MUSKEGON TWP. – The Fruitport boys basketball team is a talented but young squad that’s off to a pretty good start this season.

Whitehall, on the other hand, has already arrived, with a perfect record so far this season and one of the best players around.

So the outcome of Wednesday’s game – a 72-43 Whitehall victory in the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Family Holiday Classic at Reeths-Puffer High School – was not a big surprise.

The Vikings were led by junior standout Camden Thompson, who scored a game-high 26 points, and in the process passed the 1,000-point career mark.

There were moments in the contest when Fruitport showed some ability to keep the game close, but it seemed like every time Thompson would score another big bucket to keep the Trojans from making much progress.

Whitehall improved to 8-0 on the season.

“We knew going in that Cam is special player,” said Fruitport Coach Steve Erny. “I think everyone in the area knows that. I actually think we did a pretty good job on him, at least early and in some stretches in the second half, but then Whitehall hit some outside shots, so you kind of pick your poison.”

The loss dropped Fruitport to 4-3 on the season and snapped the Trojans’ three-game winning streak, but Erny thinks playing a skilled, physical team like Whitehall was good preparation for what lies ahead in the tough O-K Blue conference.

The Trojans will kick off their conference schedule on Jan. 5 against archrival Spring Lake.

“It was a learning process for our guys today,” the coach said. “I told them in the locker room that there are a lot of good things we can take away from this. It’s our last non-conference game, and in our conference there won’t be any games that won’t be physical. We’re in a very tough league, so we were very excited to play this game to get ready.”

The game started out pretty quietly, but Thompson scored eight points, helping Whitehall to a 14-6 lead after one quarter.

The Vikings opened things up in the second quarter by outscoring the Trojans 25-13 and taking a 39-19 lead into halftime. Brock Morningstar ignited Whitehall with three triples in the second.

Thompson added eight points in the third quarter and Whitehall led 49-32 headed into the fourth.

The Vikings outscored the Trojans 23-10 in the final quarter. Kal Koehler had a pair of triples and eight points in the fourth.

Ryan Bosch led Fruitport with 17 points while DayDay Williams and Hudson Hazekamp scored eight points apiece.