Four West Michigan Conference boys basketball teams took the court on a snowy Monday night, including Shelby’s road victory at Mason County Central.
Elsewhere, Montague got back in the win column in a nonleague home test against Fremont, while North Muskegon fought hard but fell just short at home against Muskegon Heights Academy.
Here is a roundup of action from Jan. 24, 2022:
SHELBY 43, MASON COUNTY CENTRAL 24: At Mason County Central, Shelby prevailed in a defensive struggle by pulling away in the fourth quarter. The Tigers remain securely in the upper echelon of the conference standings, one back of league-leading Ravenna in the loss column.
Shelby leaders:
Joseph Hayes 21 points, 7 rebounds
Mason Garcia 11 points, 6 rebounds
MCC leaders:
Will Chye 12 points, 9 rebounds
Jayden Perrone 8 points, 4 rebounds
Records:
Shelby 6-3 overall, 4-2 WMC
Mason County Central 3-7 overall, 0-6 WMC
Next games:
Shelby at Hart, 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Whitehall at Mason County Central, 7:30 p.m. Friday
MONTAGUE 61, FREMONT 49: At Montague, the host Wildcats were sparked by Owen Raeth and used a team effort to get back in the winning column after losing four of their last five games. In the process, Montague snapped a five-game winning streak by Fremont, which will join the Wildcats in the West Michigan Conference next school year.
Montague leaders:
Owen Raeth 17 points (4 3-pointers), 2 rebounds
Isaiah Atchison 9 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists
Rodney Brassfield 9 points, 9 rebounds
Tugg Nichols 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
Tate Stine 7 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
Braeden Johnston 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Fremont leaders:
No stats submitted
Records:
Montague 5-4 overall, 3-4 WMC
Fremont 7-5 overall, 6-1 CSAA Gold
Next games:
Montague at Holton, 7 p.m. Wednesday
Fremont at Big Rapids, 7:30 p.m. Friday
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS ACADEMY 48, NORTH MUSKEGON 43: At North Muskegon, visiting Muskegon Heights made a few more plays down the stretch in a nonleague game that was hotly contested throughout.
“Heights brings something you just don’t get (in the West Michigan Conference). You can’t simulate it in practice, you can’t simulate all that athleticism and how hard they go and stuff like that,” North Muskegon coach Chuck Rypstra said. “I say this to our guys, when we play them, we’re a team that runs a lot of plays, but when you play Heights you have to ‘play’ — not run plays. Does that make sense?
“We needed to ‘play,’ but we don’t ‘play’ a lot. Usually, they’re looking over at me and I’ll call a play and we’re running it or trying to execute something off of it; Heights makes you do something different. We made a few (plays), but we missed a few.”
Muskegon Heights leaders:
Ja’Kari Edwards 18 points
William Davis 16 points
North Muskegon leaders:
Troy McManus 13 points
Sam Gallo 10 points
Ben Meyers 6 points, 3 assists, 3 steals
Records:
Muskegon Heights 6-3 overall, 3-1 Lakes 8
North Muskegon 7-4 overall, 5-2 WMC
Next games:
North Muskegon at Manistee, 7 p.m. Wednesday
Muskegon Heights at Orchard View, 7 p.m. Friday
