FRUITPORT — For teams with a handful of knockdown shooters like Fruitport, offense alone is sometimes enough to win games.
On nights when the shots aren’t falling, however, the defense has to be dominant, and the Trojans have proven they can rise to that challenge as well.
Fruitport, for the second time this week, led with its defense en route to an O-K Silver conference win, this time against NorthPointe Christian on Friday night.
The Trojans held the Mustangs to just four points in the fourth quarter and picked up a 47-40 victory on their home court.
[1]“We didn’t do anything different, we just played hard,” Fruitport head coach Steve Erny said about the fourth-quarter defensive effort. “I think our guys at that point had the energy to do it. We had guys rotating in that played really hard.
“To finish the game with only giving up four points in the final quarter is pretty huge. That’s how we won the game tonight, with defense.”
While Fruitport did make eight three-point shots, they missed several open looks, as well. They were also just 3-for-9 on from the free throw line.
“This is the second game in a row that we have not, offensively, clicked,” Erny said. “Some shots didn’t fall. We were 3-for-9 from the foul line. We’re a good foul shooting team, that’s not normal. We did hit eight threes, but I thought we missed a lot that were just really good looks.
[2]“But if you can win scoring 70 points or you can win scoring 47 points, that’s pretty good.”
With Friday’s win, the Trojans improved to 8-2 on the season — already surpassing last year’s seven-victory mark — and 3-0 in conference play. The victory was also Fruitport’s seventh in its last eight games.
“To get off to the start we’ve gotten off to, our goals are still in front of us,” Erny said. “We’ve had some big wins this year already. I told them in the locker room, what I like about this group is that you can see it when the game is on the line, we’ve got some guys who have the moxie or the guts to hit that big shot, to get that stop.
“That’s the kind of team you want to have to win games, to win championships, to play in the postseason. We’ve got a long way to go, though.”
[3]Sophomore Hudson Hazekamp led the Trojans with a career-high 18 points, including four threes. DayDay Williams had nine points, Dexter Lillmars scored seven, and Grade Anspach totaled six points, six assists and five steals.
Keontay Thompson had four points and six rebounds off the bench while Brady Hanson scored three points.
The Trojans got off to a bit of a slow start, scoring just seven points in the opening quarter and trailing 13-7 after one.
Fruitport’s offense heated up in the second frame, led by eight points from Hazekamp. A 17-6 edge in the second quarter, including a 14-4 run to close the half, put the Trojans up 24-19 at the break.
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NorthPointe Christian started the second half with an 8-0 run to pull back in front, but Fruitport responded and rallied to lead 38-36 heading to the fourth. Hazekamp scored eight of the team’s 14 third-quarter points.
The Mustangs scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to tie the score at 38-38 with 5:50 to play, but didn’t score again for more than five minutes.
A 9-0 run, including a go-ahead basket from Thompson and five points from Lillmars, gave Fruitport a 47-38 lead. The Mustangs scored with 25 seconds left to break their drought, but could not make a comeback.
The Trojans return to action on Tuesday with a road game against Godwin Heights in another O-K Silver matchup.
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