SPRING LAKE – The young Fruitport boys basketball team has been off to a good start this season, with a promising 4-3 record entering calendar year 2024.

But the Trojans still have a lot of work to do before they get to where they want to be.

That was obvious on Friday, when Fruitport kicked off its O-K Blue conference season with a tough 63-42 loss to rival Spring Lake in the Lakers’ home gym.

It was the start of the most challenging part of the schedule for the Trojans, and there will be many more tough games ahead in a league filled with quality opponents.

“Every game is a battle,” said Fruitport Coach Steve Erny, whose 11-player roster only includes four seniors. “We’ve got to go to Holland Christian on Tuesday and they are a darned good team, especially at their place. But that’s the challenge we have at Fruitport. We’ve been in this conference for several years and we know what to expect.”

On the bright side, Erny noted that his team struggled at times in conference play last year, with two regular season losses to Spring Lake by more than 20 points, but managed to finish with a 15-10 record and nearly beat the Lakers in the district championship game.

The Trojans are currently 4-4 and have now lost two in a row following a three-game winning streak.

“Like we were just saying in the locker room. where we were at this point last year is about where we are now,” the coach said. “Where we were at the end of last season was a whole lot better. We will just keep trying to get better every day.”

The Trojans kept the game close for one half, thanks to some timely three-point baskets, but poor shooting and a lack of offensive rebounding caught up to them in the second half.

Fruitport hit only 14 of 41 shots from the floor, and one unofficial count showed only three offensive rebounds following missed shots. That means the Trojans were one shot and done on most of their trips down the floor.

DayDay Williams led Fruitport with 10 points, Grade Anspach added nine while Ryan Bosch and Hudson Hazekamp each added eight.

The inability to get the offense untracked proved to be the Trojans’ undoing.

“One of the big differences in the game was shooting,” Erny said. “We had pretty good looks, but they weren’t going in. We try to crash a lot of guys on the boards, but I think we were a little wary about getting back on defense tonight. We have to be able to crash multiple guys. That will be something we look at.”

Both teams missed a lot of shots in the first quarter and Spring Lake emerged with a thin 8-6 lead.

The Lakers started finding the mark in the second quarter, making their first four shots and building an eight-point lead within the first two minutes. But the Trojans battled back, due to needed triples from Anspach, Hazekamp and Williams.

Williams also hit a layup with four seconds on the clock and Fruitport went to the locker room trailing by five, 31-26.

Spring Lake took control in the third quarter, outscoring Fruitport 16-9 to take a 47-35 lead into the fourth.

The Lakers had a 15-7 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Spring Lake converted 24 of 53 shots from the floor, including seven three-pointers. Karson George led the Lakers with 19 points.