Beecher Seniors Lead 3-Peat Attempt
March 23, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – The day after Flint Beecher won the Class C boys basketball championship in 2013, coach Mike Williams went to watch an eighth-grade game.
He saw Levane Blake get a steal and a dunk, Malik Ellison pull up for a 3-pointer. “I just remember seeing the chemistry between them,” Williams said. “And I thought to myself, I think we’ll be going back down to Lansing a few more times.”
Now seniors, Blake, Ellison and Jordan Roland have a chance to finish their Beecher careers among the most successful players in the program’s storied history.
The Bucs have won seven MHSAA titles, and those three captains have been part of two straight – and earned an opportunity to three-peat with a 76-68 victory over Detroit Edison Public School Academy in Thursday’s first Semifinal at the Breslin Center.
“We feel more poised this year. It’s our senior year, and we want to go out with a bang,” Roland said.
“It’s our senior year, and I won’t be able to wear this jersey anymore,” Blake added, “or play on the court with my team, or lead the young guys. So we work every day in practice, go hard, hard, hard, and Coach Mike pushes us.”
Beecher (22-5) will play Grand Rapids Covenant Christian in Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. Final. The Bucs not only have won the last two Class C titles, but four of the last five.
After watching these seniors star as eighth graders that day in 2013, Williams knew they’d be on varsity as freshmen. Ellison, Roland and Blake all joined the varsity that next winter; Ellison and Blake started as sophomores in the 2015 championship win, and all three started in last year’s title game.
Ellison scored a game-high 28 points and added seven rebounds and seven assists Thursday, while Roland and Blake both scored 10 points, Roland also grabbing seven rebounds and the 6-foot-7 Blake blocking six shots.
Edison (14-12), in its first Semifinal after winning its first Regional title last week, fought back-and-forth for the lead through the first five minutes of the second quarter until Beecher took a one-point lead on a Roland bucket with 3:17 to go in the first half, and never gave up the advantage again.
“We know Malik is a tough little guard, and I think the thing you never can put a hand on is a guy coming up here playing in three state championships games,” DEPSA coach Brandon Neely said. “I think the advantage he had is he just understood how the game would go. … You know that those guys are never going to get rattled. They’ve been in so many wars that when they come to battle, they’re just loose; it’s just another game for them."
Senior guard Jamal Keesee led the Pioneers with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while junior center Deante Johnson had 17 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Gary Solomon added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, and junior guard Pierre Mitchell, Jr., had 10 points and also six rebounds and four assists.
Beecher freshman guard Jalen Terry had 15 points as his team’s second-leading scorer, something that spoke to what Williams has emphasized to his successful seniors this winter. He put it on them to play major roles in bringing along the next generation, to work at both continuing the Bucs’ legacy and setting it up for the future as well, just as others did to assist them at the start of their careers.
“I’m just going to go out there and play hard for them,” Terry said. “They gave me everything they’ve got. I’m going to give them everything I’ve got.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Flint Beecher’s Malik Ellison drives hard to the basket during Thursday’s first Class C Semifinal. (Middle) The Bucs score two more on the way to earning their third straight championship game berth.
Concord Basketball Celebrates Rare Feat: Foursome of 1,000-Point Scorers
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
March 3, 2026
Concord has a rich basketball tradition, but something has happened this year that no one could have predicted.
The Yellow Jackets have had four players – two girls and two boys – reach the career 1,000-point milestone.
“It seems like a pretty rare occurrence,” Concord athletic director Matt Lehman said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like it. There was a time where we’d go years without having one player do it. To have four players do it in one season is crazy.”
Senior Cieara Barrett started the avalanche when she reached the milestone just after Christmas against Adrian Lenawee Christian.
A couple weeks later, during the same game, Concord seniors Connor Stevens and Jett Smith both scored their 1,000th points on back-to-back possessions during the Yellow Jackets’ win over Quincy. It was also Senior Night.
“It was a close game, too,” said Smith. “I got it, then the next time down the court, Jett got his 1,000th point. We called timeouts both times. It was pretty cool.”
Stevens went into the game needing just six points to reach 1,000. “I knew I should get it that game,” he said.
Smith needed a bigger night to accomplish it the same game – and he came through, pouring in 35 points in the Concord win.
“It was cool,” Smith said. “A lot of people said they’ve never seen that before.”
Against Vermontville Maple Valley on Feb. 18, junior Bradie Lehman reached 1,000 points on a pass from Barrett off a steal.
Barrett, who is also Concord’s all-time assists leader, has played for three coaches over her four varsity seasons. After a 4-17 season her freshman year, Concord has won 20, 22 and 20 games. This year’s team is 20-2 heading into the District Semifinals on Wednesday.
“I’ve had multiple coaches, and they all have had a different style,” Barrett said. “I’ve had to learn how to play in all of them. I think they each have given me something different I can use in my game.”
Reaching 1,000 points, she said, “wasn’t my focus, but once I knew I was close it became a goal.”
Lehman, the daughter of the athletic director, also was brought up to the varsity at the start of her freshman season. She said that season she wasn’t a big scorer.
Concord’s girls play an up-tempo offense, averaging 55.7 points a game. Lehman said the team plays tough defense, too, which sets up the offense.
“We score a lot in transition, off turnovers,” she said.
Reaching 1,000 points took a burden off of her, she noted.
“I was out for a lot of games last year, so I didn’t think I could get it this year,” she said. “Once I got there, it was kind of a relief. I was thinking about it so much. I just wanted to get it done and move on.”
Lehman thinks the Yellow Jackets are poised for a deep tournament run again. Last season they reached the Division 4 Semifinals.
“I definitely think we can make it there (again),” she said. “We have a lot of pieces.”
The Concord boys (20-4) put the finishing touches on their Division 4 District title Friday.
During his four seasons on the varsity, Stevens – also Concord’s all-time leading rebounder – said he’s grown as a player.
“I’ve gotten stronger and better,” he said. “I’m more aggressive now. That has helped my confidence, too.”
Smith said he’s always had a shooters mentality. He had 36 points in the District Final and is among the top scorers in his area. The success of this year’s team is no surprise, he said, given the bulk of the team has been playing together since middle school. The Yellow Jackets have won 67 games over the past four years.
“We’ve been talking about this since the eighth grade,” he said.
Concord boys basketball coach Marcus Gill said Smith and Stevens are polar opposites in terms of personalities, but they make it work.
“They couldn’t be more different dudes,” he said. “Jett is wired to score. From day one, he was wired to score. He never met a shot he didn’t like. Connor, he’s so unselfish it’s almost selfish. I tell him we need him to score more.”
All four players now have banners hanging up in the Concord gym recognizing their accomplishment. The athletic department also has a Wall of Fame outside the gym that all of them may someday join.
Gill summed it up: “It’s a special time for Concord basketball.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Four Concord basketball players have reached 1,000 career points this season – from left: Bradie Lehman, Cieara Barrett, Connor Stevens and Jett Smith. (Middle) Lehman brings the ball upcourt. (Group photo by Doug Donnelly. Lehman action photo courtesy of the Concord athletic department.)