It was a long time coming, but the Martin boys’ varsity basketball team registered its first victory of the season Tuesday night
The Clippers bested Athens on the road, 67-51, to halt a 17-game losing string since the season began. It was new coach Corby Callaway’s first victory while guiding the obviously rebuilding Martin team.
Athens now is 0-19 for the season.
The news was not good, however, about the Martin girls, who lost a 51-29 verdict to a Kalamazoo Christian team that now owns a gaudy 15-1 record. The Comets led by only two points, 23-21, at the half before the wheels came off for Martin.
“We battled hard tonight and had a great first half that had us within two at halftime,” Martin coach Ben Schipper said. “Our defense was rock solid and we executed our game plan well, doing a great job containing Jordyn Bonnema. Liz Reinke drew that assignment for the second year in a row and did a fantastic job, with Torryn Harris also stepping in to give Liz breaks and doing well.
“We knew the key to our defense was not turning the ball over on offense, especially on the perimeter. That’s where Bonnema and K Christian are most dangerous is the fast break. We had a few too many of these types of turnovers in the first half that led to a few easy runouts. If we could have eliminated those, we would have gone into halftime with the lead.”
The coach said the third quarter has typically been the Clippers’ best quarter this season, but K Christian came out with more energy and Bonnema was off to the races, scoring 11 of her 22 points in this quarter. She came up with tough buckets in the paint tonight when Martin walled up in front of her.
“Unfortunately, we really struggled to make shots and our good movement kind of grounded to a halt in this quarter, leaving us with only two points. The (opponents) last five games have been an absolute gauntlet for us playing some of the best teams we’ll see all year, but we have battled hard and I’m confident we’ll be better because of it in the D4 playoffs.”
Harris scored 11 points for Martin and Reinke added eight.
The Lady Clippers have hit a bad patch of late, as their season record has slipped to 11-5. They have dropped four of their last five ballgames.
