Lake's Heroic Hurl Makes Holland History
January 20, 2016
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – With 4.5 seconds remaining and his team trailing by two points, Demetrius Lake was only trying to help force overtime in last Friday’s Ottawa-Kent Conference Green showdown against visiting Zeeland West.
Instead, the standout junior guard from Holland High School made history with one dramatic shot.
“When they inbounded the ball to me, I was going to try and beat everybody down the floor to get a bucket and go to overtime,” Lake said. “That’s was all I was thinking. Get to the rim. Get to the rim.”
Lake altered his plan when he saw Zeeland West’s defense. He had only one option.
“They came out in a half-court trapping situation to stop me, so I push the ball down the sideline as fast as I can and I look up and there is only two seconds on the clock,” Lake recalled. “So I shoot a 3 behind the arc, and I’m watching it go in as I follow through on my shot. It was like, wow, did that really happen?”
It did happen. A stunning buzzer-beater from the right wing that not only gave the Dutch a come-from-behind victory, but it gave Lake a school-record 50 points.
“Everybody was chasing me, and the place erupted,” Lake said. “Fans were jumping out of the seats and running on the court. It was a crazy atmosphere.”
Lake said the night was memorable for more than one reason.
“It was special in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It was a conference game against a Zeeland West team that played us tough, and breaking the record on a game-winning shot was real special because it was in front of my home crowd. The whole crowd, including the principal, superintendent and the athletic director. They were all there watching me, and it was just big for me and my teammates.”
Holland third-year head coach Paul Chapman has seen clutch shots from Lake before.
“He is not afraid to take those kind of shots, so I wasn’t surprised when it went in,” Chapman said. “It was a real tough shot, and he had guys all over him. He was way out by the sideline.
“He scored 50 points, and that overshadowed some other things because he also led us in that game in steals, assists and tied for the lead in rebounds. He played pretty much an all-around great game. He put the exclamation mark on everything with the 3-pointer at the buzzer.”
The 5-foot-11 Lake, who recently turned 17, eclipsed a longstanding school record. Ron Maat owned the previous mark, scoring 49 points during a game in 1960.
Lake had his sights set on the record.
“I knew when I scored my first 40-point game against Cedar Springs that I was aiming for that record because I knew I was going to end up breaking it sometime this season,” Lake said. “It really wasn’t my main focus, but since I was playing middle school basketball one of the goals that I had was breaking records here at Holland High School.
“It’s special for me to have my name up there and in the record books. You have to work for that, and that’s what I did.”
Lake’s heroics helped improve Holland’s record to 6-3 and 2-0 in the conference. Through nine games, he’s averaging an astounding 33.3 points per game, with four games of 40 points or better.
Lake also contributes in other ways, averaging 4.6 rebounds, 4.1 steals and 3.0 assists per game. He’s shooting 43 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free-throw line.
Last season, as a sophomore, Lake averaged 25 points per game and earned a spot on the Class A all-state team. He scored at least 30 points eight times.
While Lake has always possessed the ability to score points at a rapid pace, he improved other facets of his game during the offseason.
“He’s a better ball handler, and that’s one thing he worked on, and he’s shooting a higher percentage,” Chapman said. “He’s been very aggressive with the ball, and he has the ability at times to put us on his back and kind of carry us through.
“He’s also a tremendous competitor. He really wants to win and wants to do well. He’s a fantastic athlete and not afraid to fail. He does a lot for us.”
Lake, who was pulled up to varsity from the junior varsity 11 games into his freshmen season, has seen all types of defenses from opposing teams in an attempt to contain him.
It’s something he anticipated entering the season.
“I worked really hard this summer on being more consistent so I can be aware of teams running different defenses at me,” Lake said. “I really concentrated on my 3-pointers, lay-ups, free throws and getting other players involved. Alumni will come into practice and guard me, and we work on denying me the ball in practice.”
Lake also has stepped into a leadership role.
“He’s a much better leader,” Chapman said. “Last year he was on a senior-dominated team, but now he’s the guy with experience. He’s done a good job at getting guys in the right spots and getting them to compete and believe in themselves.”
Lake has received attention from several colleges including the likes of Purdue, Michigan State, DePaul and Youngstown State.
However, Lake has a wish list of three top programs he hopes to play for in the future.
“I really want to go to Duke because it’s a dream school for me, and number two is Michigan State, to play for Tom Izzo,” Lake said. “And then there is UCLA. Those are the top three I really want to go to.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Holland's Demetrius Lake gets to the basket during a game last season against Hudsonville Unity Christian. (Middle) Lake throws down a dunk against Holland Christian. (Photos courtesy of Holland High School.)
@DemetriusLake member of the @hollanddutchfb family beating ZW by droppin 50 w/ buzzer beater. #Family #schoolrecord pic.twitter.com/9l5v2dl7Df
— Andrew Pratley (@pratleyac) January 16, 2016
Bear Lake's Harless Twins Both Eclipse 1,000 Points, Have More Milestones in Mind
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
January 30, 2026
Grady and Myles Harless will end their high school basketball careers among the highest scorers in Bear Lake history.
The twin brothers are the latest Lakers to join the 1,000-point club, but scoring is not how either one of them wants to be remembered. Their preferred legacy, as they look to play at the next level, is a strong work ethic.
“You can be athletic as you want, but if someone outworks you they'll be better than you,” Grady Harless said, noting his message is to current and future high school basketball players. “If you're from a small school, hard work will get your name out there.”
Myles Harless has a similar message for those competing on the hard court.
“Even if you come from a small school or a small community, you can be great,” he said. “It doesn't matter what part of the state you're from – if you're good, you're good.”
With the Harless twins leading the way, the Lakers are off to a 13-4 start and share first place in the West Michigan D League at 8-1. Grady Harless is scoring 23 points per game while also averaging six rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.7 steals. Myles Harless is averaging 20.7 points per game while dominating the boards with almost 18 rebounds per contest.
“Those two have been the definition of what I view Bear Lake basketball is and should be going forward,” said fifth-year Lakers coach Christian Novak. “I've seen some pretty solid twins that have played together and what not, but I've not seen any accomplish the same thing these two have.”
Myles Harless pulled down 25 rebounds and scored 28 points Tuesday night as the Lakers stayed in first place with an 87-49 win over Mesick. Grady Harless added 27 points and six assists.
Joining the 1,000-point club had been the twins’ goal since they first played for Bear Lake as eighth graders. With an enrollment far fewer than 100, Bear Lake applied for and was granted an MHSAA waiver to permit eighth graders like the Harless boys to compete in junior varsity and varsity play.
The twins played sparingly on the varsity as eighth graders, mostly benefiting from the fifth-quarter rule.
“Myles and Grady are the exact definition of what Bear Lake basketball is — show up, go to work, put in the extra time with grit and all the extra stuff,” Novak said. “I would say from their eighth-grade summer until all the way up till now, they did the work and I doubt they missed more than a handful of training opportunities.”
The Lakers are riding a five-game winning streak and have four league games remaining. They’ll finish the regular season at Baldwin, a team they topped 66-48 at home. Baldwin currently shares the league lead.
Senior Easton Nowak has been on a tear of late for Bear Lake as well. He had 13 points, four steals, two assists and a blocked shot against Mesick and is now averaging almost 10 points per game. Just prior to playing Mesick, Nowak had double-digit games of 20, 16 and 10 points.
“Easton started off slow this year, but he's been picking it up a lot recently,” Novak pointed out. “He is looking to score, and everything has just opened up the twins so much to where it's made everything so much easier for them.”
Mesick was the opponent earlier this season when Myles Harless, who has also topped 1,000 rebounds in his career, joined the 1,000-point club. The milestone point was scored with a slam dunk.
“The coolest part was when Myles was at the point of reaching 1,000, he got a steal and got a dunk,” said Novak, himself a past all-state player for Bear Lake. “That's the perfect way to cap your thousand – go throw it down.”
Prior to the first meeting with Mesick, the 1,000-point club recognized just one Harless, Grady. The Lakers were prepared to immediately recognize Myles’ accomplishment.
It was an extra special moment for the twins and not just because the pressure of both getting into the club had been lifted. They were both on the court during the second quarter as the game was temporarily halted.
“It was pretty special — they unveiled the banner during the game,” recalled Grady Harless. “Having both of our names on those banners back-to-back, it really shows it’s worth putting in so much time and effort into one thing.”
Myles Harless admitted it was quite a relief the moment he joined his brother in the club. He started the season 91 points shy.
“My goal was to hit it before Christmas break, and thankfully I did,” Myles acknowledged. “I kind of just wanted to not really think about it and just play because if you just play, you'll score and just play hard and do the work. But once I did hit it, all the pressure went away.”
Myles’s Harless was quick to point out there is more to achieve for the Lakers moving forward. And no one knows that more than Novak.
Bear Lake hopes to win the District championship – which has eluded the Lakers since 2008 – in addition to a first conference title since 2018. They had both in their sights as the season tipped off, and they have not wavered despite a tough loss to Marion early that reminded the Lakers they have to show up every night.
“It's been a while for both so it was just kind of let's get a conference title – we're kind of the favorites – and then let's go into Districts, handle business there and try to get that and then move on to Regional,” Novak said. “So it's always been kind of the goal to accomplish as much as we can with all the guys we have and put the work in.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grady Harless (10) brings the ball up for Bear Lake against Traverse City Christian, while Myles Harless (4) puts up a shot against the Sabres. (Middle) Grady Harless directs the offense against Mason County Eastern. (Below) Myles Harless elevates for a jumper against Leland. (Traverse City Christian and Leland game photos courtesy of the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Mason County Eastern game photo courtesy of Miles Joseph/milesflics.)