Notes this week: GR Catholic Central big man won’t play this season
Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Nate VanTimmeren dunks during a game at Van Andel Arena last season. (Photo | Lenny Padilla)
Notes for the week of Dec. 5, 2022. Check back every day for more news and notes of the week:
GR CATHOLIC CENTRAL: Nate VanTimmeren has decided not to play basketball this season. The 6-foot-7 senior played a big role off the bench last season for the Cougars. VanTimmeren has signed to play football at Central Michigan University and he said he plans to enroll early. “I just got surgery on my wrist and I’m going to enroll early to college instead,” he said. That leaves Catholic Central without a true big man. With Jack Karasinski graduated and Isaiah Hamlet unable to play until the second semester after transferring from Tri-Unity Christian. VanTimmeren’s sister, Ally VanTimmeren, is a starter on the Boston College basketball team and his dad is the girls basketball coach at Catholic Central. VanTImmeren was in the student section, with a cast on his wrist, to root on his Cougars in “The Invite” on Saturday.
BYRON CENTER: 6-foot-9 sophomore Camden Karel had an unofficial visit to Michigan State on Saturday, when he got a tour of the basketball facilities from MSU assistant Mark Montgomery. Karel holds an offer from Division I Hofstra. On Friday in a win over Caledonia, Karel had 19 Points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.
CALVIN CHRISTIAN: The Squires, who are located in Grandville, rallied to beat Grandville High School 56-45 on Saturday in “The Invite” at Calvin University. Carson DeHaan had a team-high 16 points and Jack Agema had 10. This is the first season for coach Matt Veltema, who played at Calvin College.
GR CHRISTIAN: Dono Thames was on fire in the first game of the season. He scored a career-high 36 points as Christian beat South Christian 58-48 in the first game of the season. Thames is a senior guard.
GREENVILLE: Trevor Zamarron had a huge night on Tuesday. The junior guard had 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals as the Yellow Jackets beat Tri County. Zamarron and the starters sat in the fourth quarter.
HUDSONVILLE: Eli VanderVeen, a senior forward on the basketball team, has committed to play football at Hope College.
LOWELL: Drew Veldman had a career night in the season opener on Tuesday. He scored a game-high 30 points as the Red Arrows beat Cedar Springs 92-58.
OTTAWA HILLS: The Bengals put up a fight against one of the best programs in the state. Ottawa Hills lost to Flint Beecher 59-54 in overtime on Saturday. It was held at an invitation hosted by Ottawa Hills.
ROCKFORD: Andrew Landis had his biggest game on the big stage against a big opponent. The junior guard drained six 3-pointers and had 32 points as Rockford upset GR Catholic Central 68-64. “Obviously beating Catholic Central is a big deal,” Landis said. “But we’ve won our conference (the OK Red) the past two years. That’s the first time we’ve beaten them, though. This is taking another step for our team. This shows who we are and ready to make a push come March.”
SOUTH CHRISTIAN: Sophomore Carson Vis had 24 points, 8 steals, 6 assists and 5 rebounds as the Sailors beat Holland Christian 75-34 on Thursday. It was the first career win for first-year coach Taylor Johnson, who spent the past six years as the assistant coach at GVSU. “It feels good,” Vis said. “It gives our team confidence going into the game on Saturday against Northview.” There were at least four college coaches at the game: Hope, Calvin, GVSU and Eastern Michigan.
UNITY CHRISTIAN: The Crusaders lost their first regular-season game in two years on Tuesday. Unity fell to Covenant Christian in the season opener. Unity was 20-0 during the regular season last year. But they lost four starters from that team. But they rebounded to beat Calvin Christian on Friday with five players scoring in double figures.
WYOMING LEE: Marc Whitfield scored at will as the Legends upset Lansing Eastern 67-64 on Saturday in a tournament at Ottawa Hills. Whitfield, a junior guard who transferred from Kelloggsville, had 36 points.
ZEELAND EAST: Andrew Meeuwsen, a grad of Zeeland East, returned to his alma mater on Saturday. This time as the head coach of the Plymouth High School varsity team. Meeuwsen was an assistant coach at Canton before getting his new gig. In 2009, Meeuwsen was on the Chix team that reached the state quarter finals. Zeeland East won the game 53-45.
ZEELAND EAST: The Chix are 3-0. B.J. Walker scored 26 points as Zeeland East beat Plymouth on Saturday. Layne Risdon had 23 points and Walker scored 18 points in a win over Holland Christian on Tuesday. The Chix also beat Jenison on Friday.
INVITE AT CALVIN: Jason Martin, who runs the Grand Rapids Storm, has put together “The Invite” on Saturday at Calvin University. The event appears to be a great success. Fans and coaches said they liked that all the teams were local and all of them were top notch. There were a handful of college coaches in the stands, including Michigan State and Grand Valley.
INVITE AT OTTAWA HILLS: Ottawa Hills coach Derrick King has put together a 10-team invitational called “The Battle of I-96 Holiday Classic.” It drew a nice crowd on a day that it had to go up against the event at Calvin.
