By Jack Walker
The Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team returned home Nov. 17 for the first time since their season opener to take on Kellogg Community College. It was a struggle offensively for the Raiders as they dropped this game 72-89. With the loss, the team moved to 4-4 on the year after a 3-0 start. GRCC shot 30-74 from the field, 4-29 from three, and had 16 assists to 14 turnovers as a team.
Despite a late first half surge where the Raiders scored seven points in the final two minutes, a slow offensive start to the game contributed to the Raiders halftime deficit, which sat at 30-39. GRCC played clean basketball, with few turnovers and fouls, but failed to hit several open looks that were given to them. The biggest deficit GRCC faced in the first half was 13, with 2:05 remaining.
GRCC wants to push the pace this year and play with high intensity. The intensity was working defensively to open the game as Kellogg only scored nine points in the first seven minutes. The problem was that GRCC had only scored five points in those seven minutes.
At the 6:50 mark GRCC found themselves down 18-29. Nine points allowed in the first seven minutes, 20 allowed in the seven after that. The Raiders played great team basketball in the first half, often finding the open man, but were lacking a go-to scorer.
Head Coach Joe Fox went with two starters and three bench players to open up the second half, Fox spoke on the decision.
“Just looking for some energy,” Fox said. “We started the game off a little slow, just trying to find some juice. You know, shake things up every once in a while.”
It looked as though GRCC had a comeback in store to start the second half when they cut the lead to six, after an and-one from sophomore guard Javonte Jones four minutes into the half. It was the closest the Raiders ever got as Kellogg controlled the rest of the second half.
Everytime GRCC looked like they had something going for themselves, Kellogg had an answer. The Raiders were down 12 with 12:18 left to go in the contest and never got back within single digits.
Sophomore guard Spencer Willman helped provide a spark for the team and prevented the game from getting out of hand, adding on 17 of his own points. Willman and starting point guard Joe Francis were the only two players to score over 10 points for the team.
Fox spoke on the team’s shooting woes.
“It’s like that sometimes, it was tough to watch,” Fox said. “That’s what’s hard, we had the shots, they just weren’t falling.”
Trying to find positives in a 17-point loss is not always easy, but Willman, who led the team in minutes played and points scored, thought he saw some things the team could build on.
“We’re starting to come together as a team, there’s still some rough spots but we’re definitely coming together as a team, defensively and just running our offense right.” Willman added, “You can’t just take losses as just straight up L’s, you gotta learn from them and keep going.”
It is however easier to spot the negatives in a 17-point loss, Willman also spoke on what he thought the team lacked against Kellogg.
“Energy. Right from our warmups, I knew we were down in energy and we came out flat,” Willman said.
Sophomore and starting forward Alex Ehnis kept it simple on what he felt the team lacked on Thursday.
“Offense, defense, and chemistry,” Ehnis said. “We just didn’t play together.”
It’s safe to say the beginning of the schedule has not been kind to the Raiders, as the team has now played eight games since their season opener on Nov. 1, six of which were on the road. Thursday’s contest was only the team’s second home game of the season.
The Raiders next game is not until Nov. 28 against Lakewood in Midland, a nice 11-day break for the squad over the holiday. The team’s next home game falls on Nov. 30, when they will take on Washtenaw Community College at 7:00 p.m.
