Led by fourth-year head coach Joe Fox, the Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) men’s basketball team is staging a dramatic rebound from the 2023-2024 season, raiding their way to an impressive 16-2 record.
After finishing last season with a middling 14-15 overall, the Raiders experienced a substantial roster overhaul leading into the 2024-2025 school year. With 18 players on the active roster, the team consists of 12 freshmen and five sophomores.
Fox credited the team fellowship for this season’s success.
“This year it's a combination of the guys playing well together and they all just get along. I mean, it's a really refreshing locker room,” Fox said. “I have good sophomore leadership. … I usually tell recruits we can teach you basketball, we can help you with academics, but the biggest thing is you got to want to be here. You got to want to win as bad as we want to win.”
Conference play that determines the postseason started with the team’s win against Kellogg Community College on Jan. 11. The Raiders now look ahead to the remaining 12 games of the season, slated against the other seven teams within the Western Conference of the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA).
Currently, the division is led by the 16-1 Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC). Both teams hold 3-0 division records.
“Our conference is very very talented and very deep. There are no off nights in the conference,” Fox said of the upcoming competition. “It will be interesting to see how they respond to a little adversity, just because we haven't had that yet. But, I'm confident because we pay a lot of attention to our mindset. We have a mental skills coach we work with who helps us move on. We talk about not letting plays get us too high or too low, staying even, and the guys have really bought into that, and I think it has really helped them in the close games we've had recently.”
GRCC hosted Lake Michigan College (LMC) in their most recent home game on Jan. 15, where the Raiders pulled off a stunning comeback in the second half for a 113-105 win.
Freshman guard Marshaun Flakes delivered an electric, record-breaking performance, scoring a school-record 53 points.
The freshman guard leads the team this season with 16.7 points per game and leads the entire MCCAA in steals, with a total of 55.
“I mean, he hit tough shots. He didn't force anything. There weren't really any bad shots. I just went back and rewatched the game earlier today. I've never had anybody score 50, but I've never even had anybody close to that kind of production since I've been the head coach here,” said Fox.
After a couple of games on the road, the Raiders return home to the Ford Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Jan. 29 to host conference leaders KVCC at 7:30 p.m.
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