The Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team played their final regular season game on Tuesday night, taking on Lansing Community College in a lopsided 114-78 meeting in favor of the Stars. The Raiders opened the game on a 5-0 run but only led the Stars for a little over two minutes in the contest, as LCC freshman Zander Woodruff was scorching hot in the matchup, scoring 45 points in 35 minutes.
GRCC opened the game with five points in the first 30 seconds of action, but quickly lost the lead when Lansing went up 8-7, a lead that GRCC would never regain in the remainder of the matchup. GRCC spent the rest of the game trying to claw back, and the Raiders were able to get the lead down to 25-19 with just under nine minutes left in the half, but it was the closest the team would get for the rest of the night.
Lansing’s Woodruff continued to hit mid-range after mid-range against the Raiders with GRCC not having an answer for it. No matter how tightly contested the shot was, it was going in, as the freshman went for 24 points in the first half on 11-14 shooting. Woodruff, however, has been dominating all season, averaging 30.6 points per game on over 50% from the field.
“He’s the leading scorer in the country, you try to make things tough for him, but when he gets going they get tough to beat,” Head Coach Joe Fox said after the game.
Heading into halftime the Raiders trailed the Stars, 52-37. GRCC shot just 14-40 (35%) from the field in the first half, while Lansing shot 23-45 (51.1%).
The second half did not go much better for the Raiders, being outscored 62-41 in the half to bring the final score to 114-78. GRCC shot better from beyond the arc, going 5-14 (35.7%) from 3-point range, but their overall efficiency from the field slightly dipped to 34% with the team shooting 16-47. Lansing’s offense continued to thrive, shooting 25-41 (61%) from the field in the second half. The Raiders limited their turnovers to just four in the second half and 10 overall, but it was not enough to combat the Stars’ red-hot offense.
“It was disappointing, we had a general idea having played them before of what they would try to do, and I just didn’t think we executed,” Fox said.
Freshman guard Marshaun Flakes led the Raiders in scoring putting up 15 points off the bench. Sophomore guard Mason Wilcox scored 14 points on 4-4 from 3-point range in just 19 minutes of play. Sophomore forward Javon Golson was able to bring in 13 rebounds in his 22 minutes of action.
GRCC sent out a different starting five than usual against Lansing, in order to honor sophomore players set to leave the program after the season. Those five players include sophomores Bashir Neely, JD DeGroot, Jack Agema, Wilcox and Golson.
“Those guys have worked so hard the past two years, they’ve won a lot of games,” Fox said. “This one game doesn’t define their role, and we’re excited to get into the postseason and try and get things going here.”
The regular season has concluded for the Raiders, but the team still has the postseason ahead after clinching fifth place in the conference. The Raiders ended conference play with a 5-9 record, including a four-game losing streak to end the season, with three of the four being decided by 10 points or fewer.
GRCC has a date set with Marian-Ancilla College on Tuesday, March 4 in Donaldson, Indiana with the time still to be announced. GRCC has faced Marian-Ancilla twice this season, with the loss on the road being decided by five points, and the loss at home being decided by eight points. Fox kept it simple on what the team needs to do in order to go on a run in the postseason,
“We just have to play better defense, I think we’ve given up 110 [points] two games in a row, gotta do a better job defensively.”
The Raiders are now in “survive-and-advance” and “win-or-go-home” mode for the remainder of the season. If the team can string together wins, their season will continue, but one loss would be the end of the road. If the Raiders can win the Region XII – Great Lakes A tournament, they would be eligible to qualify for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament which is set tobegin on Wednesday, March 19.
