LMC Men Cruise to 12th Win and the Women Fall to 15-1 Cougars

            Lake Michigan College spotted Kalamazoo Valley Community College an early five-point lead, tied the game at 13 and then never looked back, beating the Cougars 88-71 Friday at LMC. In the early game, KVCC defeated the Lady Red Hawks 93-74.

            JaMare Washington, Arsenio Arrington and Michael Bush each scored 10 first half points as the Red Hawks blistered KVCC from the field, shooting 60 percent. While Washington was driving underneath for five buckets, Bush kept the Cougar defense busy from the perimeter and Arrington at the foul line.  At halftime LMC held a 50-37 lead. Only Jeremy Wilson kept the Cougars afloat with five three pointers and a bucket.

            6-foot 3 transfer Terry Davis joined the fun against his old team in the second half with 10 points, adding to the seven from the first half. Davis said he had been looking forward to this game and really wanted to play well against his old school.

            The Red Hawks put together runs of 16-4 and 6-1 in the second half to seal the win, evening their conference record at 2-2 and 12-5 overall.

            LMC Coach Doug Schaffer was extremely pleased with his team’s performance. “We came back from break rested and full of energy. We shot well and got the ball inside.” The Red Hawks finished the game shooting 56.9 percent from the field. “This was a momentum building game heading into Grand Rapids,” Schaffer added.

            Williamson finished with 26 points for KVCC, dropping three more three-pointers. “He had one of those great nights,” Schaffer said. “We made him work for those shots. As long as they have to earn it, I can live with that.”

            The Red Hawks return home January 22 to face Kellogg Community College (0-4, 3-11) at 7:30 PM.

Lady Hawks fall 93-74

            The Lady Red Hawks never got in sync, suffering their worst defeat of the season, 93-74, against the nation’s 12th-ranked NJCAA Division II Cougars.

            Lake Michigan (13-3) spotted KVCC (15-1) an 11-0 run and trailed 13-2 to open the game. It never got better. The Cougars led 22-14 after the first quarter and 47-34 at halftime. Lake Michigan had no three-pointers, shot just 31.7 percent from the field despite trying all sorts of player combinations. 

            The Lady Hawks were outscored 24-18 in the third quarter with several questionable calls made by the referees. Frustration was written all over the Red Hawk faces. With 1:31 left in the quarter LMC Coach Jason Cooper had enough and got hit with a technical. 21 seconds later he received a second technical and exited the game.

            Hailey Maas and Shawnee Dame combined for 18 points in the fourth quarter, holding the Cougars to a tie at 22 each. Maas finished with 24 points, Kelsey Kinder and Dame had 11. The Red Hawks were out-rebounded  52-40.

            Dame was confident the next encounter with Kalamazoo Valley will be better. “We know what we have to fix.”

            The loss snapped a ten-game winning streak for the Red Hawks, but they remained in a second place tie with Muskegon at 3-1 in conference play. Muskegon lost to KVCC in overtime. The Cougars streak is now 14 games under first-year coach Maureen Brown.

            LMC travels to Grand Rapids (3-2, 9-7) Wednesday before a home date with Kellogg Community College (2-2, 5-8) Friday, January 22 at 5:30.