COOPERSVILLE - There are two words that get thrown around an awful lot when talking about basketball this time of year - survive and advance.
Reeths-Puffer’s boys basketball team was able to survive a late run by Coopersville on Wednesday night and advance to the Division 1 district finals with an exciting 59-55 overtime win in the semifinal round.
“Our mindset was ‘We’ve gotta win this - we want another crack at Muskegon,’” said R-P junior Travis Ambrose. “Everyone was just focused on the game, playing for ourselves, playing for Reeths-Puffer.”
Coopersville, playing in its home gym with a spirited crowd behind it, tied the game on a three-pointer with seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
But Reeths-Puffer didn’t panic. The Rockets started the extra session with a 6-2 run and went 7-for-8 at the free throw line to close out the victory.
R-P's Braydan Mitchelson works around a Coopersville defender. Photo/Mitchell Boatman
“This was quite an environment,” said Reeths-Puffer coach Nate Aardema. “The guys wanted to take (the pressure-filled free throws). That’s a cool thing, when they’re confident and want to be the guy on the line. It was cool to see them step up and do that.”
Ambrose got off to a slow start in the scoring column, failing to hit a field goal attempt in the first three quarters. He turned it on in the fourth, however, scoring Reeths-Puffer’s first 12 points.
Ambrose totaled 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a 5-for-6 showing at the foul line. Overall Ambrose scored 25 points and hit 13 of 18 free throws.
“My shot was not falling at all, I couldn’t find it,” Ambrose said. “Coach sat me down and said ‘Listen, you’re going to have a big game. I’m not worried about how much you score, you’re going to impact the game no matter what.' I was like ‘I’m going to stop being a little baby and go score some buckets.’”
“We talk a lot about ‘the next play,’” Aardema said. “The mental strength that he exhibited to play through that and end up with the night he did, what a testament to the young man he is and the attitude he has about it. Pretty incredible.”
R-P's Marvin Moore guards a Coopersville player. Photo/Mitchell Boatman
The win gives the Rockets, now 15-9 and winners of eight of their last nine games, a third shot at powerful Muskegon after falling to the Big Reds twice in the regular season.
The Big Reds, 21-2, beat Grand Rapids Union 72-34 earlier on Wednesday. The O-K Green conference foes will square off for the district title Friday night at 7 p.m. at Coopersville.
Aardema said he plans to keep Friday’s game plan simple - “Go play.”
“It sounds silly, but sometimes you get into a game like that and you try to do everything, thinking you’ve got to find any little advantage,” Aardema said. “We’re playing really well, just go play.
Mitchelson brings the ball up the court. Photo/Mitchell Boatman
“Obviously they’re a really good team. But control what we can control, just go play and see where it gets us.”
Reeths-Puffer led 9-8 after a back-and-forth first quarter. R-P's Jaxson Whitaker paced the scoring with five points. The Rockets extended the lead to 23-18 by halftime, helped by a buzzer-beating three from Kyle Schlaff.
Reeths-Puffer led 34-30 at the end of the third quarter.
The Rockets extended their advantage to as many as seven points in the fourth quarter and led 43-36 with 5:40 to play. Coopersville then went on an 8-0 run to take a 44-43 lead with 2:19 to go.
Ambrose quickly responded with a three-point play to put R-P back up by two. After a Coopersville free throw, Schlaff knocked down two at the line to make it 48-45 with 17 seconds left.
R-P' s Travis Ambrose at the free throw line. Photo/Mitchell Boatman
Coopersville’s Porter Kretschman then nailed a corner three with just seconds left to even the score and send the game to overtime.
Instead of losing their cool over the last-second shot, the Rockets calmly took care of business in OT to secure the win and keep their season alive.
Ambrose led R-P with 25 points, followed by Whitaker with 23, including five three-pointers. Schlaff had seven points and Antrel Jones added four, including the first points in overtime.
