WMC swarms Leland

BY DENNIS CHASE
dchase@record-eagle.com

March 13, 2008 04:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Jim Goorman believes his 2008 Muskegon West Michigan Christian basketball team compares favorably to his 1999 team.

That 1999 team won a state championship.

His 2008 team moved a step closer to a title Tuesday night with a convincing 72-45 Class D quarterfinal win over Leland at Traverse City West.

"We've got seven seniors and they just know each other so well," Goorman said. "It's a joy to watch them -- even in practice.

"A friend of mine is in Hawaii and he called me on the way here to wish us luck. I told the kids I would rather be here than Hawaii. There's nothing better."

The Warriors (22-3) will now face the defending champion Cedarville Trojans in a Thursday evening semifinal at Michigan State's Breslin Center.

"That would be sweet to win it all," said senior Nate Bruinsma, who scored 18 points. "(Cedarville's) a good team. It will be tough for us.

"But from day one we wanted to get to the Breslin Center and win it all. We're one step closer now."

Leland (21-5) bolted to a 9-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. From then on, it was all West Michigan Christian.

The Warriors, trapping and pressing defensively, forced the Comets into numerous miscues. They also used their size to control the paint.

"I don't think they've seen a defense like this," Goorman said. "We do a lot of double-teaming. We do a half-court trap. Our guys are all over the place. One team we played in the tournament described it as all green shirts. They couldn't find anyone else out there. That's what we try to create -- confusion, either with our half-court (trap) or our scramble defense. We try to change it up so they can't get used to it.

"Then we have a 6-foot-6 guy (Charles VanRees) up top and he can intimidate. That's what we wanted to do tonight -- intimidate, makes them lose confidence and take them out of their game."

Leland coach Jason Stowe said the Comets expected the trap.

"We just didn't handle it very well," he said. "We dribbled into the corner a lot of times. We picked up our dribble. We made some real bad choices.

"I thought we were playing some of our best ball as of late, but we just did not get it going tonight. I give West Michigan Christian credit. They took us out of our game. We had a hard time shooting it over the top. We had a hard time getting it inside. They're a fine basketball team."

Marcus Whittaker paced Leland with 22 points.

"They played great defense," Whittaker said. "Defensively, they were prepared.

"They played a lot better than we did."

VanRees was not only a force defensively, but he led all scorers with 24 points.

The 6-4 Bruinsma, who was named All-State earlier in the day, was the only Warrior in double figures.

"Some wondered how Nate would react," said Goorman, finishing his 28th season. "But you don't have to worry about him. He's a real humble kid. He wants what everybody else wants and that's a win."

After the initial outburst, the Comets struggled offensively, hitting just one field goal in the second quarter and two in the third quarter. West Michigan Christian led 40-23 at half. It was 49-33 after three quarters, but then the Warriors went on a 14-1 run to start the fourth quarter.

"We had a great season," Stowe said. "We challenged for the Northwest Conference, a predominantly C conference. We played well all season. We had a few ups and downs, but we had a real solid team."

Now the Warriors must prepare for Cedarville, a 74-70 quarterfinal winner over Ewen-Trout Creek.

"They're a great team," Goorman said. "They've proved it with a 51-game winning streak. How can you not respect them? I respect them a ton.

"It will David and Goliath again -- just like the state finals last year when they played (Wyoming) tri-Unity."

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