The Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team has improved to 6-2 after a successful weekend at the Montcalm County Shoot Out, in which the Raiders faced off against Kuyper College JV Black and Camp Battlegrounds Prep, winning both games. GRCC faced Kuyper in the first game of the weekend on Saturday, earning a 12-point victory 86-74. The second game of the weekend was on Sunday afternoon against Camp Battlegrounds Prep, where the Raiders earned their largest win of the season, 108-73. The Raiders’ winning streak has improved to three after their recent stretch of games.
GRCC vs Kuyper
In the first game of the weekend they faced Kuyper College. This game was dominated by the Raiders. Once GRCC claimed a 5-3 lead in the first minute of the game over Kuyper, they never gave the lead up, always remaining ahead. The Raiders went into the first half with a comfortable 43-27 lead, shooting 45% from the field at 18-40. The team struggled from three, shooting just 5-20 from beyond the arc, while Kuyper took only seven three-pointers, but made four of them, good enough for 57.1% on their limited attempts.
Turnovers were a big factor in the first half, with GRCC only turning the ball over seven times, while Kuyper struggled to take care of the ball, turning it over 16 times. GRCC made sure to capitalize off the turnovers, scoring 21 of their 43 points off of those 16 turnovers. The Raiders also grabbed eight offensive rebounds to Kuyper’s one offensive rebound.
Kuyper College managed to outscore the Raiders in the second half however, outscoring GRCC 47-43. GRCC shot 14-33 from the field and continued to struggle from three-point land, shooting 3-11 from three, making their total on the day 8-31 from three, 25.8%. Kuyper only took seven three-point attempts once again in the second half, but made five of them, giving them an efficient 9-14 from the three-point range they had in the afternoon. In the second half, GRCC managed to out-rebound Kuyper heavily once again, grabbing 25 total rebounds to Kuyper’s 13, nine of the Raiders rebounds were offensive, while just one of Kuyper’s was offensive.
Freshman guard Marshaun Flakes led the Raiders in scoring with 19 points on 7-15 shooting. Flakes tagged along eight rebounds and six assists, stuffing the stat sheet for the Raiders. Sophomore guard Bashir Neely was the second-highest scoring Raider on the day, putting up 12 points 5-9 shooting, which included a perfect 5-5 from two-point territory. Freshman’s Tyran Thomas and Gaden Muxlow had eight points and seven points, respectively.
GRCC vs. Camp Battlegrounds Prep
Much like the previous game against Kuyper, GRCC spent much of this game leading, but the difference in this game was the Raiders spent zero total seconds trailing in this game, leading from the moment they scored their first points. It was the first game all season the Raiders were able to score over 100 points, beating their previous season-high of 98 points against Muskegon Community College.
The Raiders scored 52 points in the first half of this game, shooting 21-43 from the field and 5-8 from three-point range. GRCC held CBP to just 30 points in the first half to take a 22-point lead into halftime. The Raiders held CBP to 13-43 shooting in the first half, a lowly 30.23%. The second half was more of the same, with the Raiders controlling the 20 minutes of action. GRCC was even more efficient from the field in the second half despite struggling from three-point range. GRCC shot 2-11 from three, but 25-47 overall, 53.2%. CBP had a better half offensively, scoring 43 points on 19-41 shooting, but it was too much to handle the red-hot Raider offense.
GRCC had a big boost from its bench in this showing, racking up 61 bench points. Much like the game against Kuyper, GRCC capitalized off of CBP turnovers, scoring 28 points off of 22 CBP turnovers. GRCC also dominated the game in the paint, scoring 74 of their 108 points inside the area. The Raiders largest lead in this game spiked up to 40 points with two minutes left to play, their largest of the young season so far.
Neely led the team with 18 points in this game, with Thomas adding along 14 of his own points. Sophomore wing Javon Golson had a big showing of his own, putting up 17 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double.
The win marked three-straight for the Raiders who will take on Kirtland Community College on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at the Ford Fieldhouse. GRCC played Kirtland twice last season, including a 116-59 win, the largest of last season. After Kirtland, GRCC will face Washtenaw Community College at home on Friday, Dec. 6 before a quick turnaround against North Central Michigan College on Saturday, Dec. 7 in Petoskey.
