MUSKEGON – The composition of a championship roster is little more complicated than some fans probably realize.

Of course you need your offensive stars who score a lot of points, and the Fruitport boys basketball team definitely has those – familiar names like Dexter Lillmars, DayDay Williams and Hudson Hazekamp.

But great teams also require dedicated role players who are willing to do the hard, dirty work that attracts little public notice or acclaim.

That’s the type of player that David Johnson-Jimenez is.

A little over a week ago, Fruitport capped off a 19-3 regular season and clinched its second straight O-K Silver conference championship.

On Friday the Trojans beat archrival Spring Lake to capture a Division 2 district championship, the team’s first in many decades.

While his modest statistics (2.4 points, 3.6 rebounds per game) may not suggest it, Johnson-Jimenez played a very big role in helping Fruitport achieve those accomplishments.

He boxes out and snags rebounds. He sets great screens. He plays intense defense. He’s the physical force under the bucket who keeps opponents from taking too many liberties.

“We can do things, defensively and offensively, that we couldn’t do without him,” Fruitport head coach Steve Erny said about Johnson-Jimenez. “He adds that extra element of toughness and physicality that we need to win.

“He knows this is his last chance to play basketball and he’s making the most of it. We are lucky and grateful that’s he’s part of the team.”

Most importantly, Johnson-Jimenez is a great all-around teammate, according the Erny, and there is a statistic to back up that point.

“He either leads us, or is close to leading us, in our ‘Teammate of the Game’ award, which we hand out every game,” Erny said. “It goes to the player who either, through their actions or words, serves the team the best on any given night.

“He’s always leading the bench in energy, and when he’s on the floor he does whatever the team needs him to do. He exemplifies grit, which is one of the core values of our program. He plays with passion and perseveres through adversity with hard work and determination.”

On Tuesday, Johnson-Jimenez and the Trojans will try to extend their season by at least one more game when they play Grand Rapids Catholic Central in a Division 2 regional semifinal game at Fremont High School at 5:30 p.m.

The winner will play Grant or Kenowa Hills on Thursday in the regional finals.

The state tournament run is an extension of a comeback season for Johnson-Jimenez, who played basketball for years as he came up through the Fruitport program.

Last year, however, a nasty football injury forced him to miss what would have been his first year of varsity basketball. He had to sit and watch as his friends won Fruitport’s first conference basketball title in a long time.

“One of my buddies fell on top of my ankle, and it broke right on the bone and tore three ligaments and one tendon,” Johnson-Jimenez said. “It actually healed up pretty quickly, but then I went to a baseball workout and swung at a pitch, and it just blew up again. I guess I rolled the ankle too much. I had an MRI done, and ended up having to go through physical therapy, so I couldn’t play basketball.”

That’s why Johnson-Jimenez was extra excited in November as the new basketball season approached and he was healthy and ready to go. He knew the Trojans had a lot of great players coming back, and expected to have an even better season,  so he never assumed he would get much playing time.

He just wanted to be part of it all again.

“I talked to Coach Erny and told him I don’t care if I ride the bench, I just want to help the team out,” he said.

As it turned out, Johnson-Jimenez was in the starting lineup quite a bit near the beginning of the season, getting far more court time than he ever imagined. That changed a bit near midseason, because talented freshman Garrett Olson was ready to start playing more – which was the plan all along – and Johnson-Jimenez became the sixth man.

He accepted that adjustment without complaint, again exhibiting a trait of a great teammate.

“Everyone kind of knew that Garrett needed to be brought along a little slower, but eventually he would be in the starting lineup,” Coach Erny said. “David had been starting, deservedly so, then Garrett became the fifth starter, and David handled it with zero complaint or downtick in effort.”

“I knew coming in that he was a lot better than me,” Johnson-Jimenez said about Olson. “In practice we saw him really start to develop. I was shocked when I had the chance to start at all. I really expected to be an off-the-bench, end-of-game type of player.”

Starting or coming off the bench, Johnson-Jimenez has had the time of his life over the past few months, as the Trojans rattled off 15 straight wins at one point, won another conference title and captured the team’s first district championship since way back in 1938.

“I cannot even describe it,” he said about winning the district title on Friday in front of a big crowd of excited classmates and fans at Montague High School. “That atmosphere was something like I had never been part of. I always dreamed of playing in a game like that, especially against a rival team.

“Just seeing everyone in the stands supporting us gave me goosebumps.”

After the win, the Trojans and their fans went back to Fruitport High School to celebrate and cut down the basketball nets in their home gym.

“That was fun,” he said. “Everybody made a little tunnel entrance for us when we came it, just a bunch of parents and classmates. They turned off the lights and turned on flashlights when we came in. Then we cut down the nets, seniors first.

“The best part was watching Coach Erny take down the last piece of net. I’ve always been around him. I went through the entire youth program with him, and he really convinced me to play again this year. I have tons of respect for him.

“That’s when it all really hit me.”