Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
WHITEHALL — The evening began Thursday in the Whitehall High School gymnasium with a brief ceremony celebrating Vikings standout Camden Thompson for his recent 1,000-point milestone.
That was merely a warm-up for the audience. In an offensive eruption, Thompson and Trannon Aylor brought the thunder with their dunks and nearly everybody on the roster got into the scoring act for the Vikings.
In an anticipated matchup between boys basketball teams that entered with one loss between them, unbeaten Whitehall got rolling and never slowed down en route to a 91-54 victory over Oakridge in West Michigan Conference Lakes Division action.
Thompson, a 6-foot-5 junior wing, put up his typically eye-popping stat line with 27 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and two steals in 21 minutes of action. He puncutated the night with three dunks, the latter two bringing down the house.
On Thompson’s second dunk, Camar Ready gathered the ball in the open court and tossed an accurate pass off the glass for Thompson to catch and throw down with his right hand. Moments later, public-address announcer Aaron Boyd announced a snow day for Friday, which created an explosion of cheers from the Whitehall student section across the court.
Soon after, it was Aylor’s turn in the high-flying show. The 6-2 senior guard glided in with a forceful, one-handed flush in the fourth quarter. All of the Vikings’ 23 fourth-quarter points were scored by reserves.
Whitehall, which was ranked No. 5 in The Associated Press’ Michigan Division 2 poll this week, improves to 10-0 overall and 5-0 in the WMC Lakes.
Oakridge is now 10-2 overall and 4-2 in the WMC Lakes. The Eagles’ only other defeat was a 64-56 loss at Ludington in mid-December.
Oakridge hosts Ludington (6-4, 3-1 WMC Lakes) on Feb. 8 and welcomes Whitehall in the regular-season finale on Feb. 22.
Whitehall, which edged host Ludington, 64-62, last Friday, entertains the Orioles on Feb. 16.
Photos by Emily Vanderstelt for CatchMark
Here are more details and notables from the Whitehall-Oakridge game:
- Oakridge hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter for an early lead, but Whitehall junior Kal Koehler kept his team in the game. The 6-4 forward scored 11 of his 13 points in the quarter. Koehler also finished with three offensive rebounds, three steals, and two assists.
- Whitehall led 19-13 through one quarter, 44-26 at halftime, and 68-40 through three quarters.
- Whitehall junior Christian Gomez scored eight second-half points to lead the bench unit.
- Ready, a senior guard, filled the stat sheet with seven points, seven rebounds, two steals, and an assist for the Vikings.
- Whitehall sophomore Hunter Osborne had six points and six rebounds off the bench.
- Aylor finished with five points for Whitehall, as did senior DJ Jamison, junior Nate Betz, and sophomore Corde Anderson.
- Whitehall junior Brock Morningstar and senior Lavar Dean added four points apiece. Morningstar also had four assists.
- Whitehall senior Kyle Stratton rounded out the scoring with a layup, plus he had four assists.
- Oakridge junior guard Peyton Ruel led his team with 17 points, including four 3s, despite battling foul trouble.
- Oakridge juniors Evan Jozsa and Bryson Stephenson scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, to round out the Eagles in double-figures.
- Oakridge senior Jullian Primmer scored six points, while junior Alec Moore had four.
- Oakridge played without junior starter Evan Miller, who injured his ankle in Tuesday’s win over Muskegon Catholic Central. He is a key defender and scorer for the Eagles.
- Whitehall shot 46 percent from the floor (38-for-82). The Vikings were 7-of-24 (29 percent) from 3-point range.
- Oakridge shot 38 percent from the field (18-for-47). The Eagles went 7-of-25 (28 percent) from deep.
- Whitehall outrebounded Oakridge, 46-25, including 24-7 on the offensive glass.
- Oakridge had 21 turnovers compared to eight for Whitehall.
- On Wednesday, Thompson was listed among “20 breakout high school basketball stars across the country” by SBLIVE Sports. On Thursday, a fan poll went up by the same publication. You can vote for Thompson HERE through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, Jan. 18.
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