Junior Alec Hanmer makes his free throw to complete a three-point play.

The Cedar Springs Boys Varsity basketball team opened their season on December 8 with a home game against the Yellow Jackets of Greenville. Tied at 5-5 in the first quarter, the Cedar Springs bench sparked the team. First, Seth Coxon drew a Greenville offensive foul by taking a charge. Then Branden Atkins and Kyle Chaney hit consecutive three-pointers, followed by Chaney taking a charge. The quarter ended with an 11-8 Cedar Springs lead.

Cedar Springs struggled offensively throughout the game shooting poorly from the floor. Greenville controlled the game and held a 5-point lead with 3 minutes left in the third quarter. Then 5 consecutive points by Red Hawk Senior Jason Gust tied the game at 26, and a Ryan Harper lay-up tied it again at 28. Cedar took the lead 30-28 early in the fourth on a Seth Coxon jumper.

Then the Red Hawk shooting went ice cold, and Greenville went on a 19-0 run to seal the game. The final score was Greenville 51, Cedar Springs 36.

Gust led Cedar with 10 points and 4 assists. Coxon had 7 points, Atkins 6, Harper 5, Chaney and Alec Hanmer 3 points each, and Hank Porter 2. Porter lead Cedar with 7 rebounds, and Ryan Dines had 4 assists and 4 rebounds. Harper collected 4 rebounds and Trey Reed had 3 boards.

Cedar Springs Head Coach Andy Secor talked after the game. “Obviously, our coaching staff and players were very disappointed by the outcome of the game. When we took a lead in the 4th quarter, I thought we had a chance to steal one. We were very good defensively, and we played with a great amount of effort. But you aren’t going to win many games shooting 19 percent from the floor.  But just to be that close in a game where you struggle that much offensively, shows what effort our guys were putting into the other parts of the game. It is the job of our coaching staff to work everyday in practice to get our guys to run better offense and develop confidence on the offensive end. Our coaches need to do a better job in that area.”

The next game for the Red Hawks will be Friday, December 18 at home against West Catholic. The game will be part of Cedar Springs’ first ever Varsity Basketball girls-boys doubleheader. The girls game begins at 6 p.m. followed by the boys at 7:30.