By Justin Stulpe
The Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team extended their winning streak to seven games with an imposing victory over Alma College JV 123-63 with the 60-point margin of victory being their largest this season. The 123 points scored by the Raiders is their highest mark of the season, being the catalyst for yet another blowout victory to bring their record to 10-2.
GRCC was very opportunistic against the Scots, forcing 22 turnovers that led to 22 fastbreak points, as well as 24 second chance points off of a season-high 20 offensive rebounds. Both these factors played a massive role in the Raiders turning the tide of the game in their favor, being decisive factors as to how they built and maintained such a large lead.
Following a similar script to past blowout victories, the Raiders mounted an insurmountable lead in the first half that put the game out of reach for Alma, with GRCC holding as much as a 30-point lead within the first 20 minutes of action. Defensive intensity and scoring off forced turnovers are two points that head coach Joe Fox stresses with his players to set the tone of each matchup.
“Our starting guards are doing a really good job of creating pressure on the ball and getting a lot of turnovers… we are scoring in those transition opportunities,” Fox said.
A balanced scoring attack proved to be highly effective in the offensive outburst that the Raiders displayed against Alma, with seven Raider players scoring in double digits. Freshman wing Benjamin Koubek and freshman forward Ethan Bennett led the Raiders in scoring, both scoring 13 points in the contest. Both Koubek and Bennett were perfect from the field shooting the ball, both going an impressive 6-6 against the Scots.
Four players scored 12 points for GRCC, sophomore guard Bashir Neely, freshman guard Marshaun Flakes, sophomore guard J.D. DeGroot, and freshman guard Zeekeal Jackson all chipped in a dozen points, with Jaden Montague adding 11 as the seventh Raider with 10 or more points. A season-high 32 assists result from these scoring outputs, with Flakes leading the team with five dimes, and Neely and sophomore guard Jack Agema both dishing out four assists of their own.
GRCC also posted a season-high in team rebounds with 60, with Bennett adding seven, freshman Zachary Carlson grabbing five, and a season-high in rebounds by sophomore wing Javon Golson, who hauled in 13 boards of his own to lead the game.
Alma College JV was led by a tandem of Johhny Wilson and Dyoni Edwards, who scored 18 and 16 points respectively. Joshua Oziwele had the most rebounds for the Scots with six, and Carlos Williams led the team in assists with three.
Now the winners of seven straight contests, the Raiders are playing at a high level during this impressive winning streak, but the approach to every game has remained constant, Fox said.
“We’ve been trying to do a good job of prepping for each team and helping focus on ourselves too,” Fox said.
He also notes that taking this game-by-game approach will help the team immensely as they get back into league play in January after a trip to Illinois for their next two games, one against Oakton College, and the other against South Suburban College.
The Raiders will aim to continue their winning ways against Oakton on Dec. 14, and against South Suburban on Dec. 16, with a combination of elite-level scoring prowess and lockdown defensive presence that has proved to be effective to many dominant victories in the past month, and carry that into the new year with their next home game being Jan. 4 at 3:00 p.m. against Montcalm Community College, aiming to sweep the season series against Centurions.
