Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
LUDINGTON — Friday night’s West Michigan Conference Lakes Division boys basketball showdown started a bit ominously, especially for Whitehall’s Camden Thompson.
Ludington was assessed two pregame technical fouls and Whitehall one, all three for dunking during warmups. Thompson missed all four of his free throws in front of the packed-house crowd at historic Hawley Gym, then he picked up two quick fouls in the game.
But, as the Vikings will tell you, it’s not how you start but how you finish. And, boy, did Thompson and his team really finish.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore scored 36 points on 15-of-19 shooting and grabbed 18 rebounds in powering Whitehall to an 88-77 redemption victory over Ludington in the CatchMark SportsNet West Michigan Conference Game of the Week.
Photos by Claire Allen for CatchMark
The victory puts the Vikings in position to earn a share of the WMC Lakes Division title with the Orioles, who beat Whitehall, 63-52, on Jan. 6 in Whitehall.
Thompson and the Vikings stole some of the thunder from the Orioles and their outstanding junior guard, David Shillinger, who finished with 27 points and reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career.
Whitehall (14-5, 8-1 WMC Lakes) trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, but the Vikings closed the game to 43-40 at halftime. Thompson erupted for 18 points in the second quarter.
Whitehall outscored Ludington (16-2, 9-1) by a 21-15 count in the third quarter and 27-19 in the fourth.
Watch a replay of CatchMark’s livestream from Friday’s game:
Below are more details and notables from the game, followed by a highlights and reaction video on the game and a video on Shillinger’s milestone.
- Thompson added four assists, four steals and one block to his gaudy stat line. He even hit both of his 3-point attempts. The only place Thompson struggled was at the free-throw line, where he finished 4-of-12.
- Kyle Stratton was the ringleader of Whitehall’s history-making football team in the fall as the starting quarterback. The 5-foot-8 junior point guard was making things happen on the basketball court Friday night, scoring 18 points with a pair of 3s, dishing eight assists and grabbing three rebounds.
- Whitehall junior DJ Jamison had eight points, three assists and two steals off the bench.
- Whitehall junior Trannon Aylor, a 6-3 forward, battled 6-10 Ludington senior center Matthew Westhouse in the post. Aylor contributed in other ways, too, with six points, seven rebounds and four assists.
- Whitehall senior Jack Houtteman, junior Ca’Mar Ready and sophomore Kal Koehler scored six points apiece. Houtteman had four assists and Ready snagged four rebounds.
- Whitehall did a lot of its damage in the transition game and also was effective from beyond the 3-point arc. The Vikings were 8-of-16 from deep on a night they shot 56 percent overall from the floor (33-of-58). Ludington finished 3-of-20 from 3-point range and shot 44 percent from the field (28-of-63).
- Whitehall outrebounded Ludington, 37-21.
- Westhouse finished with 18 points for Ludington, while senior forward Levi Laman scored 13.
- Shillinger needed five points Friday to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He achieved it with 1:15 left in the first quarter, when he stole the ball near midcourt and cruised in for a layup. Ludington called a full timeout to celebrate the occasion, as teammates mobbed Shillinger and the public-address announcer declared him the 12th player in Ludington’s rich basketball history to score 1,000 points in his career.
- Whitehall has three regular-season games remaining: Feb. 23 at home vs. Oakridge, Feb. 28 at Fremont and March 2 at home vs. Orchard View.
- Ludington has four regular-season games left: Feb. 21 at home vs. Mason County Central, Feb. 23 at Manistee, Feb. 28 at Orchard View and March 2 at Benzie Central.
