By Jack Walker
The Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team was back in action Saturday afternoon taking on North Central Michigan College in Petoskey. After a slow first 10 minutes to the game, GRCC was able to score 80 points in the final 30 minutes, to blow past NCMC, 94-74, improving the Raiders’ win streak to three.
After each team went back and forth exchanging points for the first few minutes, GRCC suddenly started to trail. With 11:40 left in the first half, the Raiders were down 12-21. Momentum would start to flip in favor of GRCC with the team taking a 28-27 lead just six minutes later.
“We try to be very conditioned as a team, so these occasional slow starts shouldn’t be as concerning because we want to continue to play at a high level throughout the game,” said head coach Joe Fox.
GRCC was able to control the rest of the half, leading NCMC 39-35 going into the break.
Sophomore guard Joe Francis caught fire in the first half scoring 19 points shooting 9-16, doing so with zero turnovers. Sophomore guards Darrell Belcher, and Tristan McRoberts were also key contributors in the first half, both scoring at least five points.
“Those three and Javon Golson and Jovante Jones off the bench were very impressive today,” Fox said. “This late in the season, the best teams rely on their sophomores, and ours really stepped up today.”
A key difference in the first half for the Raiders is something the team has been working on recently, taking care of the ball and forcing turnovers. It worked in the team’s favor, as the Raiders only turned it over six times in the first half while forcing 12 NCMC turnovers.
The first half for the Raiders was good enough considering the team faced a nine-point deficit, but the second half proved to be much better. GRCC put together a 55-point second half while only allowing 39. A 16-point difference gave GRCC a 20-point win, 94-74.
Francis continued his hot scoring, adding 13 second-half points to bring his total on the night to 32. But, Belcher and McRoberts also put together big second-half performances with Belcher scoring 16 points shooting 5-8 from the field while also going 6-7 from the free throw line. McRoberts put together an efficient scoring performance in the second half scoring 11 points while shooting 5-7.
Fox spoke on how the team was able to break down NCMC’s defense in the second half, “We play fast, and because we were able to lock in defensively, it allowed us to use our speed and conditioning to get high percentage shots.”
Overall, GRCC shot 19-31 from the field and an impressive 6-8 from downtown, one of the team’s most efficient halves of the season.
With the win over NCMC, the Raiders get back to an even 11-11 on the season. With seven games left in the season, a three-game win streak could be pivotal to GRCC’s remainder of the season.
Fox touched base on the team’s recent success, “We certainly want to keep building momentum,” Fox said. “We have had a great week for certain.”
The Raiders’ next game comes against Mid Michigan College, who the team faced back on Jan. 17, in a 77-92 losing effort. The game will be played on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Mount Pleasant.
