Bedford Boys Hoops Off to Best Start in Decade Under Alum Bollin
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 24, 2023
TEMPERANCE – The Bedford Mules are kicking up a special boys basketball season in southeast Michigan.
Temperance Bedford is off to a 10-1 start, the best for the school in a decade. Third-year coach Jordan Bollin is happy to bring a winner to his alma mater.
“Bedford has had good teams here and there and good players and coaches, but it never seemed to be anything that was sustained,” Bollin said. “I knew it was going to be a challenge.”
Bollin played varsity basketball at Bedford, graduating in 2006. He went into coaching almost immediately after high school and was named head coach at Dundee in 2015. After 68 wins in five seasons, Bollin was named head coach at Bedford.
“I talked it over with my wife, with the athletic director, with (assistant coach) Mark Hubbard,” Bollin said. “I always, in the back of my mind, thought that I would want to come back to Bedford and coach one day. I wanted to do it while I was still relatively a young coach who still had the passion for all of this. It’s the right time.
“I felt like, leaving Dundee, I had an opportunity to build something myself.”
Wrestling has been the winter sports king at Bedford for decades as the Mules spent years at the top of Class A/Division 1 wrestling circles. The boys basketball team has enjoyed its moments, such as a three-year span when it went 18-6, 18-5 and 14-8 across 2012-2014, but there have been down years, too. Various coaches have tried their hand at the helm, including former NBA player Dennis Hopson.
Bollin himself played for coach Bill Ryan, who led the boys team for seven years but has found ultra-success with Bedford’s girls basketball program.
Bollin knew that when he took over the varsity, he wanted to incorporate the entire program.
“No program is one coach,” he said.
He brought multiple assistants with him from Dundee, including longtime Monroe County coach Hubbard, a Bedford graduate, and former head coach in the county himself. The two have formed a bond.
“We talk every day on the phone before practice,” Bollin said. “We go to lunch once or twice a week. He’s a mentor and someone I talk to all the time.”
Bedford has posted wins over a variety of teams this season, from Southeastern Conference teams like Dexter and Monroe to Ottawa Lake Whiteford, Adrian Lenawee Christian and Stockbridge. Ten of the Mules’ final 11 games are against SEC schools, including two against 8-3 Saline.
Bollin knows the toughest is yet to come.
“We get Ann Arbor Huron at home,” he said. “We lost to them by three on the road. We had the ball, down two in the final seconds and had the ball and were called for a travel. It was close.”
Six-foot-7 Andrew Hollinger is the team’s top scorer and rebounder. Four years ago, he played five games on the varsity, then was a starter in Bollin’s first season. He’s now closing in on 1,000 career points and is one of the best rebounders in southeast Michigan.
“He’s phenomenal,” Bollin said. “He plays so hard, and he’s a great kid. He’s a 4.0 student and very humble. You’ll never hear him talk about himself; it’s always about the team.”
While he’s proven to be a great scorer and free throw shooter this season, Hollinger is also a relentless rebounder.
“I’ve always been one of the tallest out on the court, so I know that I can really use that to my advantage in order to rebound,” he said. “Once the shot goes up, I try to chase down the ball or box someone out in order to give my team the chance to get the ball back.”
Bollin said Hollinger’s intensity shows.
“I use him as an example to the other kids all of the time,” Bollin said.
Twice this season Hollinger has set the school record for most consecutive free throws made in a game. He went 15-for-15 once and 16-for-16 another time. Hollinger averaged a double-double last year at 18.2 points and 10.8 rebounds and has topped those numbers through 11 games this season.
Hollinger is one of eight seniors on the roster. Like Bollin, he’s a homegrown talent, having made his way up from the Bedford Community Education program in the fourth grade to middle school, JV and varsity.
“I fell in love with basketball when I played in the local community ed program,” he said.
Hollinger said all of the seniors had a feeling this was going to be a great season.
“I think the success from our team comes from how hard we play every game and how much experience we have,” he said. “We knew coming into the season that we were in pretty much every game the season before and just had to find a way to start winning games.”
Bedford won six games during the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season and four a year ago – losing several games that came down to the final minute. Bollin has matched the win total in those first two years at Bedford in two months.
Ironically, Bollin said, it was the 2020-21 season during which most of this year’s seniors learned to play varsity basketball.
“We had so many games where we had players out for COVID that we had to bring a lot of them up to the varsity to play,” he said. “A lot of the seniors this year got a ton of playing time that year.”
The other current seniors include Griffin Wolf, Tommy Huss, Jimmy Fackelman, Simon Eighmey, Caleb Kochendoerfer, Evan Campbell, and Leo Wagenhauser. They are complimented by a couple sophomores and juniors plus freshman Carsen Behnke.
Hollinger is hopeful the first-half success will continue.
“We all believed in each other in the offseason, and that belief still continues through the start of the season,” he said, deflecting any attention from himself. “I love how basketball is a team game and how you need the whole team to be playing hard in order to win. It’s not just about one person, but it’s about everyone.”
Bollin said he could sense this summer that this season had the makings of being something special.
“I thought we’d have a nice season, but, no, I wasn’t expecting 10-1,” he said. “But, in the summer, I knew when everyone was there and together, we were tough to beat.”
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.
PHOTOS (Top) Bedford’s Andrew Hollinger works for an opening while surrounded by Monroe defenders last season. (Middle) Bedford boys basketball coach Jordan Bollin. (Below) Hollinger brings the Mules up court during a 63-43 win Friday. (Action photos by Tom Hawley and Mike Doughty, respectively, and courtesy of the Monroe News.)
Breslin Bound: 2022-23 Boys Report Post-Break
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 10, 2023
“Showcase Season” gave fans plenty to watch over the holiday break, and plenty to help us look forward to these next two months as we push through the midwinter grind of another boys basketball season.
More than 200 games were played from Dec. 26-30 alone in events on both sides of Mackinac Bridge, and we glance at some of those below and preview some of what to watch as calendar year 2023 gets further underway.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Grand Rapids Catholic Central 65, Warren De La Salle Collegiate 55 After opening the season with three defeats, including the third detailed below, reigning Division 2 runner-up GRCC (3-3) earned the most notable victory of the Motor City Roundball Classic over reigning Division 1 champion De La Salle (6-2).
2. Port Huron Northern 70, Hamtramck 69 The Huskies (6-0) followed up a three-point win over Ann Arbor Skyline two days earlier at the Motor City with this strong statement at the North Farmington Holiday Extravaganza.
3. Warren De La Salle Collegiate 38, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 34 In a Detroit Catholic League Central where all five teams have realistic MHSAA championship possibilities, every win counts even more – and in this one the Pilots handed Brother Rice (8-1) its lone defeat.
4. Detroit Cass Tech 59, Grand Rapids Northview 42 The Technicians (8-0) dealt the lone loss of the season to Northview (6-1), a Division 1 semifinalist last winter, at the Motor City.
5. Muskegon 81, Grand Rapids Catholic Central 79 (OT) The also-undefeated Big Reds (5-0) had their closest call of the early season with this nail-biter at the Hall of Fame Classic at Reeths-Puffer.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Detroit Cass Tech (8-0) After coming up just a two-point loss short of making the Division 1 Semifinals last season, the Technicians have completed a second-straight undefeated December. The win over Northview (see above) was of course noteworthy, but also one of seven double-digit victories so far. Also among the early notables was an 81-50 win over Saginaw Heritage at the PSL Holiday Classic. Circle Jan 20, when Cass faces Martin Luther King in a rematch of last season’s runner-up and champion, respectively, from the Public School League Blue.
Grand Haven (7-0) The Buccaneers surged to 18-4 last season and could be in the midst of climbing another step. They finished second in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red, after splitting with eventual champion Rockford, and won the first meeting with the Rams this winter 59-53 on Friday. A 20-point victory over Dearborn is becoming a nice bonus with Dearborn’s continued success, and Grand Haven also swept its Lakeshore Cup Tournament with what remain the only losses this season for Petoskey and Traverse City St. Francis.
DIVISION 2
Boyne City (6-1) A season-opening overtime loss to St. Ignace didn’t knock Boyne City off track, as the Ramblers have been undefeated the rest of the way with arguably their most impressive victories back-to-back over Marquette and Negaunee to finish December. Boyne City also avenged its District loss to Sault Ste. Marie with a 16-point victory and downed Elk Rapids 60-57 after falling twice to the Elks during 2021-22 when the Ramblers placed third and Elk Rapids second to Traverse City St. Francis in the Lake Michigan Conference.
Corunna (6-1) The Cavaliers are making last season’s 9-12 finish a distant memory quicky, with their only loss so far to still-undefeated Laingsburg and four wins over teams sitting .500 or better. Along the way Corunna already has avenged two last-season losses to Lake Fenton and another against Detroit University Prep Art & Design. Undefeated Goodrich tonight should provide another helpful measuring stick.
DIVISION 3
Laingsburg (8-0) The Wolfpack are almost always solid and appear to be moving back toward spectacular with this start. In addition to the win over Corunna (see above), Laingsburg has won its first three league games including by 18 over last year’s Central Michigan Athletic Conference champion Pewamo-Westphalia. That and the 18-point Corunna win are the Wolfpack’s closest victories through the season’s first third.
St. Ignace (6-1) The Saints started out with a special win, 79-74 over Boyne City in overtime, and Monday’s 67-65 loss to Division 2 Gaylord was the first obstacle they’ve met this winter. A 65-60 win over Rudyard remains that opponent’s only loss, and St. Ignace also traveled down for the Motor City Roundball Classic to defeat Center Line 56-51. The Saints are looking to catch Rudyard in the Straits Area Conference after finishing runner-up to the Bulldogs a year ago.
DIVISION 4
Lake Leelanau St. Mary (8-0) The Eagles followed a Regional Finals run in 2021 with a Semifinals run last season, and they’re rolling again with no win closer than 13 points this winter. St. Mary won the Will Lynch Invitational at Benzie Central, defeating reigning Division 3 runner-up Menominee 63-45 in a semifinal. The Eagles do not play in a league, but their schedule the rest of the way includes several strong small-school teams.
Munising (9-0) The Mustangs haven’t lost more than three games in a season over the last three, and could be headed toward running that streak to four seasons with only one single-digit game so far this winter – a 56-50 win over Ishpeming. Munising’s only losses last season were twice to Powers North Central and once to Rudyard; the Mustangs see Rudyard on Feb. 8 and North Central twice that month.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Flint Beecher (6-0) at Flint Hamady (6-0) – In the first of two regular-season matchups this season, Hamady will attempt to end Beecher’s nine-game winning streak in the series.
Thursday – Petoskey (7-1) at Cadillac (6-0) – Early returns in the Big North Conference make these two the likely favorites after Cadillac shared the title and Petoskey tied for third last season.
Thursday – Grand Ledge (5-1) at Okemos (8-0) – In what’s shaping up to be a deep Capital Area Activities Conference Blue, these two are shaping up as top contenders.
Saturday – Benton Harbor (5-1) vs. North Farmington (6-1) at Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills – This may be the premier matchup of the annual MLK Day Hoops Classic.
Saturday – Warren Michigan Collegiate (5-1) vs. Detroit Renaissance (7-3) at Ferndale – This matchup should conclude the Horatio Williams Foundation MLK Freedom Classic in a big way.
MHSAA.com's weekly “Breslin Bound” previews and reviews are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO Grand Blanc and East Lansing face off during Saturday's Carmody Classic, with the host Bobcats victorious 65-61. (Photo by Terry Lyons.)