MONTAGUE — North Muskegon got to the basket early and often during Friday's West Michigan Conference cross-divisional game against Montague, frustrating the Wildcats and leading to a lopsided 72-30 defeat.
The visiting Norsemen, ranked No. 4 in Division 3 by The D Zone, harassed Montague ballhandlers relentlessly throughout the game and caused turnovers that led to fast breaks. Adam Dugener and Braylen Burrel were usually the beneficiaries of those fast breaks, combining for 30 first-half points as their team racked up a 46-15 halftime lead.
Three times early in the game, the Norsemen got to the hoop for an easy layup that was followed by a timeout called by Montague coach Nick Thaler.
"It was just a lack of discipline," Thaler said. "I think we talked about it for the three days that we had to practice (during the week). We talked about how on makes or misses, they're outletting it to Dugener and they're throwing it to Burrel on the side and he's getting there. We missed them a couple times, and to me, that's frustrating. That's just a lack of discipline and understanding and knowing your personnel. We've got to find a way to be more disciplined on that end of the floor, because the offense will come if our defense has more energy."
Montague (0-7) attempted to focus on Dugener and Burrel early in the game, hoping that post player David Markiewicz would take and miss shots if he was open, but even that backfired, as Markiewicz knocked down three first-quarter shots.
Meanwhile, on the offensive end, the Wildcats had to lean heavily on Cole Herremans, who hit five of his team's six first-half field goals and had 10 first-half points (14 in all). Herremans is among the Wildcats' best and most veteran players, but Thaler said the team's struggles on offense early on put too much on his senior's plate. North Muskegon's packed-in zone defense challenged Montague to hit shots from the outside, and the Wildcats couldn't do it, not making any three-pointers all night.
"It just puts a lot of pressure on you when you're the only guy scoring it, because they're playing zone and when another team's playing zone, they're doing it for a reason," Thaler said. "We just did not make any shots outside of 15 feet...If you don't stretch them out on that side of the ball, it's tough for you to get points because they do a nice job of running that zone, packing it in and making you shoot over the top, and we just didn't put enough pressure on the offensive side or in transition."
While the growing process has no doubt been frustrating for coach and players alike, Thaler said he thinks his team will benefit in the long term from its grueling early-season schedule, which has also included strong teams from Hart and Whitehall and has upcoming showdowns with unbeaten Grant and Ludington squads.
"I don't think that they're going to feel sorry for us in scheduling those games," Thaler said. "They're going to come out with the same intensity they would if they were playing a conference opponent or rival of their own for a big game. We've just got to come out and compete and have more sense of urgency and play the way that we know we can play."
