The Grand Rapids Christian Unified Basketball continued to reach new heights with an impressive 56 to 52 victory over the Northpointe Christian Mustangs on Tuesday afternoon.  The 56 point outburst was a new team record and the soaring Eagles continue to get contributions from all team members.  A number of notable “firsts” occurred during the contest including:

• Center Max Damstra missed two consecutive shots
• Damstra holding his ground and taking the inaugural charge in the history of the program
• Mighty 8th Grader Yang Feng Wildschut netting a three point bomb from the top of the key
• Power Forward Mason Werdon staying on the court and playing through an appearance of much loved Middle School Aide Kathy Glass
• Senior Issac Muller registering fewer than double digit three point attempts on the stat sheet
• Assist leader Joash Mallick sinking a middle of the lane jumper and calmly trotting back on defense without a mid-court celebratory dance

The Eagles jumped out to an early 16 to 4 lead paced by the three headed scoring machine of Muller, Damstra, and Wildschut.  Much to the Mustangs credit, they countered with a 12-0 run paced by their own Unified version of Larry Bird.  The score continued to accordion, with Grand Rapids Christian using precise half court sets and pinpoint passing from Mallick and Werdon to gain double digit leads only to see Northpoint Christian pull things back to even.  Each time the home crowd encouraged their team to take the lead, the Unified Eagles had the answer.  In the second half, each Unified partner (Esther Kissinger, Keira Porte, Jake Koetje, Micah Small, Max Visser, Jordan Pruitt, Graham DeJonge) recorded no less than one assist.  And with no Freshman phenom Grace Burns – who was a DNP due to illness – to rely on for a fourth period momentum swing, the Eagles received big plays down the stretch via a powerful offensive rebound and put back from Werdon, a critical wing three pointer from Muller, and two show and go layups from Damstra.

With the victory the Eagles hit the halfway point of the season with a 5-0 record.  In staying undefeated, not a single victory has been more than a four point margin of victory.  Fun for the Eagle fans but not so calming for the blood pressure of Coach Slotsema, Coach Muller, and Team Manager Aubrey Barrett.  The Eagles look forward to two sell outs at the Quest Center next week!