Hamilton claims first conference title since 1988 on buzzer-beater

COOPERSVILLE - Brant Goodpaster found himself engulfed in a mob of his Hamilton teammates.

The senior didn’t mind, however, since he just hit the biggest shot in school history in at least the past 35 years.

“The best feeling in the world,” the senior guard said of being mobbed. “To have all my teammates around me when the final second went off. It feels amazing.”

Goodpaster hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer as Hamilton beat Coopersville 57-54 on Friday night to win the school’s first conference championship since 1988.

“Its hard to process,” Hamilton senior Thano Klett said. “I mean, this whole game is the biggest game we’ve had in 35 years. So everything tonight felt amplified. All of us were so emotional.”

Hamilton improves to 17-4 overall and wins the OK Blue Conference championship with a 11-3 record. The Hawkeyes play at Holland on Tuesday to close out the regular season.

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Justin McIllwain led Hamilton with 18 points, Goodpaster 11 and J.D. DeGroot 9.

Hamilton coach Nick Kronemeyer said he’s never hugged so many people after a game.

“This might be as sweaty as I’ve ever been while coaching,” he said with a smile as he pulled on a championship t-shirt over his dress shirt. “This is why you play the game. There’s a lot of people that have put in a lot of work over the years with this game in mind. This is what it’s all about.”

Hamilton led 24-18 at halftime and 38-33 going into the fourth quarter. Coopersville rallied and took a 41-40 lead with 5 minutes left for their first lead of the game.

With 1:20 left in the game, Thano Klett hit a 3-pointer to give the Hawkeyes a 53-49 lead. But Coopersville’s Porter Kretchman scored and was fouled on the play with 1:03 left. He would make the free-throw to cut the lead to 53-52. Goodpaster made 1-of-2 free throws with 38 seconds left for a 54-52 lead.

Coopersville center Mark DeVries got an offensive rebound and scored to tie the game at 54-54 with nine seconds left.

That gave Hamilton just enough time to make three passes and find an open Goodpaster for a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

“It feels amazing,” Goodpaster said. “This is everything we’ve worked for in the past four years. It’s paid off. Our 13 guys and our coaches, everyone at Hamilton … this feels amazing.”

Klett scored his only points on two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a confident shooter,” Goodpaster said. “We tell him all the time, he can be the best shooter in any given game and he proved that tonight.”

Coopersville coach Pete VanKempen said it was only right that this game came down to the wire.

“Just like I thought it was going to, one way or the other,” he said. “I figured the game would come down to the wire. They made really big plays down the stretch and we also made big plays down the stretch. But they had the last play and they won it.”

Kronemeyer agreed.

“We knew coming in it would be a dog fight,” he said. “Pete is as good of a coach as any in the state and Coopersville kids play hard for 32 minutes. They don’t give up. We knew they were going to make plays.”

Sam Currie led all scorers with six huge 3-pointers and 22 points. Mark DeVries had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Broncos (10-4, 13-8).

“Sam Currie is a lightning kid,” VanKempen said. “If he hits a couple, he hits a bunch. We needed it tonight. Sam’s a great player. I’m really proud of him.”

Klett, a senior, had a hard time catching his breath after running around giving hugs to anyone around him.

“This was big for the community,” he said. “There was a lot of people watching. It’s a big deal.”

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hamilton claims first conference title since 1988 on buzzer-beater