By Skip Hunter –

As the basketball season wore down, the SWC boys’ team had the usual senior/parents’ night. As usual Coach Jamie Pap feted the seniors and their parents as well as the other participants in this year’s basketball program. Senior players this year are Zach Prins, Jacob Raak, and Hunter Vander Haar.

Also honored this year were senior managers Zach Casper-sen and Daynica Pap. Anyone who watches the action around the bench sees Zach in motion taking care of players’ needs. Daynica entered the picture this year and has done yoeman service with the Ipad keeping the stats. Managers are little appreciated until you need them.

There was a basketball game as well, and the Eagles easily downed the Adrian-Ellsworth Dragons 91-46.

The Eagles scored first with Carter Van Hulzen dropping in a 2-point shot. After the Dragons tied the score, Van Hulzen was successful from long range using a Micah Schaap pass. The visitors scored the next 2 buckets taking a 7-5 lead. Prins tied the score, and Vander Haar gave the Eagles the lead. The 2 teams played back and forth for the first 6 minutes of the game before the Eagles took control.

Vander Haar scored again using a Schaap feed, but A/E tied the score up. It was Vander Haar for his third consecutive bucket as the Eagles continued to get the ball inside. After the Dragons knotted the score at 13, Dawson Rieck scored from beyond the arc using a pass from Cole Walhof. Walhof later scored a bucket on his own. Van Hulzen gave the Eagles a 4-point lead with an old fashioned 3-point play. Schaap and Raak each scored buckets with Raak’s being a putback shot. The Eagles led 25-17 with 10:55 left in the first half.

Van Hulzen made that a 10-point advantage using a Vander Haar pass followed by a Schaap bucket as the Eagles began to pull away. The teams traded scores with Walhof using a Cody Van’t Hof pass to score for the Eagles. Rieck scored twice sandwiched around a Dragon bucket. Later Rieck splashed 2 shots in from deep, using passes from Van Hulzen and Vander Haar to make the score 41-23.

After Raak made a free throw, the Dragons vainly tried to keep pace but Rieck and Walhof hooked up for a trey scored by the sophomore. Walhof assisted Raak for another trey that was answered by a Dragon deuce. Prins made the final first half bucket for the Eagles as they went to the locker room leading 52-27.