By John Raffel
Correspondent
MCBAIN – McBain NMC has enjoyed three Highland Conference wins the past several days.
On Feb. 9, the Comets beat Evart 56-50.
Evart led 17-9 after the first quarter, 30-25 and halftime and then NMC led 39-38 after the third quarter.
Brant Winkle had 28 points and three steals for NMC while Blake DeZeeuw had eight points and four assists, Ethan Bennett had eight points and five blocks; and Nathan Eisenga had eight points.
“We had a very slow first half on both ends of the floor tonight,” NMC coach Kyle Benthem said. “We were able to switch things up at half and were able to value possession much better.”
On Monday, the Comets won 56-34 at Houghton Lake.
NMC had quarter leads of 11-6, 25-14 and 46-22.
DeZeeuw had 16 points and six assists, Winkle had 15 points and seven blocks and Bennett had 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.
“We passed the ball well tonight,” Benthem said. “We got others open and played good team basketball tonight. I was happy with our defense, holding them to 22 through three quarters.”
NMC was at Lake City on Wednesday and won 50-33
Lake City led 9-7 after the first quarter but NMC led 24-14 at halftime and 40-23 after the third quarter.
Winkle had 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists for McBain NMC while Bennet had 13 points and nine rebounds and DeZeeuw had eight points and four assists.
“Lake City slowed the game up in the first half so we had to make some adjustments to get the ball out of their hands,” Benthem said. “I was very happy with the team defense and holding them to 23 points through three quarters.”
NMC plays at Pine River on Friday. The Comets are 11-4 in the league and 13-5 overall.