MUSKEGON TWP. — The best players make a habit of stepping up when their team needs them most.

In Grand Haven’s season opening game against Reeths-Puffer Friday night, senior Harrison Sorrelle did just that.

The fourth-year varsity player scored 15 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter as the Buccaneers stormed back to beat the Rockets 57-51.

“It feels really good,” Sorrelle said. “My teammates set me up perfectly. They trust me to knock down the shots, I trust them to get me the ball in those situations. It was just awesome the way it worked out. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”

“He’s a steadying force out there,” Grand Haven coach Greg Immink said of Sorrelle. “He’s got four years of varsity experience, he’s been through games like this. You could see our guys lean on him and he stood tall. I think it instilled some confidence in other guys on the floor and as the game went on we got better.”

Grand Haven trailed most of the game, including 43-35 entering the fourth quarter. In addition to Sorrelle’s hot hand, Grand Haven swarmed Reeths-Puffer with pressure defense in the fourth to outscore Reeths-Puffer 22-8.

“It was really a show of resilience from our guys,” Immink said. “There was a point there in the third quarter where it was like ‘Man, it might just not happen for us tonight.’ I’m just really proud of the way our guys fought and didn’t give up.”

The Rockets struggled with turnovers and didn’t make a field goal the entire fourth quarter, scoring all their points at the free throw line.

“We were kind of tightening up against it,” Rocket coach Nate Aardema said of Grand Haven’s pressure. “I’ve got to have them better prepared for that. They threw different stuff at us and we weren’t as prepared, that’s my responsibility.”

Grand Haven stormed out to a 7-0 lead to open the game, but the Rockets settled in and led 13-12 after one quarter behind eight points from Jaxson Whitaker. Sorrelle had nine in the first quarter.

Reeths-Puffer extended its lead to 30-24 heading to halftime, closing the half on a 9-2 run. Kyle Schlaff led R-P with nine points in the second, while Sorrelle added eight more for Grand Haven.

Reeths-Puffer’s lead grew to as large as 12 in the third before the Bucs clamped down on defense. The Rockets led 43-35 heading to the final eight minutes.

Grand Haven opened the fourth on a 13-2 run to take a 48-47 lead with 3:07 to play, its first lead since 22-21 in the second quarter. Reeths-Puffer hit two free throws to briefly take the lead back 49-48, but Grand Haven rattled off the next nine points to take the lead for good.

In addition to Sorrelle’s big game, Joey Basil and Gus Abraham added nine points each. Basil scored seven in the fourth quarter.

Whitaker scored 23 points to lead Reeths-Puffer. Schlaff scored 11 for the Rockets and Travis Ambrose, making his season debut after returning to practice Wednesday, added nine.

Grand Haven starts the season 1-0, while Reeths-Puffer falls to 1-1.