Class D Champions - Muskegon Western Michigan Christian

Muskegon Western Michigan Christian 58 Detroit City 57

I’d have to say that Detroit City has a height advantage over Western Michigan Christian. Not every player is that big, but they do have a few guys (like Christian Beecham) that are 6’7”. West Michigan Christian isn’t much smaller though. I will say that MWMC is better represented and their fans are LOUD!

Detroit started out with two blocked shots and then went to work on offense. Early on, the refs were calling WMC for fouls because they were being a tad over-aggressive. Shots were not dropping for Western Michigan Christian. Ray Hill went up for a monster dunk on a fast break and missed it, but WMC was called for blocking and the WMC fans told everyone how they felt. Half way through the first quarter, the Warriors of WMC had only got one shot to fall. Because they were down, WMC went to a half court trap. City responded by going to a full court trap but backed off that soon after. It was easy to tell that they could handle the ball better than WMC. With time winding down in the first quarter and aided by a few calls, WMC came back to make the game closer. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 11-10 in favor of Detroit City.

Detroit stopped WMC on their first possession, but a silly foul by Antoine Brown put him in foul trouble inside the first minute of the second half. From the 2 minute mark in the first quarter into the second quarter, Detroit City was playing poorly. They picked up foul after foul and couldn’t score while WMC was able to move the ball efficiently and get points. WMC was in the bonus around the 6 minute mark of the second quarter. The only shots Detroit was hitting were put backs. Finally they started playing like they did early on and began hitting three point shots. Detroit kept picking out fouls and the game was close through the second quarter. The score at the half was 27-26 in favor of Detroit City.

City came out strong in the second half, hitting a two and three point shot before WMC knew what happened and went on a 7-0 run. Three minutes into the third, City had a 10 point lead and was looking very sharp. WMC didn’t like how they were playing and started playing tough but were still down a bit. At one point, Eric Prins was going for a layup and Ray Hill jumped over the top of him, but came down hard. WMC scratched and clawed their way back into the game and was only down 3 at the two minute mark. Ray Hill is a HECK of a ball handler. He dribbled past everyone a few times. Score at the end of the third was 43-39 Detroit City, but WMC fans were very happy with their team.

Within the first minute of the fourth quarter, City had picked up their 10th foul of the second half and WMC was in double bonus for the entire fourth quarter. WMC student section was crazy loud and really behind their team. Even Kalamazoo Christian fans waiting for their game to start helped WMC in their “Go GREEN, Go WHITE” chant. It was tied at 43 for a second but turnovers and sloppy play led to a five point City lead. It’s like neither team wanted to win this game in the fourth with each team trying to give it away. City was called for a technical after trying to sub late at the 5:35 mark with Nate Bruinsma shooting the shots and missing both. When they got the ball back, they drove to the hoop and were fouled again. This time they knocked both down. Tim Dunning hit a shot and drew a foul, taking the lead and hitting his free throw. WMC stepped up and Detroit City still was trying to give the game away. When they realized that the game was slipping away, they started playing better. The score was 52-50 Detroit City at the 3:30 mark. The fouls started catching up with City and they lost their second player with 3:10 left. Detroit City started forcing plays and was lucky that WMC messed up but they started stalling and trying to finish the game early. The game really got exciting at this point and the lead went back and forth with under two minutes to play. The score was 58-57 WMC with 1:12 to play. Then WMC stalled and City had to foul with 34.2 seconds left. Dunning missed his first shot as well as his second. WMC got a lucky break but couldn’t get it done and WMC killed most of the clock and was fouled with 2.8 seconds left, still with the one point lead. Van Rees had two foul shots, missing the first and missed second. City fumbled the ball and the game was over with Muskegon Western Michigan Christian preserving their one point lead and the win.