MUSKEGON – The Fruitport boys basketball team counts a lot on its two very skilled starting guards – one an experienced upperclassmen and the other a gifted youngster – and it really showed on Tuesday.
Sophomore Dexter Lillmars and senior DayDay Williams combined to score 53 points and lead the Trojans to another win, 68-57 over Whitehall, at the Muskegon Hall of Fame Classic at Muskegon High School.
“They are the engines that make us go as far as ball-handling, finishing at the rim, and making shots,” Fruitport head coach Steve Erny said about Lillmars and Williams. “Both of those guys are doing things for us, not only on offense, but also on defense and rebounding.”
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The impressive victory extended the Trojans’ winning streak to four games, following disappointing back-to-back losses to Mona Shores and Spring Lake three weeks ago.
“It means we are implementing things we’ve been working on, we have a good team, and we’re a tough team when we get a lead,” Erny said about the the winning streak.
Whitehall jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the first quarter when junior Pierce Westerlund drained a pair of buckets, but that soon vanished when the Trojan guards began to heat up.
Lillmars drilled three 20-footers from beyond the arc and led all scorers with 13 points in the first quarter. Fruitport closed the quarter on an 11-5 run in the last four minutes and led 20-14 heading into the second.
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The second quarter started with what felt like a massive momentum shift in favor of the Trojans.
Williams started filling the box score with a quick three-pointer at the 7:20 mark, followed by a couple of layups by Lillmars, and the Trojans headed into halftime with a 35-21 advantage.
The Trojans presented some of their best defense all season, allowing Whitehall to score just seven points in the second quarter.
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Whitehall is known to be a tough team to bury, however, Two layups inside the first minute of the third quarter gave the Vikings something to work with, and the teams traded baskets for the rest of the night.
Whitehall big man Corde Anderson got hot in the third quarter with nine points, but the Vikings were only able to close the deficit to eight points – 46-38 – heading into the final eight minutes.
The Vikings tried to mount a late comeback, but they were blocked out by Lillmars, who scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to help nail down the victory.
He finished with a game-high 32 points while Williams totaled 21. Garrett Olson, Hudson Hazekamp and David Johnson-Jimenez each added four points for the Trojans.
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An unusual event occurred with about 20 seconds left, when both teams got a little chippy and some pushing and shoving resulted. With little time left, and no possibility of a Whitehall comeback, the officials ended the game a little early.
There are always ways a team can improve, even after beating a quality opponent, and that’s something Coach Erny spoke about following the victory.
“In order to put teams away, you have to kind of take their spirit away early in the second half,” he said. “I think the pace kind of sloped down a little bit, and that allowed them to creep back in.”
Fruitport, now 6-2 on the season, will host Belding on Jan. 6 in an O-K Silver conference matchup.
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