HOLTON – While the Holton boys basketball team hasn’t experienced defeat very often this season, revenge will be on the Red Devils’ minds on Friday night.
Holton will travel to Kent City looking to move back into a tie for first place in the Central State Activities Association Silver Division.
Kent City currently holds a one-game lead in the division with an 8-0 record, which includes a 36-35 victory over Holton back on Feb. 8.
The Red Devils, who won the championship last year, are 7-1 and eager to get back to the top of the hill.
Nobody wants that more than senior Wyatt Monette, Holton’s leader scorer, who was held to just eight points on 12 shots in that one-point loss.
[1]“I struggled to get them to fall,” Monette said. “I had a lot of easy looks that just didn’t go in. It was tough because those are shots we look for and usually we can count on.”
Holton, which only has eight players on the roster, used only five of them in the loss to Kent City, and head coach Keith Swanson believes he needs to rely on his bench more on Friday.
“I think we kind of ran out of gas,” Swanson said. “My bench got a little short and we played only five guys. They took advantage of our floor rotations.”
Another key for the Red Devils will be getting Monette more shots, the coach said.
“He got 12 shots up, I think, and that’s low for him,” Swanson said. “We want to make sure that the shot distribution happens a little more through him.”
[2]There’s a reason the coach wants the ball in Monette’s hands as often as possible. He’s averaging an outstanding 19.3 points per game this season, along with 10.1 rebounds and 3.3 steals.
Monette’s production has eased the loss the Red Devils felt by the graduation of Aiden Poling, last year’s leading scorer who currently serves as an assistant coach.
“He’s so versatile,” Swanson said about Monette. “We have a pretty small team and he’s 6-2. He leads us in points, rebounds, blocks, steals and deflections. His strength is really being able to answer every time we need an answer. He’s the reason for the year we’re having.”
The Red Devils are 11-4 overall on the season, but could easily have a better record, because three of their losses have come by three points or less.
“I think we’ve had a pretty good year,” Monette said. “I think we have a good team and need to just find out how to finish games before the tournament starts.”
Besides repeating as CSAA Silver champs, winning a district tournament title is very much on the Red Devils’ minds. They made it to the finals last season but lost 36-20 to North Muskegon, a defeat that still stings, Monette said.
[3]“That was a tough one,” he said. “We were coming off two district games where we fell behind early and grinded back for wins. We didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but we came into this year knowing what we need to do to win that game.”
While the tough losses motivate Monette, it’s often his competitive spirit that motivates his teammates, according to Coach Swanson.
“It rubs off on everyone,” the coach said. “He has specific moments where you can really see it. You know the guys are always looking at him and how he responds.
“He very much has a competitive focus on winning games. I think he passes that on to younger guys and teammates. He’s never distracted from getting the results.”
Monette and the other five seniors on the team have experienced a lot of success together in high school, and want to squeeze as much as they can get out of this season before it’s over.
“I’ve played with most of these guys our whole lives,” Monette said. “Just having that connection, it’s easy to understand them and get on the same page as them.”
Friday’s Kent City game will be a big challenge, and there’s no telling how it will turn out, but Monette promises that the Red Devils will be ready.
“It’s going to be the biggest game we’ve played,” he said. “We’re ready for it. We’ve had a good week of practice and all the guys want it. We know we need it to share conference, and we’ll come ready to play.”