Perimeter shooting gives Schoolcraft win over Centreville
SCHOOLCRAFT, Mich. — With a barrage of made shots from the perimeter, the Schoolcraft boys ran away from Centreville in prep hoops action on Wednesday evening.
For Centreville (6-2), it was just one of those games where an opponent can’t miss. In fact, the Eagles actually made more 3-pointers in the game, 13, than they did normal buckets, with 12. The end result was a 71-51 victory at home for Schoolcraft, which improved to 8-3.
“Since I’ve been at Centreville, this is the best anyone has ever shot against us,” Centreville coach Matt Price said. “To be honest, I don’t think anyone has even be close. Many of their shots tonight were beyond 23 feet out, we don’t have a defense for those 23-foot shots and they made them.”
It really was something to see. Schoolcraft came out in the opening quarter bombing shots from way downtown. It was clearly part of the gameplan for the Eagles, who played with several players around the perimeter as they moved the basketball.
Tucker Walther connected on three separate shots from beyond the arc in the first eight minutes. Shane Rykse got in on the action as well, he buried two shots from downtown as well.
Schoolcraft had its highest-scoring quarter of the game in the first with 21 points. Walther and Rykse combined to score 19 of those points.
Centreville did its best to stay in the game early on. Both Roman Robinson and Micah Lemings hit a 3-pointer in the opening quarter, plus Matt Swanwick made a couple of buckets as well.
But Schoolcraft led the game after the first eight minutes, 21-12.
The Bulldogs put together their best 8-minute stretch in the second quarter. Lemings drilled a pair of 3-pointers and Harrison Gregory made a couple of shots as well.
Swanwick was able to get some good looks as well. For the quarter, Centreville scored 17 points and looked to be chipping away at the Schoolcraft lead.
But a deep 3-pointer from Rykse as time expired put the Eagles back up a handful at 37-29 entering the locker rooms for halftime.
“I think we grew tonight, we talked in the locker room about how we only turned it over seven times against a good defensive team,” Price said. “I thought we played much better than we did against Kalamazoo Hackett. We’ve taken some real steps in the right direction.”
To open the third quarter, Schoolcraft put together a quick spurt to lengthen the lead. This forced a timeout from Price as the Eagles pushed the lead out to double figures.
It didn’t stop there as they connected for four triples in the quarter. Centreville stayed as close as it could, but after three quarters the Bulldogs trailed 56-43 entering the final frame.
There, Rykse continued to hit shots. He buried two more 3-pointers in the fourth, plus made 3-of-4 shots from the foul line. Schoolcraft’s lead dwindled down to 10 points a couple of times in that final eight minutes, but Centreville could not get it back into single digits.
The Bulldogs made 2-of-8 shots from the foul line in the game, Schoolcraft connected on 8-of-10.
Swanwick led Centreville with 19 points, Lemings added 15 and Gregory tossed in 12. Robinson finished with three points, Jacob Sikanas made two points.
Rykse totaled 31 points in the game for Schoolcraft. Walther finished the game with 22.
“We just have to keep getting better,” Price said. “That’s all there is to it. I’m not displeased with how we played tonight, it’s just hard because they shot the ball so well.”
Centreville returns to the court on Friday against Cassopolis.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Perimeter shooting gives Schoolcraft win over Centreville
