Martin stumbled while trying to climb those golden stairs Monday night and its overall season record fell to 3-1.
The Clippers, representing the smallest school in the Cornerstone University Holiday Tournament, dared to struggle and came close to winning before faltering in the last two minutes of a 61-51 defeat at the hands of Class B opponent Forest Hills Eastern. Indeed, they dared to take a three-point lead just before intermission and they were down by only a point, 50-49, with about three minutes left in the ballgame.
But the Hawks rode three streaks to win it, one in the last minute of the first half and the other in the last two minutes of the whole shooting match.
Martin led 20-17after the first 15 minutes of play, scoring exclusively on layups and free throws. The disciplined offensive effort did include a few failed attempts at threes and it got a boost off the bench from junior Canton VandenBerg, who dropped in six points in the second period.
But that awful last minute of the first half enabled Forest Hills to go on a 9-0 run and mount a 26-22 advantage when the two teams went into the locker rooms. The spurt featured three fast break baskets off turnovers and a three-point bomb by Grant Trish.
Making the Clippers’ struggle even more heroic was the fact that the Hawks started a front line that went 6-5, 6-4 and 6-4 and the backcourt went 6-3 and 6-1. Yet Martin’s tenacious man-to-man defense kept them away from the basket and its only two big guys, senior Tanner Curry and sophomore Carter Hilton dared to battle on the boards. Despite Forest Hills’ obvious height advantage, it held only a 39-35 edge in rebounding for the night.
Hilton finally broke the Clippers’ outside shooting drought with a three early in the third quarter, but Forest Hills managed to widen the gap to 35-25 at one time via those pesky turnovers off a press that occasionally was successful, just enough to keep the Hawks on top.
Down 42-34 at the close of the third period, Martin, behind Curry, Hilton and VandenBerg, slowly and gamely began to cut the deficit. Curry had been kept quiet throughout the first three quarters, but it was like a sleeping giant had been awakened for the last eight minutes. His passing, rebounding and scoring fueled a comeback that brought the Clippers several times as close as two point and once to within one point.
Down the stretch, Martin went to a full-court press and began to commit desperation fouls. The Hawks obliged by sinking nearly all shots from the foul line and scored 11 of the last 13 points of the contest.
“We were within two at one point but weren’t able to close the deal,” Martin coach David Curry said. “FHE did a tremendous job of knocking down their free throws at the end to put it out of reach for us.
“Overall I thought we played great. With the exception of the last two minutes of the first half, we were very good. We let them get a run there at the end of the second quarter and it gave them some momentum coming out of half. FHE came out and forced us to make some uncharacteristic mistakes to open the third. We took a timeout to get them settled back down and I thought we played well the remainder of the game.
“Though it’s our first loss of the season, it’s one we can learn a lot from and be a better team because of it.
Tanner Curry netted 14 points and Hilton 13, while VandenBerg counted 11. Curry also hauled down 10 rebounds and came up with a couple of blocked shots. Hilton had six steals.
Freshman Cayden Curry dished out six assists.
Trish scored 17 points for Forest Hills Eastern, Myles Olsen had 16, including eight-for-eight from the free throw line, and Taylor Mitchell had 11 points.
Martin will play in the tournament’s second round Thursday at 6 p.m. against Zeeland West, which lost 49-43 earlier Monday to Forest Hills Northern.
PHOTO: Martin’s Tanner Curry (52) battled the big boys from Forest Hills Eastern and was the game’s top individual rebounder.
PHOTO: Carter Hilton scores for the Clippers on a breakaway layup.