Red Hawk Kyle Chaney (21) is fouled while Trey Reed looks on.

The Cedar Springs boys varsity basketball team traveled to Sparta last Friday to take on the Spartans. Sparta had defeated the Red Hawks earlier this season in overtime, in a game Cedar Springs let slip away. The Red Hawks were determined to avenge that loss, and prevent a Sparta sweep this season.
“Anytime you beat Sparta, it is a good feeling,” said head coach Andy Secor. “They haven’t swept us in a long, long, time, and this team didn’t want to allow that to happen this year.”
The first quarter saw no scoring by either team in the first two and a half minutes. Then a Spartan 3-pointer gave them the lead. A Jason Gingrich lay up opened the scoring for the Red Hawks, who had 6 different players score in the quarter. Alec Hanmer got on the board with a put back lay up. Field goals by Hank Porter and Derek Ash, followed by a Hanmer 3-pointer gave Cedar an 11-7 lead. Then after an Andrew Klompstra power lay up, Tyler Covell found an open Trey Reed at the top of the key in the closing seconds of the quarter. Reed hit the 3-pointer to give Cedar Springs a 16-10 lead after one quarter.

The Red Hawks listen as Coach Secor gives instructions during a time out.

Klompstra gave Cedar an 18-10 lead with an inside lay up to begin the second quarter. A Porter 3-pointer and a Ryan Dines lay up were all the Red Hawks could muster the rest of the quarter as Sparta finished with a 10-5 run, and Cedar led 23-20 at halftime.
In the third quarter, after a Gingrich 3-pointer, Sparta battled back to tie the game at 26 with 5:23 to go. Then the Red Hawk offense started hitting on all cylinders. Hank Porter went on a personal 7-0 run to give Cedar a 33-26 lead. Then a 3-point play by Klompstra, and 3-pointers by Porter and Gingrich gave Cedar a 10 point lead after 3 quarters.
The Red Hawks had to fight the most of the fourth quarter to keep their lead as Sparta was awarded 13 free throw attempts in the quarter. A Tyler Baker lay up and a Kyle Chaney free throw kept the Red Hawk lead at 8 with 6 minutes left, but the Spartans cut the Cedar lead to 4 at the 5:20 mark. A Klompstra free throw, a Gingrich 3-pointer, and a big three point play by Ryan Dines, built the Cedar lead back to nine points, 56-47. After a Sparta free throw, Andrew Klompstra scored on a lay up to give the Red Hawks a 10-point lead with under 2 minutes to go. But Klompstra was injured on the play, and left the game.
The Spartans were desperately pressing, and Cedar was able to break the press and score in the final 2 minutes to preserve their lead. Dines found a wide open Chaney, who converted the lay up to keep the lead at 9. Then Dines drove the lane and scored on another lay up. Chaney then hit 2 free throws in the final minute for the final points of the game and Cedar had a hard fought 64-53 victory.
The 64 points was the highest point total of the year for Cedar Springs, who shot 59.2 percent on 2-point shots and 44.4 percent from behind the arc for the game. The Red Hawks put 4 players in double figures for the first time since 2008. Porter led the Red Hawks with 16 points and also had 3 assists. Gingrich had 11 points and 5 assists. Ryan Dines had 10 points and a game high 6 assists. Andrew Klompstra had 10 points with a perfect 4-4 from the floor. Alec Hanmer had 5 points and a game high 7 rebounds for the Red Hawks, while Kyle Chaney had 5 points and 3 boards. Trey Reed had 3 points and 4 assists, while Tyler Baker and Derek Ash had 2 points each.
“I thought we played one of our best games of the year, against a team that was in 2nd place in the OK Blue,” Coach Secor commented after the game. “Our three starting guards all had very good games. We do feel a little snake-bit with Andrew Klompstra’s ankle injury, as we were just getting Hank Porter back to full strength.” Klompstra will miss at least 1 game with an ankle sprain.
Secor continued, “We have a very tough week this week, with a 9-4 Tri County team and a Coopersville team now in 2nd place in the Blue.”
The Red Hawks defeated Coopersville on the road earlier this year in a close game. The Red Hawks are home to take on the Coopersville Broncos on Friday, February 11, at 6 p.m. Then the Red Hawks travel to Godwin High School on Tuesday, February 15 to take on the Wolverines. Game time is 7:15 pm.