Montague’s Luke VanBoxel (left) drives into the lane as Whitehall’s Matt Rohen defends during Thursday night’s rivalry game at Montague. The ‘Cats rolled, 66-42.

Montague scored the game’s first 13 points, never allowing the Whitehall Vikings to make things competitive in a 66-42 West Michigan Conference win.

The Wildcats’ opening run prompted a Whitehall timeout. The Vikings (3-7, 3-4 WMC) cut the lead to 13-5, but Montague then ripped off another 11-0 run, making the score 24-5 and putting the Vikes squarely behind the eight ball.

Montague did it with rebounding early on. Whitehall, a smaller team, had a tough time dealing with the Cats’ tall and athletic front line.

“Our guys were crashing the boards hard on the offensive end,” Montague coach David Osborne said. “We felt we had a size advantage and wanted to take advantage of it on both ends of the floor.”

“We can’t get into jumping contests,” Whitehall coach Nate Aardema said. “We have to play fundamentally and box out.”

Whitehall was unable to do that, and the Wildcats took control quickly, largely with that front line. Montague (9-1, 6-1 WMC) would end up racking up a 36-21 rebounding advantage.

11 of those rebounds came from James Boerema, who Osborne credited with helping to set the tone on the glass.

“When he can rebound like that, it makes us a tough team to stop on both ends of the floor,” Osborne said.

In addition to Boerema, Chase Casebolt and Brandon Moore powered inside for rebounds and buckets. The two combined for an additional 11 rebounds.

Casebolt continued his stellar offensive season with 19 points, including four three-point shots. Moore added 18, including a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks.

“He does that every night,” Aardema said of Casebolt, who proved adept at slithering into open spots to clear himself up for treys.

The Vikings attempted to press in the second half to make some positive things happen, and at times they were able to do so. However, the Wildcats didn’t allow the problem to snowball, which can be credited to their veteran backcourt.

“Brandon Stine has been a three-year varsity player, and he’s our point guard,” Osborne said. “He’s emotionless, really. Good things happen when our two guards (Stine and Luke VanBoxel) have the ball in their hands.”

Whitehall got 11 points each from their frontcourt players, Matt Russell and Isaac Love, but were unable to get anyone else clicking.

“They’re making strides,” Aardema said of his team. “Tonight was a giant step back in a lot of ways.”

The Wildcats, along with Shelby and Oakridge, seem to have created a clear top tier in the WMC, but Osborne said plenty can still change and his team must be wary.

“We’re only through the first part of our league season,” Osborne said. “You never know what can happen in the second half. One letdown can change the whole face of the season. That’s why I enjoy this conference, because any night, any team can be beaten.”

WHITEHALL (42) Vance 2 0-0 4, Johnson 0 1-2 1, Flowers 1 0-0 3, Medendorp 0 0-2 0, Owens 2 0-0 4, Rohen 1 0-0 2, Russell 4 3-4 11, Love 5 0-0 11, Sims 1 0-0 3, VanLoon 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 5-10 42.

MONTAGUE (66) C. Lohman 0 1-2 1, Bentz 0 2-2 2, Reed 2 0-0 4, Moore 9 0-2 18, Stine 1 1-2 3, VanBoxel 3 4-4 11, Marsh 1 0-0 2, Casebolt 6 3-4 19, Boerema 3 0-0 6. Totals 25 11-16 60.

Whitehall... 5 8 14 15 — 42

Montague....15 20 14 17 — 66

Three-point goals — Flowers 1, Love 1, Sims 1, VanBoxel 1, Casebolt 4. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. JV score — Whitehall 41, Montague 38.

‘Cats pound

Fremont 70-50

MONTAGUE — The Montague Wildcats picked up an easy nonconference victory Monday night, dispatching the Fremont Packers by a 70-50 margin to move to 8-1 on the season.

Montague took immediate control of the game, grabbing a 17-2 lead in the first quarter. Fremont pulled to within five after three quarters, but the Cats put the game away with a 24-9 scoring run in the fourth.

Four Wildcats reached double figures in scoring for the game, led by Brandon Moore, who scored 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting. Chase Casebolt scored 16 points, Luke VanBoxel had 13 and Brandon Stine added 10.

The Wildcats recorded 17 assists as a team on 29 field goals, five each by Stine and Casebolt and four by VanBoxel.

“Brandon played a great game and his aggressiveness in the fourth quarter was great,” Montague coach David Osborne said of Stine.

Montague also dominated the boards. James Boerema grabbed a team-best 12 and Moore added 11, securing himself a double-double. In all, 14 of the 23 rebounds grabbed by Boerema and Moore were on the offensive end.

Vikes fall

at WMC

NORTON SHORES — It was a battle of two star big men Tuesday night when Whitehall and Western Michigan Christian tangled in a nonconference battle.

Isaac Love and Bernard Smith each had spectacular offensive nights, but the Warriors provided enough support for their forward to overpower Whitehall, 64-48.

The Vikings dropped to 3-6 on the year with the loss.

Love led all scorers, submitting a terrific performance with 29 points, including a perfect seven of seven from the free-throw line. In fact, the Vikings were 12 of 13 from the charity stripe overall. However, no other Viking had more than four points.

Whitehall was as close as five points at halftime, trailing by a 30-25 score, but the Warriors slowly pulled away over the course of the second half.

Smith countered Love’s 29 with 27 points of his own, and also had 15 rebounds. Teammates Henry DeKam and Christian Broner each added eight points to bolster the Rockets, and Logan Waller posted seven.

WHITEHALL (48) Vance 2 0-0 4, Medendorp 1 2-2 4, Owens 1 1-2 3, Rohen 1 0-0 2, Russell 1 2-2 4, Love 10 7-7 29, VanLoon 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 12-13 48.

WEST MICH. CHRISTIAN (64) Taylor 2 0-0 5, Jackson 3 0-0 6, Waller 3 0-0 7, Rop 0 2-2 2, Schulteman 0 1-2 1, DeKam 4 0-0 8, Broner 3 2-2 8, Smith 12 3-5 27. Totals 27 8-11 64.

Whitehall......... 7 18 12 11 — 48

West Mich. Chr....14 16 17 17 — 64