WHITEHALL – While it isn’t March yet, the Whitehall-Spring Lake contest gave us a stellar sneak peek. After the Lakers beat Orchard View 56-43, the rematch between these two programs fell right into order.
In the MHSAA state tournament, just like most tournaments, regular season success doesn’t guarantee a happy ending—every team except one will finish with a loss.
As for Whitehall, a bad dream has turned into reality over the last three seasons.
The 2022 Whitehall squad’s season was cut short in a 77-69 loss to Fruitport; last year, the Vikings fell victim to Spring Lake 73-61. Then this season, with a heartbreaking 46-44 loss to Spring Lake again.
After the win, the Lakers are 14-10 overall and 6-6 in the OK-Black, while Whitehall finishes with a 17-6 record.
“We play in a really tough conference, the OK-Black. 6-6 in the conference and 14-10—very rarely do we come in here with a glamorous record. We feel that the schedule we play prepares us for the state tournament,” said Spring Lake Coach Bill Core.
The first quarter was a dogfight between both schools. Thompson nailed a free throw to start the game, and Jaden Core raced down the court to score a layup. Thompson scored 10 of his 29 points in the first eight minutes.
Midway through the first quarter, the game was knotted at six apiece. That was until Core knocked down a triple that quieted the Viking faithful. Spring Lake took an 11-6 lead with 2:40 left in the quarter, but after a couple of Thompson buckets and a three-pointer by Brock Morningstar, the Laker lead was cut to 14-13 after one.
The second quarter was a complete 180 from the first. With just 13 combined points, both teams struggled mightily. Well, maybe. As coach Core said, “Defense wins championships, and we pride ourselves on defense.”
Thompson drilled both free throws at the line at the 5:23 mark—the first points of the second quarter. Sam Bajt and Finn Muller traded buckets nearly back-to-back for their respective schools. Reid Grimmer and Kal Koehler followed suit, and the first half ended with a 20-20 tie.
The Vikings had their best quarter of the game in the third. Thompson had nine in the period, but the biggest bucket was Hunter Osborne’s three with just under five minutes left.
Reid Grimmer missed the Lakers’ final regular season game against Unity Christian due to a neck injury. Grimmer scored four points toward the end of the third quarter, which gave Spring Lake a slight lead. Thompson, however, scored seven straight points to close the third and gave Whitehall its biggest lead of the night, 34-30, closing the quarter with momentum.
Brock Morningstar cut the nets with his second three-pointer of the night at the 7:18 mark, extending the Vikings’ lead to seven.
After Morningstar’s triple, Core began to take over the game. An and-one, a layup, and a successful 2-for-2 at the line helped the Lakers trounce their way back into the game.
The final minute was utter chaos for both teams. Thompson swiveled his way into the paint and converted a go-ahead layup to take the lead, but shortly after, Core was able to do the same, forcing Whitehall to take a timeout with 15 seconds left.
Whitehall held possession coming out of the timeout and ran through its stars. Thompson and Koehler both had a few good looks to take back the lead, but neither would fall, resulting in a Viking foul, giving Spring Lake a couple of tries at the charity stripe.
Grimmer went 1-for-2 at the line, making the Laker lead 46-44 with 1.6 seconds left. After yet another timeout from Whitehall, Coach Christian Subdon was able to draw up a nicely designed play to try and win it. Unfortunately for them, Osborne’s shot was short, and Spring Lake pulled off a state-shocking upset.
The Lakers have won six games this season by single digits, tonight being one of them. When asked what makes them able to close out these tight contests, Coach Core said, “It comes down to boxing out, making free throws, and not turning it over.”
Thompson finished with 29 points, followed by Morningstar with six.
Core racked up 20 points to go along with his big fourth quarter. Reid Grimmer and Sam Bajt chipped in nine and eight points, respectively.
“We only got a little bit of time because Tracy Ruel… they are a really good team, and they play really fast. We’re going to enjoy this tonight, and I’ll focus on Oakridge in the morning,” Coach Core said.
Spring Lake will continue its playoff run in the district final against Oakridge at Whitehall on Friday. Tip-off is set for 7 PM.
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