Raider Boys and Girls top Lakewood during PHS Winterfest

James Townsend

Feb 8

The Portland High School varsity boys and girls basketball teams hosted the Vikings of Lakewood on Friday for a CAAC White double header. The band was present adding to the atmosphere of the school’s Winterfest celebration while class representatives for Winterfest court were introduced during halftime of the girls’ contest. You can find a photo album of the boys and girls games, the band, and Winterfest representatives on The Portland Beacon Facebook page.

5:30 Boys Game – Portland 67, Lakewood 25

The Viking would jump out to a small lead early in the first quarter, but the Raiders bounced back before the end of the first, and remained in the driver’s seat for rest of the night.

The Portland offense was led by junior forward Owen Moore who scored 18 points, including six three pointers. Senior guard Evan Gross added 14 points for Portland, including two three pointers.

Lakewood was led by Troy Acker who had 13 points.

When asked about his team’s performance on Friday night, Portland Head Coach Luke Pohl said, “I think we may have started out a little slow when they jumped up on us 8-4, but you have to give them credit also. They are also trying to win. I thought they came out of the blocks real hard. We called that time out, we scored the next two buckets, and then from there we just continued to creep forward. Obviously, they had 13 points in the first quarter, they did not score in the second, and they only scored one in the fourth. I thought we did a tremendous defensive job and we were getting better as the game went on.”

When asked about his thoughts on the team’s performance for the season through this point, with the team’s single loss coming to Sexton, Pohl said, “Their progressing well. As long as we can just stay in the moment, and just play and continue to get over bad things that may happen out there on the floor. Sometimes that can be an issue for us, and just keep rolling it along, I think the kids will finish well.

Portland Offensive Totals:

Owen Moore 18 points, six three pointers

Evan Gross 14 points, two three pointers

Dom Novara 9 points, two three pointers

Kayden Dickerson 9 points

Tej Virk 5 points, one three pointer

Christopher Battley 4 points

Levi Nobis 4 points

Carson Simon 3 points, one three pointer

Ethan Cassel 1 point

Scoring summary by Quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Portland 18 – 14 – 17 – 18 – 67

Lakewood 13 – 0 – 11 – 1 – 25

With the win, the Raider boys move to 15-1 overall, 9-1 in the CAAC White. They face Zeeland West on the road on Saturday. Next week they travel to Lansing Catholic on Tuesday and to Eaton Rapids on Friday.

The Portland boys sole loss of the season so far was a 54-47 loss to Lansing Sexton on January 17th at Portland. The Raiders will need to wait until the final game of their regular season schedule to get a rematch with Sexton when they play the J-Dubbs on their home floor on February 21st. Sexton’s only league loss came to Lansing Catholic.

Current CAAC White Boys Basketball standings from MHSAA.com:

Team	W-L (Conference)	W-L (Overall)
Portland	9-1	15-1
Lansing Sexton	9-1	12-4
Ionia	6-4	11-7
Charlotte	5-5	10-8
Lansing Catholic	5-5	7-11
Lake Odessa Lakewood	2-8	4-13
Olivet	2-8	4-14
Eaton Rapids	2-8	3-14

7:00 Girls Game – Portland 50, Lakewood 17

The Lady Raiders dominated all aspects of the game and held the Vikings to only 17 points.

Junior guard Lilly Thelen led the Raider offense with 16 points including one three pointer. Junior forward Claire Lyon added 10 points with two threes.

Sophomore Mariana Grant led the Vikings with five points.

When asked about his team’s performance on Friday night, Portland Head Coach Jason Haid said, “I thought we came out ready to play defense. We were up in passing lanes. We were pressuring the ball. I think we forced quite a few turnovers. Super excited on the way Lilly (Thelen) pressured the ball, Summer (Stopczynski) and Bella (Spitzley) were up in passing lanes. Leah (Roberson) was rebounding really hard down low. I was very pleased with our defense to start the game, and I think we shared the basketball very well tonight. I think multiple people got touches and we were able to play inside out. We got on transition a little bit. I thought this was one of our more complete games.”

When asked about his thoughts on the team’s performance for the season through this point, having only three losses, Haid said, “We have played a very challenging schedule. We beat some really good teams. We have lost to some really good teams. I think the ultimate goal for us is to win our conference. That is our first goal.”

Haid added, “The reason we schedule so tough is because we really want to make a run in the tournament. We have a really tough district, so I am hoping some of those tough losses help us later on down the road. I have been really pleased with how this team has competed each and every night with as tough of a schedule as we have played.”

Portland Offensive Totals:

Lilly Thelen 16 points, one three pointer

Claire Lyon 10 points, two three pointers

Bella Spitzley 8 points, two three pointers

Aaleigha Roberson 8 points

Paige Spedoske 7 points, one three pointer

Erica Russman 1 point

Scoring summary by Quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Portland 13 – 17 – 15 – 5 – 50

Lakewood 2 – 4 – 4 – 7 – 17

With Friday night's win, the Lady Raiders improve to 14-3 overall, and 8-0 in the CAAC White. Their goal of winning the conference may very well be clinched at this point.

Next week they travel to Eaton Rapids on Friday. The Raiders original schedule called for them hosting Lansing Catholic on Tuesday, but the Cougars are not fielding a varsity girls team this season.

Current CAAC White Girls Basketball standings from MHSAA.com:

Team	W-L (Conference)	W-L (Overall)
Portland	8-0	14-3
Eaton Rapids	5-2	7-8
Ionia	5-4	8-7
Lansing Sexton	1-1	2-3
Olivet	4-5	5-12
Charlotte	1-6	1-11
Lake Odessa Lakewood	1-7	5-9
Lansing Catholic	0-0	0-0