MUSKEGON TWP. - A streak was broken with 5:17 left in Tuesday’s basketball game at Reeths-Puffer High School.
The visiting Zeeland East Chix scored their 36th point, which was the first time in five games that an opponent had scored more than 34 points against the R-P boys basketball team.
The point is this – while the Rockets have an explosive offense that can come to life at a moment’s notice, like it did in the second half on Tuesday - they’ve also been playing great defense.
That was definitely a factor in R-P’s 67-47 win, which gave the Rockets their eighth straight victory and improved their record to 11-1 overall and 5-0 in the O-K Green conference.
R-P's Travis Ambrose dunks home two points. Photo/Joe Lane
R-P will visit a tough Zeeland West squad on Friday before playing Muskegon on the road next Tuesday in a conference showdown game.
During their impressive winning streak, the Rockets have only given up as many as 60 points once and 50 points once, and otherwise have held opponents to point totals that aren’t usually enough to win games.
“I thought in the first half we were just a half step too slow or a half step late (on defense),” said R-P head coach Nate Aardema. “Part of that is because Zeeland East did a good job. But we have really been able to hold teams to some low numbers lately.”
Aardema said one key is that the Rockets have been keeping 6-foot-8 shot-blocking specialist Travis Ambrose close to the basket on defense.
“That allows us to press up on guys a little more, and if they do get past us, Travis is a pretty good security blanket,” the coach said.
R-P's Jaxson Whitaker lets a shot fly. Photo/Joe Lane
More than anything, the Rockets’ great defense has been about desire, according to Aardema.
“Really they have just bought into trying to compete and win every possession,” he said. “We were up 20-plus tonight and Jaxson (Whitaker) was diving on the floor for a loose ball.”
The Rockets were slow to wake up on the offensive end, trailing in the early minutes of the contest 5-0 and 8-2 before fighting back for a 13-13 tie at the first buzzer.
The second quarter was more of the same, with the lead changing hands several times before R-P grabbed a 29-25 halftime advantage.
Nobody in the R-P gym seemed worried, because they know the Rockets can score a lot of points real fast, and that’s exactly what happened in the third quarter.
R-P's Brayden Mitchelson drives past a ZE player. Photo/Joe Lane
They opened the second half with a 10-4 run, led by a three-pointer from Marvin Moore, a layup and a pair of free throws by Whitaker and a layup and one free throw by Ambrose.
R-P followed that with a 15-2 run over the last three minutes of the quarter, paced by a three-pointer from Whitaker and an impressive dunk by Ambrose.
Whitaker totaled 12 of his game-high 19 points in the third quarter while Ambrose added seven points. R-P led 54-34 heading into the fourth.
The R-P defense was also at its best in the third, forcing seven of the Chix’ 16 turnovers, which helped the home team get its transition game going and score a lot of points.
Ambrose (21) blocks a Zeeland East shot. Photo/Joe Lane
“In the first half we were kind of slow and not really moving the ball around very well,” Whitaker said. “In the last three games we’ve scored a lot of points, so we knew what we were capable of, and we just came out in the second half and moved the ball and just started playing basketball.”
Whitaker finished with seven assists and three steals to go with his 19 points. Ambrose had 18 points and 15 rebounds while Antrell Jones totaled eight points and eight rebounds. Moore also scored eight points for Reeths-Puffer.
Lane Risdon led Zeeland East with 17 points.
