HOLTON — Hesperia hoped to capitalize on a big Friday win by bringing home a trophy Saturday in the championship of the Holton holiday tournament, but it wasn’t to be for the Panthers, who lost a tough battle to the host Red Devils 54-40 in the finals.
Hesperia defeated Muskegon Catholic 69-56 Friday for its second win of the season, and perhaps its biggest. Coach Scott Warsaw said his team was ready to go for Saturday’s game - facing a longtime rival couldn’t have hurt the focus level - but a lot of mistakes proved fatal, especially down the stretch.
“I think we were up in the upper 30s in turnovers, and you can’t beat anyone (like that),” Warsaw said. “Before the game, we said there are two stats to determine who wins today: Turnovers and rebounds. We got beat on both. So the two key points we put on our board, we lost. We were in the locker room going, ‘Whoever wins turnovers and rebounds is probably going to win today.’ That’s exactly what happened.”
The Panthers trailed almost the entire game, but showed gumption in battling back from multiple double-digit deficits. An 8-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters cut Holton’s lead from 22-12 to 22-20 before the Devils came back with a 12-2 run of their own to go back up by 12, 34-22.
However, Hesperia struck back again on a three-point play by Evan Conkle and then a three-point shot by Malakai Sellers. With some help from the Red Devils’ missing 6-of-7 attempts at the free throw line down the stretch, Hesperia was back within four going into the final quarter, 35-31.
However, the aggressive defense played by the Red Devils kept Hesperia on its heels and led to some key miscues late in the game. A couple of times, Hesperia came up with a loose ball, only to have Holton harass the Panthers into a turnover seconds later.
Hesperia's Nathan Sherburn (with ball) tries to maneuver around Holton's Ariez McMillan to get a shot off during Saturday's championship game of the Holton holiday tournament. The Panthers lost, 54-40.
“They were more aggressive,” Warsaw said of Holton. “When we turn it over, it puts us to a stop, and it hypes them up. Turnovers lead to buckets, and it’s just a nightmare.”
Warsaw said the Red Devils did not force Hesperia into a fast-paced style of play, saying his team also wanted to go quickly. However, the manner in which Holton did it, getting into Hesperia’s face on defense and keeping the Panthers from making the decisions they wanted to make, made things difficult.
“We wanted to play fast, but with intelligence,” Warsaw said. “I can’t describe it. They pressured us. They played their game, and we didn’t play ours.”
It was those giveaways that helped stake the Red Devils to a second-quarter lead to begin with. The first quarter was much more deliberate, with neither team pushing the pace. Conkle and Sellers each hit a three-pointer in the first, which ended in an 8-8 tie, before Holton turned up the heat in the second to build its lead.
Sellers led the Panthers with 19 points, and Conkle had 12 rebounds, but Keon McMillan rang up 25 points for the Red Devils. Jacob Berghuis had 10 fourth-quarter points and 13 overall for Holton.
Warsaw said he hopes the weekend games, which thanks to the win over Catholic still marks the weekend as a step forward, help to keep his team sharp heading into the post-break portion of the schedule.
“There was good and bad,” Warsaw said. “We had a great performance against MCC, and I give Holton credit. It wasn’t our night. They deserved it. They were the better team today.”
