Following a two-year hiatus from basketball, Austin Miller decided to return to the hardwood for Plainwell as a senior this season.
Trojans coach Dan Klein is certainly glad he did.
Miller scored a game-high 16 points to lead Plainwell to the 49-36 victory over host Allegan on Friday, Feb. 7, putting a damper on the Snocoming festivities for the Tigers.
The win gave the Trojans the season sweep over the Tigers. Plainwell improved to 4-11 overall.
“It’s great that Austin came back out after not playing since his freshman year,” Klein said. “He’s done a tremendous job for us and has been a big part of our offense.”
Speaking of offense, it was at a premium for both teams throughout the first three quarters of play.
Plainwell led 10-6 after one quarter, 15-8 at halftime and 28-20 heading to the fourth quarter.
It’s the kind of game to which Klein has grown accustomed.
“We’ve taken pride in our defense all year,” he said. “We know we’re going to struggle offensively at times, so we have to really get after it on the defensive end to keep ourselves in games. That was definitely the case tonight. Neither team really got into a good offense flow and scored consistently, so defense becomes that much more important.”
Both teams seemed to find better offensive footing in the fourth quarter, with each putting together their highest-scoring period as Plainwell held a 21-16 edge.
Miller had seven of those points for Plainwell, while Connor Buschini added six. Nate Faupel and Levi Betz each had four points in the stanza.
For Allegan, Baylee Schafer scored six of his eight points in the final frame. His point total matched him with Tyler Aldrich for team-high honors.
Tyler Dangremond started the fourth quarter for Allegan by knocking down a 3-pointer that cut the Tigers’ deficit to 28-23. But Plainwell responded with an old-fashion 3-point play from Miller to start a 12-4 run that increased the Trojans’ lead to 13 points at 40-27.
“Coming into this game, I knew Allegan would be ready to play and wouldn’t give us anything,” Klein said. “(Allegan coach) Jeff (Tuner) always has his team ready to play. They’ve struggled to get wins this season like we have, but it hasn’t been for a lack of trying. Those kids come out and play hard each time we play them.”
Betz was second in scoring for Plainwell with 10 points, while Faupel went for nine and Buschini had eight.
Austin Corbett was one point behind Schafer and Aldrich for Allegan with seven points. Josh Hamman, Jayden Smith and Dangremond each knocked down a triple to end with three points.
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