Andrew Keyzer only scored only two points Friday against Eau Claire, but they were the two biggest points of the game. He tipped in an errant shot by Tanner Curry as the buzzer sounded to give Martin a 44-43 victory over the visiting Beavers.
“It came down to us scoring with about 1:10 left to get the game within one,” said Coach David Curry. “Eau Claire took a shot inside which was blocked and knocked out of bounds. Eau Claire inbounded and was trying to run the clock out but we were able to get a trap near half court, tip the ball, and secure it in our end with 37 seconds left.
“We took a timeout to make sure everybody understood what we needed to do. We were patient and got the shot we were looking for but missed, with I thought some questionable contact, but we did not get the foul. The ball ended up in Tanner’s hands with three seconds left. He got off a shot which missed long and was tipped in at the buzzer on the back side by Andrew Keyzer to give us the one-point win.”
Martin started strong, running out to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter but then the Clippers allowed Eau Claire to come back and the first quarter ended in a 14-14 tie.
“We got off to a good start, but it only lasted for about half of the first quarter,” Curry said. “We were doing the things we talked about offensively, playing well defensively, and as a result we jumped out to an early 11-0 lead. From there on we were a totally different team until the fourth quarter.
“Offensively we quit attacking and as a result only scored seven points the rest of the half. I thought we were lucky to only be down five (23-18) at the break.
“We made some adjustments offensively and told them we would have to pick it up on the defensive end if we were going to come out on top,” Curry said.
“We came out in the third and continued where we left off in the first half. We didn’t attack on offense and we didn’t defend like we talked on the other end. At one point we found ourselves down by 15.
“Finally something clicked with the kids and they started to do the things we had talked about. They battled back to take the lead with about four minutes left in the fourth.”
The game went back and forth from that point until the last second heroics by Keyzer.
“It was our homecoming, and was quite an exciting finish for the standing room only crowd,” Curry said. “I’m proud of the way our kids never laid down at any point in the game no matter what the score was. It’s that never die attitude that has won us some games when we haven’t played our best.”
Curry led Martin in scoring with 14 points and racked up another double-double with 10 rebounds. Freshman Carter Hilton scored 12.
“We have a tough next couple of weeks as we play Fennville, Lawrence, Kalamazoo Christian, and Decatur. This win put us at 10-3 overall and 6-0 in our division.”
SAC Standings — North Division
Martin 6-0
Decatur 5-1
Lawrence 3-3
Eau Claire 2-4
Marcellus 2-4
Bloomingdale 0-6
