FRUITPORT – Coming off a disappointing 16-point conference loss to Calvin Christian last week, the Fruitport boys basketball team was eager to get back to its winning ways.
It took a while to develop on Friday, but the Trojans finally achieved that goal, using a huge fourth quarter to beat Belding 58-45 in an O-K Silver conference matchup in Fruitport’s gym.
Fruitport only led by one after three quarters, then secured the victory with a 25-13 advantage in the final eight minutes.
The Trojan guards led the explosion in the fourth, with Grade Anspach scoring 10 of his 16 points down the stretch with a triple and seven from the line.
[1]DayDay Williams added seven points in the big quarter with three buckets and a free throw.
Fruitport has now won six of its last seven games, and improved to 10-3 overall and 5-1 in the conference standings.
“We have a bunch of really good players, and we have guards who are confident,” said Fruitport head coach Steve Erny. “I feel we had an advantage at the end because of our guard play.
“Grade Anspach took a big charge and fought for loose balls down the stretch. His efforts were the catalyst for us pulling away tonight.”
While the offense came alive at the end, it was the Trojans’ defensive effort that kept the game close enough to win in the final minutes.
[2]Fruitport held the visitors to seven points in the first quarter, 14 in the second and 11 in the third.
After giving up 64 points to Calvin Christian, the Trojans were definitely in lockdown mode.
“I think we wanted to be aggressive defensively,” Erny said. “We felt like we could get up into them more and cause them some problems on the perimeter. I thought our guys did a really good job fighting hard. They had a couple of big dudes, and we fought hard to make life difficult for them.”
The game started slowly and the score was tied 7-7 after one quarter. Hudson Hazekamp and Trevor Rusnak both hit three-pointers for the Trojans.
[3]Fruitport opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run on back-to-back triples by Rusnak and Anspach and took a 13-7 lead. But Beldings’ Brayden Kennon answered with two three-pointers of his own, and the game was tied 13-13.
Hazekamp got hot near the middle of the quarter, nailing a three-pointer and another bucket to make the score 18-13, then Fruitport’s Braden DeBoer hit a basket to make it 20-13.
Belding finished the half with an 8-0 run, however, and led 21-20 at halftime.
“We need to attack, we need to not settle, we need to be in attack mode,” Coach Erny said. “That was the game plan, and we weren’t doing it in the first half.”
[4]Fruitport outscored the visitors 13-11 in the third quarter and led 33-32 headed into the fourth. The Trojans’ Evan Butler capped off the quarter with a triple with 28 seconds remaining.
Dexter Lillmars led Fruitport with seven points in the third.
Rusnak started the party for the Trojans in the fourth quarter, banging a huge three from the corner. Williams followed with an “and-one” bucket and free throw and a three-pointer and Fruitport led 47-37 with five minutes remaining.
Lillmars sealed the deal for the Trojans with a triple with 1:42 left, extending the lead to 14 points.
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Anspach finished with 16 points, Hazekamp and Lillmars each scored 10, Rusnak totaled nine and Williams finished with eight.
Hazekamp led the effort on the boards with 11 rebounds while Williams added nine. Anspach and Hazekamp each dished out five assists and Williams had four. Anspach rounded out his night with three steals.
“On a night that we did not have our A game, a balanced scoring effort was needed, and thankfully we were able to get that,” Erny said.
Fruitport will return to action on Tuesday in a non-conference game at Newaygo.
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