Holland Christian basketball takes advantage of physical matchup with rival Hamilton
HOLLAND - Caleb Karsten doesn’t mind when the game gets a little physical. Especially against a conference rival.
Holland Christian beat Hamilton 65-53 in an OK Blue Conference matchup at the Holland Civic Center on Friday night.
“It was a really big game,” Karsten said. “Sometimes I like when it gets physical when we play against them and both sides get a little bit of chirping here and there. So those things make it a rivalry game. It’s just fun to play against them.”
Michael Haig had a team-high 19 points for the Maroons, Karsten 17, Henry Langejans 11 and Luke Michmerhuizen 10 for Holland Christian (3-1 O-K Blue, 7-4 overall). James Hoffman had a game-high 26 points and Justin McIllwain 12 for Hamilton (2-3, 6-5).
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“Its so much fun and it's such a great environment,” Maroons coach Brad Jansen said. “Nick (Kronemeyer) does a great job with his guys. They’re tough and physical. This is what a cross-town rivalry should be.”
Holland Christian led from wire-to-wire and held a 27-22 lead at halftime. A Hoffman 3-pointer cut the lead to three in the lead to two points in the second quarter, but that’s as close as it got.
Karsten didn’t score in the first quarter, but then drained a 3-pointer to start the second. Was he struggling early?
“Not really, the team is playing really good, so I try to pass the ball,” Karsten said. “But once I started knocking ‘em down, it felt pretty good.”
Jansen said teams try to shut down Karsten lately. He had a 25-point game on Tuesday against West Catholic.
“He’s been scoring a lot, so the defense is trying to take him out,” Jansen said. “They put McIllwain on him right away.”
Free-throws change the game
Holland Christian was hitting its free throws and Hamilton wasn’t on Friday.
The Maroons were 19-of-24 from the line and Hamilton was just 13-of-27.
“We just talked about that because we hadn’t been hitting our free throws lately,” Jansen said. “I told them, ‘A credit to you guys for hitting them down the stretch.’ I mean, Henry hit 5-of-7 in the fourth quarter. That was huge.”
Karsten was 5-of-6 and Haig was 4-of-5 from the line.
“Some of our guys, who are good shooters,” Jansen said. “We kinda joke and told them, ‘You’re almost better from 3-point range than you are from the free-throw line.’”
Holland Christian 65, Hamilton 53
HAMILTON (2-3, 6-5)
Justin McIllwain 5 1-5 12, Logan O'Connor 1 2-3 5, Londin Cooper 0 0-2 0, James Hoffman 9 5-7 26, Gabe Schrotenboer 0 4-6 4, Jeren Bronkhorst 1 1-4 3. Totals 12 13-27 53.
HOLLAND CHRISTIAN (3-1, 7-4)
Luke Michmerhuizen 4 2-2 10, Caleb Karsten 5 5-6 17, Michael Haig 7 4-5 19, Caden VanHuis 0 2-2 2, Alden Baker 1 1-2 3, Henry Langejans 3 5-7 11, Grant VanderZee 1 0-0 3. Totals 23 19-24 65.
Hamilton 11 - 11 - 9 - 22 = 53
Holland Christian 15 - 12 - 11 - 27 = 65
3- pointers - Hamilton 5 (Hoffman 3, McIllwain, O'Connor). Holland Christian 4 (Karsten 2, Haig, VanderZee). Rebounds - Hamilton 26 (McIllwain 8). Holland Christian 25 (Karsten 6). Assists - Hamilton 6 (Schrotenboer 2). Holland Christian 9 (Haig 3). Total fouls - Hamilton 21, Holland Christian 18. Fouled out - Karsten.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland Christian basketball shines in physical matchup with Hamilton
