After winning a thriller up in Traverse City last Saturday, the boys JV basketball team took another win on the road in Grandville last night.

Sophomores Dallas Hopson and Jeremy James had excellent nights scoring, as Dallas finished with 7 points and Jeremy finished with 8. Other offensive contributors included sophomores Matthew Mahoney and Jonah Spates, who combined for 10 points. Matthew and Jonah helped out the team in other areas, such as facilitating the basketball and rebounding. FHC now shifts its attention to a cross-district rivalry game against the Forest Hills Eastern Hawks next Thursday.

The Rangers found themselves in a bit of a pickle early in the first quarter, as Grandville jumped out to an early 17-9 lead. Defense has been an early struggle for FHC, but they did a great job in the second quarter of getting consecutive stops to only give up 6 points that quarter. The Rangers made some great in-game adjustments by seeing one of the Bulldogs’ go-to plays and countering it to ultimately disrupt Grandville’s offensive plan. FHC also did much better scoring the ball, as they cut the deficit to 2 points and went into the locker room at halftime down 23-21.

FHC continued its lockdown defense in the third quarter by shutting down Grandville scorers who were problems earlier in the game. One area that also improved for the Rangers was their ball movement. FHC always looked for the best shot, not just an average shot, and the team started to pile up more and more points. The dagger for the Bulldogs came with two minutes left in the game when Matthew put in an and-1 to kill the momentum of Grandville and give FHC a 42-31 victory.

This road win for FHC is huge, especially as the non-conference schedule winds down and conference play approaches. The Rangers are now 2-1, but their biggest game to date sits right in front of them and will come on the road against the Forest Hills Eastern Hawks. FHE defeated FHC last year in a nailbiter, so the Rangers will definitely be looking for revenge in this one. A deeper lineup for the Rangers certainly helps and could be the main key for a win Thursday night.