Jordan Medich lines up a free throw Tuesday.
(Photo by Nicci Plummer)
Fresh off the heels of its first loss in 14 games, the Mendon boys basketball team looked to start another streak on Tuesday night as it handled Kalamazoo Home School 79-57.
The Hornets (15-3), coming off an overtime loss at Bridgman Monday, wasted little time by carving out a 15-4 lead after the first quarter, but that advantage evaporated by half time when Mendon headed into the locker room leading 33-26.
However, the third quarter was the defining quarter of the evening when Mendon overpowered the Cougars, outscoring them 28-13.
Jordan Medich was the leading scorer for Mendon with his 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“We shared the ball well and really stepped it up on the defensive end in the second half,” Medich said. “We had everybody crashing the boards hard, and the depth we have on our team was able to wear them out.
“We didn’t play our best game against Bridgman and I believe we learned a lot from it. We came out today with more intensity and got back to playing how we want to play.”
The Hornets had four players in double-figures as Zach Darmofal added 15 points and Erik Batten and Joe Gales each had 11 points apiece. Batten was 3-for-4 from behind the long line, where the Hornets finished 8-for-18.
Also for Mendon, Logan Matthews had eight points, Marcus Craft added seven and Parker Cupp finished with six. Elijah Klepper added a field goal, finishing with a deuce.
Grant Garrison paced the losing Cougars with 16 points, followed by Josh Olsen with 11 points.
“Great bounce-back game for us tonight after a tough road loss last night to Bridgman,” Mendon coach Dave Swanwick said. “[The] guys came out with a great effort and focus. We let down a bit in the second quarter but the guys did a great job refocusing themselves after halftime and broke out in the third quarter. We rebounded much better in the second half.”
The Hornets finished with 39 boards and turned the ball over just 11 times.