Perry at Potterville – – Boys Basketball – – The Bleacher Denizen – – January 16, 2026 – – by Chuck Krafft

Tonight, the BleacherDenizenMobile is heading to Potterville. The Bleacher Denizen will be inside it, of course, and is excited to be covering the boys basketball game between the Potterville Vikings and the Perry Ramblers. Perry has a 2-5 record in the CMAC and is 3-6 overall. Potterville is 3-5 in the CMAC and 4-7 overall.

While we get ready for the game, I hope you will enjoy this cover video of “Four In The Morning!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwKDbxp-uuE

I’ve seen Perry play earlier this season. Anthony Cochrane is an excellent scorer who can hit three point shots, midrange shots or slash to the basket. When he gets hot, he puts up a lot of points in a hurry. Trey Selbig is a tall point guard who can use his length to harass other guards on the perimeter but also can defend in the post when it is needed. Alex McEwan is the big man in the post for the Ramblers. He is a strong defender and rebounder.

Jacob Adkins is a good rebounder and can score on slashes to the basket. Aydin Sloan and Brady Doerner are good three point shooters. Dylan King is a fine defender who is comfortable on the perimeter or in the post.

Ky Kemp is the coach for Potterville. He was an important player on the Lansing Sexton State Champions in 2011 and 2012. Those were the first two full seasons I covered basketball games and covered the championship games both years. He provided me with this information about his Viking players!

Elijah Pung is a dynamic scorer who can hit the three point shot off the dribble or off the catch even if he is closely guarded and sometimes even if he is fouled. He also drives to the basket well. Greg Croze is an athletic scorer who can hit the threeball or slash to the basket. He is an excellent perimeter defender as well.

Isaiah Woloszyn is a four year varsity player who is a creative scorer on drives to the basket. He is stronger than most players, which helps him score even when closely guarded or fouled. He provides a calming veteran presence to his teammates as well. Andrew Morales runs the point for the Vikings. He is a solid passer and ball handler who can hit the three point shot. Tooker Harris is a post player with a great basketball IQ. He is a tough defender, rebounder and scorer in the post and he can also hit the midrange jump shot.

Damon Boyd is a gritty post player who is a tough defender and rebounder. He sets excellent screens and does a lot of the things that all good teams need, but do not show up in statistics. Omar Perez is an energetic perimeter defender. Nick Morales slashes to the basket well and is a good perimeter defender. Blake Hollern is a tough post player who defends and rebounds well. He has a knack for getting to loose balls.

I also got to see the JV game. Perry got out to a 24-9 lead after one quarter and was up 34-17 at halftime. The Ramblers controlled the game through the second half and finished with a 76-46 win.

Caden Warren led the Potterville JVs with 25 points. Owen Plunkett and Andrew Treloar each contributed 5 points. Holden Roush scored 4 points. Jackson Fitzgerald added 3 points. James Gibbs and Brayden Morris each tallied 2 points.

Levi Ostrander led the victorious Perry JVs with 22 points. Chase Miller pitched in with 15 points. Max Grennell joined his teammates in double figures with 11 points. Miles Reed contributed 9 points and Trenton Duchene scored 8 points. Reid Schneider had 6 points. Joe Thome put in 3 points and Hudson Rockafellow tallied 2 points.

It is now time to review this game through the occasionally clear lenses of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was not able to escape church league when he attempted to hoop in the days of yore. It seems he could never master the concept that he was supposed to interfere with opponents while they were shooting. Your Bleacher Denizen worried that it was rude to aggressively cause a shooter to miss. It seems that the coach disagreed. (The Bleacher Denizen’s therapist was also on the coach’s side.) When opposing shooters kept making layup after layup, the coach started preferring more assertive defenders.

Potterville wins the opening tap. Before your Bleacher Denizen can even make his first note, Elijah Pung hits a three point shot from the corner to give his Vikings the first three points of the game. Perry misses a three pointer from the side. The rebound goes out of bounds and Potterville takes possession. The Vikings miss a three point shot from the wing. The Ramblers miss a fast break layup.

Potterville misses a three pointer from the corner. Elijah Pung’s aggressive defense causes Perry to badly miss a layup. The loose ball goes out of bounds and the Vikings get the ball. Potterville misses a ten footer off the dribble in the lane. Perry steps over the midcourt line and is called for an over and back violation. Alex McEwan blocks a Potterville eight foot shot in the lane. Elijah Pung gets his hand on the ball and forces a tieup. The Possession Arrow is painting a water color, and misses most of the play; the ball is awarded to Perry.

Jacob Adkins passes to Aydin Sloan, who hits a three point shot from the wing for Perry to tie the game. Potterville is whistled for an offensive foul. Jacob Adkins gets into the lane and is fouled on a six foot shot. He hits two free throws to give Perry a 5-3 lead with 4:10 left in the opening quarter.

Potterville commits an offensive foul. Perry misses a driving layup. The rebound goes out of bounds and Potterville takes possession. Isaiah Woloszyn drives from the top of the key and hits a layup for Potterville to tie the game. Greg Croze blocks a Perry threeball from the wing. Potterville misses a driving layup. Trey Selbig is fouled on an eight foot shot from the side of the lane. He hits one of his two free throws to give his Ramblers a 6-5 lead with 3:08 remaining in the quarter.

Aydin Sloan steals the ball for the Ramblers. Perry is called for traveling. Potterville misfires on a triple try from the wing. Damon Boyd gets the offensive rebound for the Vikings. Potterville misses a layup. Perry is fouled while catching a pass, but misses two free throws. Aydin Sloan pulls down the long offensive rebound for the Ramblers.

Perry misses a threeball from the top of the key. The rebound is tied up. The Possession Arrow finishes mixing some light blue paint and decides to award the ball to Potterville. Isaiah Woloszyn hits an eight foot shot off the dribble from the side to give Potterville a 7-6 lead.

Anthony Cochrane drives and hits a layup for Perry to give the lead to the Ramblers. Anthony Cochrane steals the ball for Perry. Nick Morales draws a charging foul from Perry. Elijah Pung is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of his two free throws to tie the game at 8-8 with 1:21 left in the first quarter.

Damon Boyd gets the offensive rebound off the missed free throw for Potterville. The Vikings misfire on a triple try from the side. Perry misses a driving layup. Alex McEwan hits a putback to give Perry the lead. Isaiah Woloszyn is fouled and hits two free throws for Potterville to tie the game at 10-10 with 40.7 seconds to play in the quarter.

Perry loses a pass out of bounds. Potterville misses an eight foot shot in the lane. Damon Boyd hits a putback to give Potterville the lead. Damon Boyd knocks the ball out of bounds; Perry retains possession. Perry misses a three point shot from the wing. Elijah Pung dribbles up the court and hits a thirty-five foot threeball past the top of the key just before the first quarter buzzer seeks attention and loudly blasts to let us know that the first quarter is over.

After one quarter, Potterville holds a 15-10 lead.

Perry inbounds the ball to start out the second quarter. Anthony Cochrane drives and hits a layup for the Ramblers. Isaiah Woloszyn is fouled on a layup and hits one of his two free throws for Potterville. Jacob Adkins drives and hits a layup for Perry. Anthony Cochrane steals the Viking inbound pass. Anthony Cochrane drives and dishes the ball to Trey Selbig, who hits a layup for Perry to tie the game at 16-16.

Potterville commits an offensive foul. Perry misses a reverse layup. Jacob Adkins steals the ball for the Ramblers. Anthony Cochrane is fouled on a driving layup and hits two free throws to give Perry an 18-16 lead with 6:32 remaining in the opening half.

Greg Croze drives and hits a five foot floater for Potterville to tie the game. Anthony Cochrane is fouled and hits one of his two free throws for Perry. Potterville misses a threeball from the side. Andrew Morales taps the ball away from Perry and Isaiah Woloszyn picks it up for Potterville.

The Vikings miss a fast break layup. Omar Perez pulls down the offensive rebound for Potterville. The Vikings miss an eight foot shot in the lane. Blake Hollern grabs the offensive rebound for the Vikings. Potterville is fouled on a layup, but misses two free throws. Trey Selbig passes to Alex Torrez, who throws in a threeball from the side to give Perry a 22-18 lead.

Elijah Pung passes to Andrew Morales, who hits a three point shot from the wing to pull Potterville back to within one point. Aydin Sloan passes to Alex Torrez, who throws in another threeball from the corner for Perry. Elijah Pung is fouled on a threeball from the wing and hits one, two, three free throws for Potterville to trim the Perry lead to 25-24 with 4:40 remaining in the first half.

Omar Perez knocks the ball out of bounds; Perry retains possession. The Ramblers miss a layup. Anthony Cochrane knocks the ball away from Potterville and Alex Torrez picks it up for Perry. Perry misses a driving layup. Potterville misses a six foot shot off the dribble from the side. Damon Boys is fouled on a putback and hits one of his two free throws to tie the game at 25-25 with 3:45 to play in the half.

Perry misses a fifteen foot shot from the side of the lane. Jacob Adkins gets the offensive rebound for the Ramblers. Perry misses a ten foot shot. Potterville misses a three point shot from the corner. Anthony Cochrane is fouled and hits two free throws to give his Ramblers a 27-25 lead with 3:12 to go in the half.

Potterville misses an eight foot shot from the side of the lane. Elijah Pung soars high to block a Perry layup. Andrew Morales is hammered on a layup. He gets up and hits one of his two free throws for Potterville. The Ramblers miss a threeball from the wing. Anthony Cochrane pulls down the offensive rebound for Perry.

Perry misses a layup. Potterville reciprocates and misses a layup. Perry misses a threeball from the wing. The rebound goes out of bounds and Perry gets another opportunity. Andrew Morales steals the ball and passes to Greg Croze, who hits a fast break layup to give Potterville a 28-27 lead.

Perry misses a driving layup. The rebound goes out of bounds and the Ramblers get another opportunity. Perry misfires on a threeball from the wing. Aydin Sloan grabs the offensive rebound for the Ramblers and passes to Anthony Cochrane, who hits a three pointer from the side to give the lead back to Perry. Greg Croze is fouled and hits one of his two free throws to trim the Perry lead to 30-29 with 1:20 remaining in the period.

Trey Selbig is fouled and hits one of his two free throws for Perry. Nick Morales is fouled as he pulls down the rebound for Potterville and hits one of his two free throws. Trey Selbig is fouled and hits one of his two free throws. With 1:05 left in the half, Perry leads 32-30.

Potterville loses the ball out of bounds. Perry is whistled for a traveling violation. Potterville misses a threeball from the wing. Isaiah Woloszyn snares the offensive rebound, drives and hits a six foot shot for Potterville to tie the game. Perry misses a three point shot from the side. Nick Morales drives and hits a layup to give Potterville the lead. Perry heaves the ball as the halftime buzzer makes its entrance.

Potterville has a 34-32 lead at halftime.

Anthony Cochrane has 12 points to lead the Perry scoring at halftime and Alex Torrez has 6 points.

Elijah Pung has 10 points for Potterville and Isaiah Woloszyn has 9 points.

As tonight is the Winter Homecoming at Potterville, the candidates for the King and Queen parade into the gym and are introduced to the audience.

Logan Long was named Homecoming King and Jasmine Henrys was named Homecoming Queen!

As the readers cannot hear what is going on at halftime, I thought you might enjoy this classic blues tune, “Blues Stay Away From Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TtsKUnqw7g

Here is a cover of another Blues Classic, “Bring It On Home To Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgzousiL9g

After that wild first half, I almost expected some scoring during the halftime break, but basketball conventions were upheld and the score at the beginning of the third quarter is the same as it was at the end of the second quarter.

Potterville ignores the Bleacher Denizen’s attempt at deep wisdom and inbounds the ball to open quarter number three. As in the first half, Elijah Pung quickly hits a three point shot from the side to extend the Viking lead to five points. Anthony Cochrane drives and hits a layup for Perry. Potterville misses a three point shot from the wing. Jacob Adkins passes to Alex McEwan, who hits a layup for Perry to cut the Potterville lead to 37-36.

Jacob Adkins steals the ball for the Ramblers. Perry misses a layup. Alex McEwan steals the ball for the Ramblers. Perry misfires on a threeball from the side. Alex McEwan gets the offensive rebound for the Ramblers. Perry misses a layup. Alex McEwan steals the ball for the Ramblers. Perry misfires on a threeball near the top of the key. Potterville is whistled for a traveling violation. Perry misses a threeball from the corner. Trey Selbig gets the long offensive rebound; he drives and hits a layup to give Perry a 38-37 lead.

Potterville misses a driving layup and fouls on the rebound. Perry misses a driving layup. Andrew Morales passes to Elijah Pung, who is fouled on a three pointer from the wing and hits three free throws to give Potterville a 40-38 lead with 4:26 remaining in quarter number three.

Perry drives from the side and misses a layup. Jacob Adkins grabs the offensive rebound for Perry and passes to Alex Torres, who throws in a threeball from the side to give the lead to Perry. Isaiah Woloszyn drives and hits a layup to give Potterville a 42-41 lead.

Perry misses a three point shot from the side. Potterville misses a driving layup. Elijah Pung grabs the offensive rebound for the Vikings. Potterville misses a driving layup. Perry misses a three point shot from the top of the key. Perry gets the offensive rebound, but misses a putback. Potterville misses a three point shot from the side. Perry is whistled for traveling. Jacob Adkins blocks a Viking layup. The loose ball goes out of bounds and Perry gets the ball.

Omar Perez steals the ball for Potterville. Jacob Adkins steals the ball for Perry. Trey Selbig drives and hits a reverse layup to give the lead back to the Ramblers. Andrew Morales passes to Elijah Pung, who hits a three pointer from the side to give the lead back to Potterville. Jacob Adkins is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of his two free throws to trim the Potterville lead to 45-44 with 1:29 remaining in quarter number three.

Andrew Morales drives and dishes the ball to a teammate who is fouled on a layup, but misses two free throws. Potterville fouls on the rebound. Trey Selbig passes to Aydin Sloan, who hits a three point shot from the side to give Perry the lead. Anthony Cochrane blocks a Viking layup. Aydin Sloan hits a long three point shot from the side to give Perry a 50-45 lead.

Potterville misses a three point shot from the side and fouls on the rebound. Jacob Adkins hits one of his two free throws for Perry to give his Ramblers a 51-45 lead with17.7 seconds left in quarter number three.

Potterville misses a threeball from the side. Perry misses a threeball from the wing just before the buzzer calls for an end to quarter number three.

With three quarters in the books, Perry has a 51-45 lead.

Perry has the ball to open the fourth quarter. Jacob Adkins drives and hits a layup for the Ramblers. He is fouled on the play, but misses his free throw. Potterville misses a three point shot from the wing. The rebound goes out of bounds and Perry gets the ball. Perry misses a driving layup. Isaiah Woloszyn goes coast to coast with the rebound and hits a layup to shave the Perry lead to 53-47.

Perry misses a three point shot from the side. Elijah Pung drives from the side and banks in a six foot shot for Potterville. Jacob Adkins hits a layup for Perry. Potterville is whistled for a traveling violation. Anthony Cochrane drives and scoops in a layup for Perry. Potterville turns the ball over. Anthony Cochrane drives and hits a reverse layup to boost the Perry lead to 59-49.

Potterville misses a threeball from the side. Damon Boyd pulls down the offensive rebound for the Vikings. Aydin Sloan steals the ball for the Ramblers. Perry misses a driving reverse layup. Andrew Morales inbounds the ball to Isaiah Woloszyn, who spins and hits a layup for the Vikings tp trim the Perry lead to 59-51.

Perry misses a threeball from the side. Potterville is whistled for a double dribble violation. Greg Croze gets his hand on the ball and Perry loses it out of bounds. Potterville misses a three point shot from the corner. Jacob Adkins is fouled and hits one of his two free throws for Perry. With 1:44 remaining in the game, Perry has a 60-51 lead.

Andrew Morales passes to Elijah Pung, who hits a three point shot from the wing for Perry. Anthony Cochrane is fouled and hits one of his two free throws for Perry. Potterville misfires on a triple try from the wing. Trey Selbig is fouled on the rebound and hits one of his two free throws to give Perry a 62-54 lead with 40 seconds left on the clock.

A technical foul was called on Perry on the rebound or its aftermath. Elijah Pung makes the technical free throws to cut Perry’s lead to six points. Potterville inbounds the ball after the technical free throws, but misses a three point shot from the corner. Perry fouls on the rebound. Potterville throws its inbound pass out of bounds. Anthony Cochrane is fouled. A double technical foul is also called. (Neither one of the technical fouls was on Anthony Cochrane.) Anthony Cochrane hits one of his two free throws to give Perry a 63-56 lead with 13 seconds to play.

Potterville inbounds the ball and misses a threeball from the wing. Elijah Pung grabs the long offensive rebound and sinks a threeball from the top of the key as he is fouled. He misses his free throw. With 4.5 seconds to go, Perry’s lead is at 63-59.

Perry is fouled, but the game is ruled to be over and no free throws are shot.

Perry wins this game by the final score of 63-59.

Potterville’s Elijah Pung led all scorers with 29 points. Isaiah Woloszyn supported him with 15 points. Greg Croze totaled 5 points. Andrew Morales added 4 points. Nick Morales and Damon Boyd each tossed in 3 points.

Anthony Cochrane led Perry with 20 points. Jacob Adkins contributed 11 points. Trey Selbig joined his teammates in double figures with 10 points. Alex Torrez and Aydin Sloan each pitched in with 9 points. Alex McEwan scored 4 points.