The three-point shots were falling for the Reeths-Puffer boys basketball team on Friday night, at least in the first half, and the Rockets got off to a nice start.
But the R-P offense went cold after halftime, Traverse City Central took advantage, and the Rockets ended up falling to the Trojans 72-53 in a non-conference matchup.
Reeths-Puffer, now 1-7 on the season, will complete its trip up north on Saturday with an afternoon game at Traverse City West.
The Rockets had a good first quarter, jumping out to a very promising 19-10 lead. Justin Chan scored seven points in the quarter while Marvin Moore and Hank Mitchelson each had six, with Mitchelson’s points coming on two triples.
Justin Chan: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals
TC Central stormed back in the second quarter, outscoring the Rockets 22-12 and taking a narrow 32-31 lead into halftime.
Moore scored all 12 of the Rockets’ points in the second quarter, including three triples. Overall R-P hit six three-pointers in the first half.
Things went bad for the Rockets in the third and fourth quarters, when they were outscored 21-11 and 19-11, allowing TC Central to pull away.
Collin Rademacher scored 13 points in the third quarter for the Trojans while Ethan Rademacher had nine in the fourth.
TC Central won its third straight game and improved to 3-2 overall.
Moore finished with 19 points and five rebounds for the Rockets while Chan totaled 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. Michelson had nine points and seven rebounds.