The 2-2 boys varsity basketball team comes into Friday night’s tilt with Covenant Christian off the heels of a thrilling 61-58 victory over Forest Hills Eastern. The game will be a semi-final in the annual Cornerstone Holiday Tournament played at Cornerstone University.  The Chargers come into this game with a record of 2-4, with victories over Caledonia and Allendale, as well as an overtime loss to Grand Rapids Catholic Central.

The Chargers graduated seven seniors off a team that made it to the class C State semifinals last year, and the year before, were class C State runner-ups. They have played a very challenging schedule early on, which, paired with all of the losses from last season’s squad, has them in unfamiliar territory at 2-4; however, it is still a very dangerous team.

The Chargers have very good guard play and are led by Ty Molder and Brady Kuiper. Once again, the Rangers will be hampered by the injury to senior guard Josh Wise, who is one of the team’s best perimeter defenders. The emergence of senior guard Tom Tomsheck, especially on the defensive end, has certainly softened the blow for the Rangers.  

With the Chargers playing a guard-dominant lineup, look for the Rangers to get the ball down low to senior big man Dan Deindorfer and score easy buckets over the Covenant defense. Junior point guard Jimmy Scholler, who scored 30 points against FHE, will look to push the ball in transition and hit his shooters for open shots.

The Rangers and Chargers have met just once in the last few years, with it also being a semi-final in the 2016 Holiday Tournament, in which the Chargers beat the Rangers by 20. Both of these teams are very different than two seasons ago, with the only player on either team that played in that game being the Rangers’ Dan Deindorfer.

The Rangers have begun to rebound much better in the last couple of games and look to get a big boost in that department, as senior forward Tate Hallock is expected to be back in the lineup after missing the game against FHE with a knee injury. That good news, combined with Jimmy’s playmaking ability, should give the Rangers a great chance to move above .500 for the first time this season.