WHITEHALL — Whitehall knew that with a younger roster this season, growing pains would be inevitable. That doesn't, however, make them easier to go through.
The Vikings are staring at an 0-2 start after a tough 68-66 defeat to Fremont in Friday's West Michigan Conference Lakes opener. They had a shot at the buzzer to win it after Fremont missed a couple of free throws with 2.4 seconds to play, but Alex Winczewski's three-point attempt missed long.
While the way the game ended was a downer for Whitehall, coach Christian Subdon said his biggest takeaway was the team didn't play well enough defensively and he'd have liked to see the Vikes play with more energy.
"That's where my emphasis is going to go, because 66 points is enough to win a high school basketball game," Subdon said. "Giving up 68 is unacceptable...I pride myself on being able to get 100% energy and effort out of my guys, and right now, we're not doing it. I've got to be better to figure out how to get that out of them right away. It comes back to me not having them prepared right away."
Part of the reason for Fremont's high scoring output was turnovers by Whitehall, particularly live-ball giveaways. The Packers often swarmed Whitehall ballhandlers, and when the ball came loose, they grabbed it and raced for the opposing basket.
"That's where it comes back to that energy and effort," Subdon said. "It's never acceptable to get beat to the cup in a transition situation. We've been the people that do that.
"We're a young team not taking care of the ball. I've got to do better at making sure we're not playing as frantic. It's easy to do that, to become frantic. I think that's what we did, and it cost us."
Whitehall did show some gumption in repeatedly coming back from sizable deficits. Fremont took a 20-8 lead after a quarter, but thanks in part to a big scoring burst from Elijah Smith, Whitehall stormed back to take a 29-27 lead at halftime. Smith had 11 first-half points.
The teams traded leads through much of the third quarter, and Evan Thomas' two three-pointers kept the Vikings in the game. However, the Packers surged ahead by seven on two different occasions in the fourth to put Whitehall's backs against the wall. The Vikings played much of the second half without Hunter Osborne because of foul trouble, and fellow star Corde Anderson also ran into that issue during the game.
"We put ourselves in bad spots by fouling," Subdon said. "It put us in situations where we had to have other guys step up in roles that they haven't had to do yet; obviously, it's a young season. It's just learning. They had some guys in foul trouble too."
Whitehall again battled back, though, starting when Osborne scored right after re-entering the game. Thomas added a second-chance bucket, then Anderson scored on a driving layup to get the deficit to 61-59. Anderson then responded to a Fremont basket by powering his way to the rack for an and-one layup, converting the free throw to make it a one-point game.
Anderson has been thrust into a leadership role this season as one of the Vikings' most veteran players, and Subdon said he's taking to the role.
"I'm proud of him," Subdon said. "He's got things he's going to continue to work on. He's for sure one of our leaders and our captains. He's doing a great job. He really is an elite human being, so that really helps."
Whitehall committed a couple of turnovers after that score, allowing Fremont to extend the lead again, but the Packers missed free throws down the stretch - they were 3-of-8 in the fourth quarter - to open the door. Unfortunately, the Vikings couldn't quite kick it down.
The loss was certainly disheartening - and damaging to the team's hopes of earning another WMC Lakes title - but Subdon expects his team will respond to the disappointment.
"We don't have a choice," Subdon said. "We're backed into a corner, We either choose to fight or be OK with our outcomes that we're having. I don't think that we'll do that. I think we've got some guys that are willing to fight. I know I'm not going to give up on these guys."
