Photos by CJ Bennett for CatchMark
If you ask North Muskegon boys basketball coach Chuck Rypstra, it wasn’t necessarily the goal for his Norsemen to be undefeated at this point in the season. Rather, he wanted to make sure the Norsemen would compete hard and play well each night out.
Based upon North Muskegon’s 57-38 nonleague home victory over White Cloud Monday night that kept the Norsemen perfect on the season at 19-0, they’re getting the best of all worlds: Staying unbeaten and playing at a high level regardless of the outcome.
White Cloud entered the game with a 15-2 record and North Muskegon was expecting to be pushed.
“Two good teams matching up on a weird Monday after the Super Bowl,” Rypstra said. “The first quarter and first half were pretty tight. Both teams got some easy ones and a few tough ones. After half, we played the third quarter just like the first (two quarters) with us winning it by one basket. In the fourth, we were able to create a little bit of space to get the win.”
North Muskegon led White Cloud 13-10 after one quarter and 25-20 at halftime. The Norsemen outscored the Indians 13-10 in the third before breaking it open in the fourth with a 19-8 scoring advantage.
Sophomore Adam Dugener led North Muskegon for a second straight game, finishing with 18 points. He scored a game-high 26 in his team’s big road win over Grand Rapids Covenant Christian on Friday.
Senior Jaxon Lisinski scored 10 points for the Norsemen, while junior James Young had 10 points, eight assists, six rebounds, and four steals. Junior TJ Byard added eight points, four rebounds, and three assists.
For White Cloud, KJ Strait led the way with 16 points while Jayden Robinson scored 12.
It’ll be another quick turnaround for North Muskegon as the Norsemen head north to Shelby tonight for a West Michigan Conference Rivers Division game. The Norse (9-0 WMC Rivers) can clinch at least a share of the divisional title with a win over the Tigers.
Shelby handed White Cloud one of its three losses in a 51-46 decision on Dec. 1 at Shelby.
