeah, and so moving from there, I did jump Grandam's
Catholic Central head of forest Fills Northern less because of
the Forests Northern loss to grand Haven, and more because
of the way Catholic Central played in a win over
Portland on Saturday. And I know that the final score
indicates it was maybe a close game, but Grandma's Callock
Central was in control of that game and then Portland
kind of made a flurry at the end to make
that look a little more respectable. Really impressed with Nicole

(37:47):
Fellows group. I like Calck Central a wats So I
have Grandmas Callock Central at four, forest Fills Northern at five,
at nine to one, South Christian six, Holland Christian seven,
Caledi on the eight Whale nine. Those are all the
same for me, six, seven, eight, and nine. Ten got
very interesting. What are we gonna do at ten? Because
Wyoming lost to Unity Christian on Tuesday. Unity is coming
on a little bit. But Unity lost to Hudsonville badly
in December, so I consider moving Hudsonville back into ten

(38:09):
even though they were clobbered by Rockford. I mean, nobody's
getting punished for losing to Rockford. I don't care how
much it's by Like everybody plays Rockford basically is going
to lose that game. Like I've Calderinay tod eight. They
got crushed by Rockford. So I ended up going to
East Camp with at ten. Now the Lady Falcons just
kind of quietly sneaking around. They're five and four. They
had their game. They didn't play against West Ottawa on Tuesday.
They gotta make that one up, so five and four.

(38:29):
The only loss you can look at it and say
was the Miskigan game. But that was the first game
of the year when Mskeigan was completely healthy and Miskegan
had to come from behind down five in the final
minute to win that game. So Jazzy ward Aris Branch,
I like East Camp with at ten.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
All right, I'm going at number four. South Christian second
loss came on Friday and edit home to West Catholic.
Good win for West Catholic on the road sixty two
forty nine, and again from there, not too much argument.
I go forestill's Northern five Catholic Central. I agree with you.
I like that and that nice win over Portland. They're
six for me this week. Then you've got Holland Christian seven.

(39:04):
Holland Christian just has that one loss, still unbeaten in
division play at three and zero, and then I go
from Holland Christian at number eight. Caledonia is new in
my top ten. Look out for them in the Okay
Green at eight and two. They have some nice wins
that they're racking up and they haven't faced who is
their co leader in that division, Mona Shores yet that's

(39:27):
coming up. So I have Mona Shores at nine at
nine and two, and then Whalen rounding out my top
ten with that nice win as I mentioned over Wyoming,
Whalen coming at six and three and again one week
from tomorrow night South Christian at Whalen. So two top
ten teams for me in our LMCU game of the
week on the girls side, and looking.

Speaker 5 (39:45):
At that Okay Green girls, as you have both Caledonia
and Mona Shores in your top ten. You know, we
all kind of thought that was Miskegan's division. They went
undefeated one last year, but losing their top two players
to injury. Caledonian and Mona Shores have established themselves as
the top two teams. They don't meet until you U
twenty fourth, so the last of the first go around,
and then they'll play again on February twenty first to

(40:06):
wrap up league play. So those are going to be
two huge games. Obviously. The Lady Fighting Scotts are playing
great basketball.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Keep an eye on Zealand East, remember with their coaching change,
and so Zealand East is eight and three, just lost
to Holland Christian by double digits, who is the top
team in the Okay Black Division. And then you've got
Greenville with just one loss in Northview at seven and four.
Northfew was stumbled after we kind of made a lot
to do about them, and they're playing some tough competition,

(40:33):
but certainly much improved from where they were even a
year ago.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
Well, the Wildcats were great than non conference and they're
really quality wins against quality opponents. And now they've kind
of gotten in this really difficult Okay Gold and it's
getting tough. They're one in three right now in their
conference because they're playing the likes of West Catholic in
South Christian and even thrown up with Kellogg, who I
think is quietly really really good. So yeah, it gets tough.
You mentioned Greenville huge win on Tuesday, going to Kenawan

(40:59):
winning game. I mean that puts Greenville's the Lowell Greenville
Lowell don't have league losses, but Greenville I think at
this point now the favorite in the girls because it
was in my opinion between them and Kenawall Hills a
huge win for Lady Eellowjackets Ron now ten to one.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
Coming up on the other side of the break are
Uptown Cheapskate Players of the Week for both the Grand
Rapids Area Boys and Girls and Lake Shorts, Brought to
you by our friends at Uptown Cheapskate and our players
of the week.

Speaker 6 (41:23):
We'll each get a.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Twenty five dollars gift, got to do some shopping on us,
and we'll talk about some of the matchups coming up
this weekend you might want to take in, including our
LMSU Game.

Speaker 6 (41:33):
Of the Week for the Boys. If you missed it earlier,
we'll tell you what that is.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
We return as you're listening to a week two edition
of the LMCU Basketball Blitz, exclusively here on ninety six
to one.

Speaker 6 (41:42):
The game.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
This is the LMCU Basketball Blitz on your home for
high school hoops and West Michigan's Home for Sports ninety
six to one the Game WMAXFM, Holland Grand Rapids.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Before we get into our uptown cheapskate area players of
the week for last week, let's lay out the schedule
for you. If you're not familiar, you can find all
this stuff at the Trinity Health Michigan High School Basketball page.
It's available at nine to six to one the Game
dot com. You can also listen to our Game of
the Week live stream there or the Basketball Blitz on
Thursday nights from six to seven, and everything on that

(42:23):
page has links to our sponsors podcast if you miss
anything that you want to go back and listen to,
or our high school basketball game with the week schedule.
So here's what is left as far as scheduled. Coveny
Christian at Trinity Christian on the boys side Tomorrow night
six forty five with the pregame of the Jane As
Family Stores and then seven o'clock tip off. Jane I'll

(42:44):
be out there next Tuesday night another boys edition six
forty five pre game. Buck Geno will be courtside with
me home of the Sailors. How about this one nor
few at South Christian like we talked about earlier. I mean,
I'm excited to see Brady Schwartz, He's put up some
monster games already and committed to Western Michigan next year.

Speaker 5 (43:02):
And Cam Ryan's and Carson Viz I mean this gooz
it gets man. That is a great, great matchup, and
I'll be listening for sure, and maybe I'll have to
try to find a way to get there and see
that one in person.

Speaker 4 (43:12):
And then you'll join me next Friday night, one week
from tomorrow night, January twenty fourth, back on the girls side,
and this is an early start six o'clock right out
of the huge show South Christian at Whyland. And if
you haven't listened to or seen Harmony Laker play along
with all the great players for South Christian, this is
a great rivalry and a fun matchup.

Speaker 5 (43:31):
Yeah. So we went from being the Rams Radio network
last week, now we're going to be the Sailor Sports
Network next week and two South Christian games, so it's
great basketball, it's fun.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
And then finally January twenty eighth, a boys matchup six
forty five pre game, seven o'clock tip Byron Center at
Unity Christian our first look at the Crusaders, and you
know when you get them late in the year, Scott
Soldzmans is kind of round in that team in shape
to make another run to the Brusdent Center.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
Hey, UNI's really good. I mean they're junior lighton, but
the bunch of those guys were up last year as sophomores.
And that's a conference game, and boy, both these teams
love to play and test themselves out of the conference,
which is what makes the great come tournament time. And
that'll be a great matchup.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
And then in about a week or so, we're gonna
announce HESSE officially. One of them will be a February
twenty fifth date. We just don't know if it'll be
a boys or girls game for the LMCU Game of
the Week. And then February fourteenth, we're gonna flex out
of I'm going to be out of town, and so
it's either going to be a February eleventh game maybe
or that following week.

Speaker 6 (44:28):
When I get back.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
But we're gonna have two games in February, and then
of course the road to the Residents Center always fun
loaded coverage. Boys and girls as they go, one week
after the other, all the way down and it's brought
to you again by our friends at MKD Funeral Homes.
Find out more at mkdfuneralome dot com. That's when it
gets crazy, and I'm going to be using all three
of my color analysts, probably Jason Hutton Bucks you know,

(44:50):
and even Tom Kendra who got it a game over
the holidays.

Speaker 5 (44:52):
Good luck. I mean, I'm taking them all. Fucking Tom
can come.

Speaker 4 (44:56):
All right, Tom, maybe you won't work if Hutton has
this way. And of course all you guys did a
great job with our football coverage. Excited to have you
along for the basketball coverage as well. All right, let's
start with our Lake Shore players of the week we mentioned,
brought to you by Uptown Chiefs.

Speaker 6 (45:10):
Kate, what do you got for us? J Let's start
with the girls.

Speaker 5 (45:12):
Yeah, let's go. Mallory whidashek the six to three sophomore
from Grand Haven, I mean, big time, stepped up Monday
in the win over Forestills Northern, which was a huge showdown.
Osky's came in undefeated thirteen points thirteen rebounds, helping her
team to a fourteen point win. Turned around Tuesday night
against Grandville twenty points, eight rebounds, seven assists. I mean
just stuff in the stat sheet. Whitishak's a difference maker

(45:33):
for grand Haven. She had a great week.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
She's gonna be the next I think, really big time player.
When I say really big time, I could see her
going you know, power four, right, big ten. I mean
maybe she follows in the Elissa Daehn realm as far
as the standout player at Grandville with her size, and
I'm not convinced she's not done growing.

Speaker 5 (45:52):
Still, comparison is the thief of joy. I don't know
how anyone around grand Haven's going to avoid the comparison
to Abby Cole, who of course led grand Haven to
back to back stay title. Six foot four, Abby Cole
went to Michigan to play volleyball. White A Sheck is
really good at volleyball. That's you may end up going
down that path, but it's great to have options.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
It's a great point though that you make. You're right,
and another one of those post players I was talking
about that led them to great things. So athletic, but
with the tutelage of Katie Kowalchik Fohmer and her staff, YEP.

Speaker 5 (46:19):
Absolutely all right. So for the boys Lake Shore player,
We're gonna go Dexter Willmers, right, I mean, this is
the week of the freshman. Eli Wolf wins the game
for Rockford against Hutsonville. How about Dexter Lollomar's another one
of the top freshmen in the state of Michigan. Twenty
six points Tuesday night as Fruitport we ever talked about
Fruitport boys basketball. They go to god Win and win.
Don't look now the Trojans are nine and two. They're

(46:41):
four and oh in the OK Silver and tied with
Calvin Christian. By the way, shout out Calvin Christian who
started one and four. And now they're really coming on.
I was closing the book on Calvin Christian at one
and four. They're coming on now. They're also four and
oh in the OK Silver. So Dexter Lilomars, though, is
a stud. You gotta go see him play. Twenty six
Fruitport beats Gotter Heights time.

Speaker 6 (47:01):
And there's a perfect example.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
We'll have to check our schedule of why we kind
of flex out those February dates because there's always a
fruit Board story or whatever. We want to try to
get them before the road of the BUZ and utter begins,
and you're right. I can't remember the last time I've
talked Trojans basketball, but nine and two four to oh
toied to top the ok silver with Calvin Christian.

Speaker 6 (47:21):
On the boy's side, all right.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
So there is your Lakeshore Players of the Week, brought
to you by Uptown Cheepskate. They've got locations in Granville,
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become an Uptown insider it's easy, and get monthly deals
at Uptown cheapskate dot com. On the boys side, I'm
going with the guy that you're familiar with, Zay Larthrich,

(47:45):
and I watched him over the holidays at Cornerstone University
for Grandppits Catholic Central. He hit twenty five at a
victory over Forest Hills Eastern at last week, but more
impressive against their sister school, Forest Steel Central was always
good Tuesday night, fifteen points, ten re.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
Bounds in a big win. And as you've talked about,
here come the.

Speaker 5 (48:03):
Cougar, huge fan of a Larthree. Do you know he
was in and out of the lineup last year with
injuries as a sophomore as Calex was playing a ton
of sophomores last year, but they had the seniors right
in Fat Fat Brooks and Carter Mereman. This year, it's
kind of on those jack bones in a nice job
the senior, the big fella. But these juniors are leading
the way and Larthridge's is outstanding and he's so smooth
that I love the way that Boebe Watkins is playing

(48:23):
right now, and you know this is a really good team.
They're trending in the right direction right now.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
And your key was there only a junior. That's how
scary is it? Kind of has a Caid Cuttingham style
of game to him right now. Za Larthridge putting up
some big numbers. And then on the girls side, I
know we've talked a lot about her, we've done Rockford
games and everything, but how do you deny with what
Jay laid out earlier the week the anna Y Pitch
had It was incredible and thirty eight points broke her

(48:49):
own single game record for Rockford as far as scoring
on the girls side, she did that on Friday Night,
twenty two of the win on Saturday over to Cumpsie
and then twenty four is you mentioned in the win
blowout win over Hudsonville it used to be their big
rival on Tuesday night this week, I mean anay pitch
gotta be our Grand Avianzeria Player of the week.

Speaker 5 (49:09):
There's a lot of good players on that Rockford team,
and I'm interested to see the dynamic when Ciano Wolf
comes back into the fold, because any pitch right now
is scoring the basketball, and how will that work. I
anticipate zero problems because this is an unselfish team that
loves each other and plays so well together. But it
will be fun to watch once they get Wolf back.
What does Rockford become?

Speaker 8 (49:30):
All?

Speaker 4 (49:30):
Right, before we wrap up the show as we always do,
if you want to go out and watch some action
tomorrow night or maybe if there's a Saturday game, Jay's
got the big ones on his list to highlight.

Speaker 5 (49:39):
Well, obviously we're doing the Covenant Christian Training Christian game.
Super excited about that one. Should be a great matchup
to Belie camp wins. A good matchup. How about the
Skeigan in Mona Shores, right, I mean Mona Shors is
six and six. All right, Miskeigan will be the sixth
team in my top seven that Mona Shors has played
this year, and they're healthier now. Jonathan Pittman's back, Jordan
Bledsoe went over a thousand points. I'm not here to

(50:00):
tell you they're going to beat Miskigan because I think
Miskigan is really good. But I think that matchup's better
than maybe most people think.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
And both for the boys and girls good matchups because Muskegan, remember,
eventually they're going to get those two guards back, but
I think they're going to give Mona Shores quite a
test without them.

Speaker 5 (50:15):
I agree, I agree. I think on the girls side
that it'd be a good game as well about these
growning up as girls have quietly won four in a row.
So they play Catholic Central on Friday night. That's an
interesting matchup that we talked about fruit Port Calvin Christian
that's tomorrow night, four and oh against four and oh
on the boys side, and actually the girls side's not
a bad matchup either. Lowell Greenville is Friday night. That's
a big game on the girls side of things. Morley

(50:36):
Stanwoo Kent City Girls is a big game. And you
know one game I'm looking at the boys side, Grant
and Big Rapids are playing in the Central States Athletic
Association Gold Division. This game will be at Grant. Anybody
realized that the Tigers are nine to oh, now, listen.
I understand their schedule hasn't been super difficult, but they're
winning these nine games by an average margin of victory
of thirty four point seven points per game. They've scored

(50:57):
at least sixty in every game this season. And how
about Zayden Phillips, who's been their leading scorer in seven
of their nine games, including thirty two in a win
over Belding in game one and thirty one when they
beat hert And that's two of the better teams they've
played this year.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
And it's a lot of fun for us to kind
of stretch our reach as far as the audience and
the listening area with this show, because guess what's going
to happen in districts and regionals. You're gonna get some
of these teams facing the Grand Rapids area teams that
you want to see. Another one you touched on earlier
in the Boys conversation is North Muskegan. They're going to
have that matchup with comedy Christian North Muskegan had that
great run a year ago. It was a fantastic team,

(51:34):
but before I think Whitehall finally downed him in a
matchup late in the season. So it's one of those
to look at. Keep an eye on those matchups as
well as one that I highlight Jay on the boys side,
Zealand East at Forest Hill Central. That's a non conference
game coming up tomorrow night. And we know Keith guy,
he always loves to play Friday Saturday. They try to
bounce back after last Saturday's lost to Brother Rights.

Speaker 6 (51:55):
They got Warren Lincoln on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (51:57):
Yeah, that's a big match.

Speaker 8 (51:58):
You know.

Speaker 5 (51:58):
Look at Warren Lincoln, defending Division who state champs, have
four losses this year. All their losses are really good
D one teams, right, so the Apes are going to
be a force to be reckoned with once we get
to the tournament.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
All right, now, thanks again to head coach Mark Keeler
joined us in the Montel Construction Coaches Corner seven hundred
plus victories and counted in his last season. Now and
we'll have that game tomorrow night at six forty five
of the pregame coverature on ninety six to one the
game for our LMCU Game of the Week as they
host Covenant Christian in a non conference battle. Both teams
ranked in the state coming in in Division two and

(52:31):
Division four respectively. For Chase Nutt, my name is Brett Pikita.
That's going to do it for a week two. We'll
see next Thursday night from six to seven. Coming up,
it's Red Wings Hockey as they're in Florida to take
on the Panthers right here on naughty six to one
the game.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
This has been another edition of the LMCU Basketball Blitz,
presented by Lake Michigan Credit Union and also brought to
you by Jay and H Family Stores, Vanderloin Home Improvement,
Kids Food Basket, Trinity Health, Sporting You Wing, Doozy Hauls,
jeff In Physical Therapy, Discount Door, Straight Line, Fence, Rapid Radios,

(53:05):
Uptown Cheapskate Stores in Granville, Kentwood and Holland, MKD Funeral
Homes and Meyer. Be sure to join us next Thursday
night starting at six or another edition of the LMCU
Basketball Blitz And just a reminder if you miss an
episode or want to hear one of our Game of
the Week broadcasts, go to the Trinity Health Michigan High
School basketball page at ninety six one megame dot com

(53:28):
and search under the podcast section you're listening to West
Michigan's home for sports.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Ninety six won the game.