West Ottawa basketball 'out-physicals' Zeeland East in 'ugly' win

Dan D'Addona, The Holland Sentinel
·3 min read
West Ottawa's Bryce Baldwin drives into his East defender during the thrid quarter Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, at West Ottawa High School.
West Ottawa's Bryce Baldwin drives into his East defender during the thrid quarter Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, at West Ottawa High School.

PARK TWP. - The high school boys basketball teams in the area have been going at it for three weeks.

The matchups have been relatively even among local teams, meaning teams are forced to find a way to win "ugly."

Tuesday's matchup between West Ottawa and Zeeland East epitomized this physical kind of game. Lots of fouls. Lots of contact. Lots of loose balls. Lots of turnovers - and not a lot of great shooting.

West Ottawa converted enough transition points and hit a couple of key outside shots to hold off Zeeland East with an ugly win, 56-42, at West Ottawa.

"It feels good to win ugly. It lets us know we have what it takes to win ugly," West Ottawa's Nash Bosma said. "At the end of the day, we played together. Our offense starts on the defensive end. We stuck together through the lows."

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Bosma led the Panthers with 15 points as West Ottawa improved to 2-3.

"It was definitely a different game. There were a lot of stoppages. The defense carried us," West Ottawa coach Jared Redell said. "It got us some transition baskets which helped us stretch the lead. We didn't shoot it well and when we are not making shots, our defense and rebounding has to carry us, and it did tonight. To be able to grind out a win against a good team when you don't make a lot of shots is really big."

The Chix started the game on a 6-0 run but it was later tied and the back-and-forth continued through the first quarter with Zeeland East leading 12-10 heading into the second.

John Beetham gave West Ottawa its first lead with a 3 to start the second quarter. After a couple more baskets, Hudson Vellinga hit a 3 to push the Panthers' lead to 22-15. He hit another 3, Nash Bosma hit one from the corner and it was 28-17. The Panthers led 29-21 at halftime.

West Ottawa's Nash Bosma takes a shot around his East defender Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, at West Ottawa High School.
West Ottawa's Nash Bosma takes a shot around his East defender Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, at West Ottawa High School.

West Ottawa started the third on a 5-0 run and led 34-21 with 5:32 to go in the quarter. The Chix got a couple of baskets from Layne Risdon and pulled within 43-31. But West Ottawa's Danny Siterlet hit a 3 and the Panthers took a 46-31 lead into the fourth quarter.

Villega and Bryce Baldwin each scored eight points for the Panthers. Siterlet had seven and Beetham scored six.

For the Chix (3-2), BJ Walker had 18 points. Trevor Raade scored seven and Risdon had six.

"There was very little flow to the game, but we knew that was a possibility. West Ottawa is a very physical team and they out-physicaled us tonight, and that was the difference," Zeeland East coach Jeff Carlson said. "We weren't real crisp. We have to step up. It is a mindset. We have to be able to win ugly games and by the more physical team. Playing basketball in West Michigan right now is not for the weak and measley."

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: West Ottawa basketball 'out-physicals' Zeeland East in 'ugly' win