By Justin Stulpe
After dropping four straight games, the Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team got back to their winning ways by picking up a huge win against conference foe Kellogg Community College, 95-88 on Feb. 5. The Raiders secured a much needed win on the road in Benton Harbor and locked up a season sweep against the Bruins to get back into the win column to improve their record to 17-6 on the season.
The first half of the game was uncharacteristically low-scoring for both teams, as through 18 minutes of game action the score was 27-24 with GRCC holding the small advantage. With the Raiders averaging 93 points per contest and Kellogg CC scoring just under 83 a game, the defensive pressure and intensity were apparent from the jump. Both teams are known for pushing the pace as a result from forcing turnovers throughout the season and even in the first meeting earlier in the year, however, this matchup was not the case for most of the first 20 of game time. In the final three minutes of play in the half, the Raiders finally showed the offensive prowess they have demonstrated all year and went on a 15-8 scoring run to conclude the first 20 minutes of action.
Those final three minutes of action were highlighted by the scorching hot shooting of sophomore guard Jack Agema, who scored the final nine points for the team to close out the half with a nine-point lead. Knocking down two 3-pointers in the final 26 seconds of the half helped him drain his season-high in long balls, as well as help the Raiders offense kick into gear. This final sequence of the first half was telling of how the rest of the game shaped up, with not only the Raiders beginning to score in bunches, but the Bruins following suit.
Kellogg CC bounced back in the first five minutes of the second half and dominated GRCC to the tune of a 21-4 scoring run that put the Bruins up 51-43. Despite the slow start to the half, the Raiders did not buckle under pressure and anchored down to claw their way back into the game. This sort of grit and determination is something that head coach Joe Fox notes as a main takeaway from the duel with Kellogg CC.
“The guys really battled last night. There were little errors along the way but never for lack of effort. Kellogg is a tough team and a tough place to play, and I was very impressed with our guys’ resilience,” Fox stated in a text to The Collegiate.
Immediately after going down by eight, GRCC flipped the game on its head by responding with a 17-2 run of their own to retake a six-point lead at the 10-minute mark. From then on, the game was back-and-forth with each team throwing everything they had at one another, but in the end, the Raiders did just enough to come out victorious in a nail-biter for both teams. Clutch free throws from freshman guards Tyran Thomas, Zeekeal Jackson and Zachary Carlson put the game on ice for GRCC and they escaped with a tight contested road win.
The driving force behind the Raiders’ offensive success proved to be a balanced scoring attack that produced three separate players with 20 or more points against the Bruins. Agema posted a game-high 24 points, four rebounds and six assists, stuffing the stat sheet en route to his best performance of the season when the team needed it most to avoid a five-game losing streak. Thomas also helped propel GRCC past KCC, as he scored 22 points, came down with nine rebounds, three dimes and tied for a team-high five steals. Alongside Thomas in swiping five steals was Jackson, along with chipping in 20 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Outside of the three Raiders with 20 points or more, freshman guard Marshaun Flakes tallied 16 points and four rebounds, along with freshman forward Ethann Bennett blocking two shots as the low-post presence that the Raiders needed to deal with the size mismatches that the Bruins put forward with their tall lineups.
The Raiders relied heavily on the starting lineup of Agema, Thomas, Jackson, Flakes and Bennett for most of the team’s production on both ends, with this lineup accounting for 93% of the team’s total points scored, along with all four of the previously mentioned guards playing over 30 minutes in the game to scrape by with the win.
Kellogg CC was led in scoring by a tandem of guards, with freshman guard Travis Randolph scoring 22, while sophomore guard Ke’Marion Tucker finished close behind with 21. Both Randolph and Tucker grabbed six rebounds, while Tucker notched three assists and freshman Jakryen Woods scored 13 and snatched a team-high four steals.
GRCC will now look to complete another season sweep of a conference opponent in the Lake Michigan College Red Hawks, who the Raiders defeated back on Jan. 15 by a score of 113-105. The previous matchup at Ford Fieldhouse was highlighted by the record-setting performance by Flakes, who scored a school-record 53 points in the fast-paced contest against LMC and while another performance of that caliber is unlikely, this contest is crucial for both teams for conference standings. The Raiders will travel to Benton Harbor on Feb. 8 for the clash with the Red Hawks at 3 p.m. to try and get back to over .500 in conference play.
Fox said in regards to trying to finish the season strong, that “as long as we mind the details and have ourselves mentally ready to go, we will be right where we want to be. That starts Saturday against a very talented Lake Michigan team.”
