After Lead Fades, Concord Stays Together to Stop Reigning Champ Tri-Unity in OT
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2026
EAST LANSING — Dethroning a champion is never easy, a fact Concord found out first-hand against Wyoming Tri-unity Christian in a Division 4 Semifinal on Thursday.
Concord jumped out to a big halftime lead and remained ahead by nine points late in the fourth quarter, but were stunned when Tri-unity Christian junior Cody Osbun forced overtime with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer during the final second of regulation at Breslin Center.
But in a credit to its resolve, Concord refocused and ended Tri-unity’s pursuit of a third-straight title, ending the game on an 11-0 run to earn a thrilling 50-40 overtime victory.
Concord (24-4) advanced to meet Detroit Douglass in the Division 4 Final at 10 a.m. Saturday in what will be its first championship game appearance.
“That was one of the hardest games we’ve ever had to play,” Concord head coach Marcus Gill said. “Hats off to them. That is a great team and a great program, perennial power. They are here every year. We just wanted to come out and be us.”
After Concord senior Jett Smith split a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left in regulation to give the Yellowjackets a 38-35 lead, Tri-unity (25-2) put the ball in the hands of Osbun, who drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired to tie the game at 38-38 and force overtime.
“That was actually a botched play,” Osbun said. “We had a different play where I was supposed to get the ball at half (court), which I did, but we were supposed to have someone running down far and I was supposed to pitch it up to him. But they were face-guarding them. So I just turned and subconsciously threw up a shot, and it just happened to go in.”
Tri-unity Christian then took its first and only lead of the game at 40-39 with 2:29 remaining in overtime on a basket by senior Nolan DeMots.
From there, Concord took over.
Senior Connor Stevens hit a layup with 1:54 remaining to give Concord a 41-40 lead, and then freshman Zack Stevens made two free throws with 1:33 left push the margin to three.
Two more free throws by Connor Stevens with 1:00 remaining made it 45-40 Concord. Following a couple of stops, Concord then took a 48-40 lead with 18 seconds to go on two free throws by Smith.
“I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys for standing together,” Gill said. “Some guys are not together after having that meltdown in the second half. There’s no way a team that’s not together would have won that overtime. So proud of these guys for staying together and being who we are all year.”
Stevens had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Smith added 13 points for Concord, which came out attacking and aggressive, taking an 18-5 lead after the first quarter and going up 29-13 by halftime.
Concord held a 37-28 lead late in the fourth quarter, but Tri-unity Christian cut its deficit to 37-35 with 48.2 seconds remaining in the game on a 3-pointer by senior Clayton Rowlader, a layup by junior Jake VanKlompenberg and a putback basket by Osbun.
Osbun had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead Tri-unity.
“Obviously we would have liked to have gotten off to a better start,” said Tri-unity first-year head coach Brent Voorhees, who took over this year after the retirement of longtime coach Mark Keeler. “But the kids you saw in that second half, that’s who we are. That’s Tri-unity basketball. That’s the guys that I coached all year.”
PHOTOS (Top) Concord players including Brady Garrett (4) celebrate during the Yellow Jackets’ Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) Darrell Dean Jr. (10) drives to the basket with Tri-unity’s Andrew Hofmann (24) defending. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Eves Helps Hillsdale Keep Expectations High
December 14, 2018
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
HILLSDALE – Brad Felix found out as much about his 2018-19 Hillsdale boys basketball team in its first loss of the season Thursday as he did during its surprising 4-0 start.
The Hornets returned only one starter and just a few players that had much to do with last year’s Lenawee County Athletic Association championship team. But that hasn’t deterred Felix’s 18th squad at Hillsdale from being tied atop the LCAA and looking much better than it did on paper coming into the season.
“No one picked us to win the league, and I don’t blame them,” said Felix, who is inching closer to 300 wins as Hillsdale’s head coach. “I get it. But we haven’t lowered our expectations. We’ve done really well the last eight to 10 years. The kids expect to win. Nobody wants to be the team that goes from league champions to winning only five games.”
Thursday, the Hornets fell behind early and leading scorer Spencer Eves was on the bench with foul trouble against Brooklyn Columbia Central, one of the preseason favorites to win this year’s LCAA title. The Hornets, who came into the game 4-0, stayed in it with solid defense. When Eves hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, Hillsdale erased what had been a 35-21 deficit. CC held on for the win, but Hillsdale showed it’s not going to roll over this season for anyone.
“I think I’m more impressed, and proud, of my guys rather than surprised,” Felix said of the start to the season. “They still embrace the role of being champions and aren’t willing to just lie down and not compete.”
Felix and Hillsdale have been a model of consistency, especially in recent years. The Upper Peninsula native has coached one level or another since 1991 at Hillsdale, where he’s led both the girls and boys varsity programs. The Hornets boys have won six of the past seven LCAA championships and 10 league titles and eight District championships total under Felix.
Another thing he’s done is coach a lot of talented, high-scoring players. Most recently, Tyler Laser, Martin Peterson and Bryce Drews have donned the Hornets uniform and put up big numbers in the scoring column. This year, it’s Eves taking the reins and running with them in a big way.
“He just has that mindset that it’s his team, his time,” Felix said of the 6-foot-1 senior captain. “He’s embraced that role of a scorer. I thought we could get 15 or 20 from him. I wasn’t expecting him to be averaging 33 points a game.”
Eves has been outstanding, scoring 28 in the season opener against Jonesville and 35 against Leslie a couple of nights later. In LCAA play, he has had games of 37 against Hudson, 45 against Blissfield and 22 against Columbia Central. He’s scored more than 60 percent of his team’s points this season.
“He’s shooting the ball better than he ever has,” Felix said. “And, he really does a nice job of getting to the free throw line.”
Eves already has shot 71 free throws. He’s averaging 33.4 points a game and has eight 3-pointers. One point that makes Eves scoring so interesting is he’s really the Hornets’ point guard.
“I brought him up to the varsity his freshman year because I knew he was going to be my point guard for the next three years,” Felix said. “I wanted him to learn. He didn’t get a ton of playing time as a freshman, but he learned a lot.”
Eves did average 12 points a game last year, but even he admits to being somewhat surprised to be averaging more than 20 points more a game at this point in the season.
“I just want to go out there and do the things that give us a chance to win,” Eves said. “I’ve played with a lot of great players here. They’ve all been great mentors to me. Now, I’m trying to carry on that tradition.”
Eves said the success of the program over the last decade carries over from year to year.
“Coming up through the system, I think it definitely helps,” he said. “We have had a lot of success.”
Against Blissfield, Eves was nearly unstoppable, scoring 45 of Hillsdale’s 71 points. He made 15 field goals and was 12-for-15 from the charity stripe. Remarkably, through five games, only one other Hillsdale player has reached double figures in scoring in a game – Coby Nash scored 10 in the season opener.
These early-season wins will only help Hillsdale gain confidence as the season goes on. Besides Eves, other seniors on the squad are Nick Baxter, Noah Lopresto and Nash. Hillsdale also has a freshman and one sophomore, Felix’s son Adam.
“We have a lot of role players,” Brad Felix said. “The guys know their roles. They are buying into those roles. We’ve played well. We’re going to keep getting better.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTO: Hillsdale’s Spencer Eves brings the ball upcourt.