MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer is a team very much in transition, working along a promising group of sophomores into the rigors of varsity basketball. Starting this week, the Rockets are taking the next step in those players' development.
R-P lost a tough game to Mona Shores Friday, 53-45, its 11th straight defeat, but the young players have shown enough promise that coach J.R. Wallace is taking the next step by elevating four sophomores to varsity full-time.
Chris Shields, Rodney "RJ" Walker, Artis Williams and Jamichael Williams have to this point split time between the JV and varsity teams, playing some time for both under the MHSAA's 'fifth-quarter' rule that allows players to do so as long as they do not exceed five total quarters played in a given night. However, following the Shores game, Wallace said all four will make the jump to varsity. The "hybrid" plan the Rockets had in place for those sophomores will shift to the JV, where some members of the freshman team will begin to play more minutes in JV games.
"We'll be able to practice all together, do some stuff, and do a little bit more jelling," Wallace said. "I look forward to it. I like my guys' commitment to our vision of what's going on, and they continue to play hard and continue to learn the lessons, so we'll watch this film and dissect it and get better from it, and then get ready for Byron Center (Friday)."
It was easy to see why Wallace is optimistic about that quartet based on some flashes each showed Friday, though the Rockets fell short. Walker had the team's first seven points to put R-P into an early lead, and Artis Williams hit a late bucket to give the Rockets their last lead of the game, at 45-44 near the halfway mark of the fourth quarter.
Walker, the son of R-P girls coach Rodney Walker, has athletic gifts that can't be taught, Wallace said, and will be a force as he gains more experience.
"He can definitely score the ball and get downhill," Wallace said. "I think for his development, for his game, it's being able to process the next level, reading that next defender, seeing where the play goes all the way through. Like a lot of our guys, he's a work in progress, but you like that part."
Unfortunately, R-P gave up the final nine points of the game, as Shores stole the ball away from the Rockets twice down the stretch and turned them into key baskets, including a dunk by Sailors' top scorer Ryan Opsommer.
"That's the difference between those guys and having that cohesion," Wallace said. "Their young guys have been up the whole season. That's a little bit of difference there, but I'm proud of my guys. I like their fight and I like their effort. We'll see that team again in a month."
Up until the Sailors' late run, the teams battle back and forth, with several lead changes. The Sailors led by a point at the half despite treys by Zayden Schneider and Hank Mitchelson, and used some second-chance points to keep R-P at bay in the third. However, Schneider banked in a trey late in the quarter, and star Marvin Moore made a heads-up play by stealing the ball and drawing a foul past half-court, earning a trip to the free throw line that had the Rockets down just a point going into the fourth. Moore led the team with 14 points, but he didn't have to do it on his own, which he did have to at times early in the season.
"That's the whole overall goal of it, is for him not to have to carry the load so much and then be able to have other options, which opens it up for him," Wallace said. "It's a work in progress, but everybody has to give a little bit, and he'll probably have to give the most."
Moore briefly had to leave the game in the fourth to deal with a bruise in his quad, Wallace said afterwards, but came back in and knocked down a three-pointer to again make it a one-point game, at 44-43, with 4:36 to play. Artis Williams then sank a jumper to put R-P ahead, though it also marked the Rockets' final points.
Despite the struggles in the win-loss mark, Wallace said he is pleased with his team's growth and development as players, and with a more streamlined process now in place for those four top sophomores, the best is yet to come.
"There's no way to go but up," Wallace said. "We're on an 11-game losing streak right now, but the guy's spirits are high. They're listening. They're embracing it and waiting for the opportunity to see the fruit of the work that they've put in. We'll get there."
