MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Big Reds showed a lot about themselves in Friday’s 82-59 conference victory over Wyoming – first the bad and then the good.
But the bottom line is that the Big Reds did what they had to do to get the victory and improve to 6-0 overall on the season and 3-0 in O-K Green conference play.
Muskegon started the game sluggish, falling behind 11-1 in the first quarter and 30-29 at halftime.
“They played well, and we played terrible,” said Muskegon head coach Keith Guy about the performance in the first half. “I felt like we thought they’d roll over for us. They didn’t and I was very disappointed in our effort, and I told them at halftime how disappointed I was.”
[1]In the second half, the Big Reds showed signs of brilliance, outscoring Wyoming 53-29, leaving Guy thinking about state championship potential.
“The energy and defense picked up,” the coach said. “We showed better effort and hustle in the second half. I think we’re tough and we’re deep. I think our potential is unlimited, and I think we can go as far as any team in the state.”
The Big Reds obviously took Guy’s halftime speech to heart, because they came out and scored 31 points in the third quarter alone, led by junior Jordan Briggs, who had three triples in the quarter.
“I kind of got it going,” said Briggs about finding his confidence in his shot. “l got the first couple shots to go in and felt it. When you make the first one and get it going, it feels like anything can go in.”
The Muskegon offense, currently averaging more than 70 points per game, has shown an explosiveness all season.
[2]“We’re really hard to stop,” said Guy about having many players who can score in various ways. “We’ve got some guys who can really shoot the three. I think it’s our strength and we wear people down with our depth.”
While the offense has been impressive, the defense certainly hasn’t been bad, allowing an average of just under 51 points a game.
“I feel like we’re at a good place,” Briggs said. “But we still have a lot of work to do to get to our goal of a state championship.”
Wyoming jumped out to an 11-1 lead midway through the first quarter before the Big Reds closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to cut their deficit to 13-11. Stanley Cunningham led Muskegon in the quarter with six points.
In the second quarter, the two teams played nearly even, and Wyoming led by a point at the break.
[3]The Big Reds took over in the third quarter, with seven different players scoring points and giving their team a 60-45 lead heading into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, Muskegon cruised to the victory behind five points each from Ja’Den Walker and Maurice Sain Jr. The Big Reds outscored Wyoming 22-14 over the final eight minutes.
Briggs led the Big Reds with 18 points on the night while Sain Jr. had 11 and Ethan Hill finished with 10.
Rounding out the Muskegon leaders were David Day III, Anthony Sydnor III and Cunningham with eight points each.
The Big Reds will next take the court on Tuesday at Holland in another conference matchup.
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