FRUITPORT – Fruitport’s Dexter Lillmars is not well known in the local high school basketball community.

That’s hardly surprising, since he’s only a freshman.

But as a lot of people were saying after his first varsity game on Tuesday night, he probably won’t remain a secret for long.

Lillmars, who was playing eighth-grade basketball a year ago, showed everyone why he made the varsity right away, and cracked the starting lineup right away, by making a huge difference right away.

He scored a game-high 22 points, with six 3-pointers, in Fruitport’s thrilling 66-65 overtime victory over Muskegon Heights in the opening game of the season.

Lillmars’ big night was capped off with an exclamation point when he hit what turned out to be the game-winning 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in OT.

It was a standout performance that one might expect from a battle-tested senior or junior, and was pretty remarkable for a freshman.

When it came to facing the media after the game, however, Lillmars seemed like a pretty average ninth-grader – a little shy and at a loss for words.

When asked if he ever dreamed of having such a great night in his first game of varsity, he said “Probably not, but it was fun.”

When asked to describe his game-winning triple, he said “I was wide open, so I just shot it.”

Fruitport Coach Steve Erny had a lot more to say about Lillmars’ debut, particularly since the freshman had not been shooting particularly well in recent practices and scrimmages.

“Six three-pointers, a couple of clutch shots near the end, he’s not going to be a secret for very long, as far as his skill level,” Erny said. “But it’s not a surprise to us.

“He’s actually been a little bit off, in a little bit of a funk in our last few scrimmages, and I know where he’s been. He’s been in the gym shooting, which is a great response for a kid who didn’t feel like he had his best shot. Tonight was a testament to his hard work.”

While the game was certainly exciting, and had fans from both schools on their feet and screaming at the end, it was definitely not pretty.

Both the Trojans and the Tigers missed a lot of easy shots, had a lot of turnovers, and wasted several opportunities to take control of the contest.

Fruitport came out very cold, missing its first six shots from the floor and 10 of 13 in the first quarter.

The Trojans were fortunate, because Muskegon Heights missed a lot of shots, too. Two triples from Lillmars kept it close and the Tigers led 11-9 heading into the second.

The Trojans started heating up from three-point range in the second quarter, nailing four triples to take a 24-22 halftime lead.

Big junior center Trevor Rusnak had two of those threes while Lillmars and Hudson Hazekamp each had one.

Fruitport came out cold again in the third quarter, missing five of its first six shots from the floor, and Muskegon Heights was able to open up leads of 30-24, 32-26 and 34-27.

But the Trojans responded with a 5-0 run on a layup by DayDay Williams and a triple from Hazekamp to narrow the Tigers’ lead to 34-32.

Muskegon Heights had a 7-4 edge down the stretch and led 41-37 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers led 46-41 a little over two minutes into the fourth, then Lillmars hit two 3-pointers within 30 seconds, sparking a 10-0 run that gave the Trojans a 51-46 lead with 3:31 left on the clock.

The Trojans still had a lead – 54-49 – with just under a minute remaining, but Muskegon Heights got two free throws and a triple down the stretch to tie the score with 32 seconds left.

Fruitport went up by two with a layup by Williams with 27 seconds left, but the Tigers answered with a layup of their own with 12 seconds remaining. A three-point attempt by the Tigers missed the mark at the buzzer, and the game went to overtime at 56-56.

The extra period was a back-and-forth nail-biter.

Muskegon Heights scored first, then Hazekamp made two free throws to tie the score at 58-58.

Muskegon Heights went up by two again, Fruitport’s Grade Anspach hit a three to give the Trojans a 61-60 lead, the Tigers got another bucket to go up by one, then Hazekamp hit another free throw to tie the score at 62-62.

The Tigers got a bucket with 55 seconds left to go up 64-62, then Williams hit a free throw to narrow the deficit to one point.

Lillmars nailed his final three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining, putting Fruitport up 66-64.

Muskegon Heights hit a free throw with under 10 seconds left, but couldn’t get any more points, and Fruitport escaped with the victory.

The Tigers hurt themselves by missing six free throw attempts in the final 1:26.

The Trojans gained an edge by hitting 13 triples, compared to only 7 for Muskegon Heights.

Coach Erny acknowledged that his team has a great deal to work on, but credited the players for keeping their composure and finding a way to win a pressure-filled game.

“There were a lot of situations when we did not do well,” he said. “But we also had to get in a position to win the game, and the guys responded and did a great job of that. They kept their heads.

“It was only one game out of 22, and we’ve got to get a lot better, but to be able to win a game that could have gone either way was nice.”

Hazekamp finished with 13 points for Fruitport while Williams and Anspach each scored 12. Williams pulled down 12 rebounds while Hazekamp had nine.

Cartier Vance led the Tigers with 14 points.