South Christian boys basketball dominates Catholic Central to snap its conference winning streak

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Entering Tuesday night's game, the Grand Rapids Catholic Central Cougars had a 75-game winning streak in the OK Gold Conference. It hadn't played a game without being in sole possession of first place in the standings since 2017. But after tonight's 82-54 loss to Grand Rapids South Christian, that streak is no more.

Catholic Central and South Christian are now tied for the OK Gold lead, with Catholic Central holding the tiebreaker.

"Just an unbelievable defensive effort," South Christian head coach Taylor Johnson said. "Our man-to-man defense was really good. We also made some shots early, and that always helps."

South Christian was stout on the boards

South Christian dominated on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 31-17. There was one sequence toward the end of the first half where it got three offensive boards in a row before Sam Medendorp finally got the put-back to go. That pretty much summed up its performance on the glass.

"I thought (our rebounding effort) was outstanding," Johnson said. "It starts with Mendendorp and Cam Post, who's a beast as well. And then our guards rebound as good as anybody."

Grand Rapids Catholic Central with a slow performance

Grand Rapids Catholic Central was pretty sloppy, especially in the first half. There was little flow to its offense, having to work to make their shots, whereas South Christian executed better.

"We just didn't have a lot go our way tonight," Catholic Central coach T.J. Meerman said. "We missed a lot of shots around the rim, our defense wasn't what it has been—we let guys get around us too much. We just have to play better."

Kaden Brown played with a heavy heart

Catholic Central senior point guard Kaden "KK" Brown had 27 points on the night. He was playing two days removed from the death of his cousin. His cousin was a police officer in the Lansing area. He was shot and killed in the line of duty a couple of nights ago. 

"KK wasn't quite himself tonight," Meerman said. "Prayers go out to him and his family ..."

He's a warrior—always has been," Meerman said. "He's going to leave Catholic Central as one of the winningest players to have ever played here. He's just been a great kid. I love him to death."

Catholic Central has been here before

Catholic Central has been in a very similar situation before. It had a team that included Jacob Polakovich and future Michigan State star Marcus Bingham Jr. That team was blow out by Godwin Heights, then went on to make the state finals.

"We're not going to hang our heads too long on this one," Meerman said. "We'll be back tomorrow. The beautiful thing about basketball is that you play two, sometimes three games in a week. We're playing for a trophy on Friday night. We have to be focused."

Catholic Central still controls its own destiny despite the loss. It can still clinch the OK Gold title with a win over Kenowa Hills Friday night.

"It's going to be a big game for us," Meerman said. "We're going to be ready for that."