Photos by Kara Raeth and Delaney Hopma for CatchMark
It was Senior Night Tuesday evening for Montague’s boys basketball team and the Wildcats’ one-two punch delivered.
Seniors Owen Raeth and Isaiah Atchison scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, to power Montague to a 50-43 victory over Shelby in West Michigan Conference nondivisional play.
It’s the sixth win in seven games for the Wildcats, who take an 11-6 overall record and 4-4 WMC Lakes Division mark into Thursday’s clash at neighboring rival Whitehall (17-0, 7-0 WMC Lakes), which is ranked No. 5 in Division 2.
Against Shelby (3-12 overall, 1-6 WMC Rivers), Montague raced out to an 18-8 first-quarter lead. The visiting Tigers competed well against the Wildcats the rest of the game.
“Montague capitalized on our turnovers in the first and we didn’t convert on some opportunities to stay closer,” Shelby coach Rick Zoulek said.
“Solid defensive effort by all the guys. We must take better care of the ball to be able to win these closer contests. Montague had 15 more shots than us because we had 11 more turnovers than they did. We outrebounded them 22-20.”
Phillip Hayes paced Shelby with 15 points, while Wyatt Dickman was right there with 14 points. Lalo Garcia had a solid stat line of six points, eight rebounds, and four assists for the Tigers, who visit Ravenna (8-8, 5-3 WMC Rivers) on Thursday.
