Rochester Hills Christian explodes on Juniata Christian
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
CLARKSTON — One day earlier, Rochester Hills Christian let a second-quarter lead slip away in a loss to Sterling Heights Life Summit. As with all young teams, that’s bound to happen.
The Eagles, who feature seven sophomores and two freshmen on their 12-player roster, didn’t allow its first quarter lead on Vassar Juniata Christian ton become only temperamental in the third-place game of the Springfield Christian Eagles Cup Tournament.
Rochester Hills used a 19-6 first quarter lead as jet fuel to help them fly to a 60-24 victory over Juniata Christian to grab third-place in the annual eight-school tip-off classic.
“I think we are learning really quickly,” said Rochester Hills Christian coach Jon Bronsing. “The other night (in the semifinals) we were down and they were stalling at the end. We did a full man and left things open a little bit and it was back and forth. They were only up seven at the half and outscored us by four points in both the third and fourth quarters. It was relatively close. In this game we took it to them and never let them into the game.”
The Eagles expanded their lead with a 19-8 second-quarter surge, good for a 38-14 halftime lead. Despite playing reserves for much of the second half, Rochester Hills still outscored Juniata Christian 22-10 in the second half.
“I think for as young as we are, we have been playing great,” added Bronsing.”We only have two returning starters and we lost five (players to graduation) that played a lot of minutes.
A total of 10 players reached the scoring column for the Eagles, led by Nathan Simon’s 16 points. Simon is the team’s sole senior as Rochester Hills Christian graduated five players and three starters from last year’s 16-8 team.
Sophomore Marquez Hatcher added 13 points, while sophomore Aaron Berry and sophomore newcomer Jesse Montgomery both scored nine points for the Eagles.
“Nathan is our only senior and he has stepped up and been a leader,” said Bronsing.”Aaron Berry was thrust into our point guard role last year and this year he’s been great so far. This year he’s not only doing it, but doing it as a leader. He’s teaching these guys in games, kind of like a coach on the floor.”
Senior forward Nathan Caverly scored 10 for Juniata Christian (2-2), but no other player scored more than five for the Flames.
“Defensively, I was really pleased. We never allowed them any (runs) to get back in the game,” said Bronsing. “We got a chance to pay a lot of guys in the second half. When you have as many sophomores and freshmen as we do, you like to get these guys some minutes and we were able to do so. We have a lot of new guys or guys who will have different roles. A lot of our guys were on the junior varsity last season or came off the bench. We are a much different team last year. We had a lot of experience.”
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