MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The Grand Haven basketball team has a lot of guys who can score, but when games get tight and opponents start threatening the Bucs, there’s no doubt who’s going to the hoop:

Senior guard Bashir Neely, an offensive wizard who can hit long-distance threes without moving the net, and takes to the air and drives the lane as effortlessly as anyone in the area.

Neely poured in 30 points on Monday to lead Grand Haven past a good Reeths-Puffer squad 69-57 in a Division 1 district quarterfinal matchup on the Rockets’ home court.

Grand Haven, now 19-3, moves on to Wednesday’s semifinals at Muskegon High School against Coopersville, which beat Grand Rapids Union in another first-round game on Monday.

Neely not only scored a lot against Reeths-Puffer, but his offensive explosions came when his team needed them most.

Reeths-Puffer looked strong in the first quarter and led 18-17 at the first buzzer. But Grand Haven opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run, punctuated by two straight triples from Neely, and suddenly led 29-20 with just under five minutes left.

The Rockets fought back within seven points early in the fourth quarter, the Neely answered with three acrobatic driving layups over the next three minutes, and the Bucs were in control again.

Neely also got it done from the free throw line, hitting 6 of 8 in the fourth quarter and 5 of 5 over the first three quarters.

After the game he admitted that he wants the ball with a chance to score when the outcome is on the line.

“I’m the point guard, and I want the ball in my hands, my coach wants the ball in my hands, and my teammates trust me with the ball in my hands,” Neely said. “Sometimes I just have to be that teammate and take over the game.”

Grand Haven Coach Greg Immink couldn’t say enough about his sparkplug senior and what he means to the team.

“He had a lot of big baskets tonight,” the coach said. “He hit some really big shots in the first half. Then Reeths-Puffer, being the good team they are, made a run in the second half, and he had some big drives to the basket.

“The thing he’s done all year is make free throws. He hit 11 of 13 tonight to help us put the game on ice. It was an All-Star type of performance for him.”

Reeths-Puffer made the game very interesting in the first quarter, hitting 7 of 12 shots from the floor to take a one-point lead at the break. Clyde Bartee scored six points in the first for the Rockets, Travis Ambrose added five, Jaxson Whitaker scored four and Logan Brooks had a three-pointer.

The Buccaneers got rolling in the second quarter, going on the early 10-2 run, hitting 6 of 11 shots from the floor and taking a 33-25 lead into halftime. While Grand Haven got hot, Reeths-Puffer went cold, making only one of its first 10 field goal attempts in the second.

Neely hit two triples in the quarter while Nic Stump and Harrison Sorrelle each scored four points for the Bucs.

The Bucs outscored the Rockets 16-13 in the third quarter, with five different players putting up points. Whitaker started heating up for Reeths-Puffer in the third, scoring eight points, including a pair of threes.

The teams continued to trade buckets in the fourth, with Grand Haven having a 20-19 edge. Neely scored 12 down the stretch, including six from the line. Whitaker stayed hot for the Rockets in the fourth, scoring 15 of his 27 points, including three triples.

Sorrelle and Stump both finished with 12 points for Grand Haven. Ambrose totaled 13 points for the Rockets while Bartee had eight and Brooks scored seven.

Reeths-Puffer, led by sophomore standouts Ambrose and Whitaker, finished the season with a 13-9 record and high hopes for next season.

“I thought we played really hard, and I thought they played really well, which is typical of them because they are really good,” said R-P Coach Nate Aardema. “All we typically ask of the kids is to play as hard as you can and compete, and they did.

“We just had a few breakdowns and they made us pay, and Neely was phenomenal all night, He got going and hurt us, but I’m proud of our kids.”

Coach Immink, meanwhile, has to make sure his team keeps its mind on Wednesday’s semifinal game against a strong Coopersville squad, instead of looking ahead to a much-anticipated showdown in Friday’s district finals against the Muskegon Big Reds.

The Big Reds will play Kenowa Hills or Mona Shores in Wednesday’s other district semifinal.

“We can’t afford to take a game off,” Immink said. “We’re going to be playing another good team. The strength of this district this year is better than most districts in the area. We will have another tough opponent on Wednesday, and then we will see who we face on Friday if we win.”