Breslin Bound: 2021-22 Boys Report Week 2
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 20, 2021
No school for the next two weeks hardly means no basketball for many teams across the state.
Holiday showcases, classics, tournaments, etc., canceled last season because of the COVID-related late start are returning to close this calendar year, and they’ll surely clue us in more on the teams to watch once we return and turn to 2022.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. Send corrections or missing scores to [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Richland Gull Lake 78, Kalamazoo Central 75 (OT) The Blue Devils are off to a 3-0 start, with this Central’s first home league loss since 2014.
2. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 60, Clarkston 51 The Eaglets (3-0) continued their impressive start by dealing Clarkston (2-1) its first defeat.
3. River Rouge 61, Warren Fitzgerald 59 Rouge (3-0) won three times last week, two times by a bucket, beginning with this victory and followed by a 62-61 win over Belleville.
4. Benton Harbor 73, Flint Carman-Ainsworth 62 The Tigers (3-0) are revving again after last season’s trip to the Division 2 Quarterfinals, with this win coming at Grand Rapids Union’s Showcase Classic.
5. Buckley 61, Maple City Glen Lake 59 It’s hard to imagine a better start for Buckley (1-0), defeating the reigning Northwest Conference champ after finishing 7-13 overall and seventh in the league last season.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
Division 1
Ann Arbor Huron (3-0) Last season’s Division 1 runner-up is up to a combined 43-2 since the start of 2019-20, with a couple of solid and close wins last week. After opening the season Dec. 10 with a 15-point victory over Ypsilanti Lincoln, the River Rats defeated Ann Arbor Skyline 48-42 and Saline 41-39 – the only losses for those latter two opponents so far.
Hamtramck (4-0) The Cosmos are now a combined 35-6 going back to the start of the 2019-20 season and coming off a Michigan Metro Athletic Conference Black championship last winter. So far, so good this season as well, with last week featuring a 54-52 overtime win over Canton and an 81-54 victory over Wyoming Godwin Heights at Cornerstone University. The first matchup with league rival River Rouge is Jan. 28.
Division 2
Olivet (4-0) The Eagles returned to their usual successful ways with a 13-3 run last winter, and they appear on that path again. The 59-32 opening win over Union City remains the Chargers’ only defeat, and Olivet followed that up with a 55-24 win over a Hanover-Horton team coming off a run to the Division 3 Semifinals. All four Eagles victories have come by at least 20 points.
Parchment (5-0) The Panthers broke a string of two straight sub.-500 finishes with a 14-4 run last winter, and they’ve already defeated Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley reigning champion Schoolcraft after tying for second in the league last season. Parchment will meet Grand Rapids West Catholic in Wednesday’s Cornerstone University Holiday Tournament Red championship game after defeating Wyoming Potter’s House Christian in Monday’s opener.
Division 3
Bad Axe (5-0) The Hatchets closed last season’s 12-3 showing with a District title, and expectations should be growing as four of five wins have been by at least 17 points. The only losses last winter came to league rival Reese – the Rockets also won the Regional matchup – and those teams meet for the first time this season Jan. 12.
Vandercook Lake (5-0) The Jayhawks appear ready to take the next step after winning four games two seasons ago and finishing 9-9 last winter. A 56-53 win over Homer on Dec. 10 avenged an 18-point loss to last season’s Big 8 Conference champion, and Thursday’s 70-56 victory over Michigan Center avenged a pair of 2020-21 defeats.
Division 4
Britton Deerfield (3-0) After two straight winning seasons, Britton Deerfield dropped back to 6-11 last winter. But the Patriots look to be putting that quickly behind them with three double-digit wins to start. Last week’s 68-56 win over Morenci was the Bulldogs’ lone defeat.
Hillman (3-0) Last season’s 12-8 finish broke a string of two sub-.500 seasons, and the Tigers are off and running again. Two of three wins so far have avenged losses from last winter – the 39-37 victory over Rogers City in the opener after Hillman lost last season’s meeting by a point, and a 65-31 win over Alcona last week after the Tigers lost last winter’s meeting by 12.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Wednesday – Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (2-0) at Detroit Renaissance (3-0) Contenders from the Detroit Catholic League and Detroit Public School League help kick off two weeks of big-time nonleague holiday games.
Wednesday – Parchment (5-0) vs. Grand Rapids West Catholic (3-0) at Cornerstone University – These two will face off for the Holiday Tournament Red championship.
Dec. 27 – Flint Beecher (4-0) vs. Detroit Martin Luther King (1-1) at Ferndale – The Motor City Roundball Classic returns, and this matchup features the reigning Division 3 champ and a Division 1 contender.
Dec. 27 – Grand Rapids Catholic Central (1-0) vs. Detroit U-D Jesuit (3-1) at Ferndale – Both are recent Finals participants, GRCC the reigning Division 2 champion and Jesuit the 2019 Division 1 runner-up.
Dec. 28 – Williamston (5-0) vs. North Farmington (3-0) at Ferndale – This Roundball Classic game also features top teams in Divisions 2 and 1, respectively.
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PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City St. Francis opened last week with a 59-40 win over reigning Lake Michigan Conference champ Charlevoix. (Middle) DeWitt's Landen Poe (20) drives while being defended by Howell's Breven Weller (0). (Photos by Rick Sack and Cara Kamps, respectively.)
Baldwin's Back in Title Mix with High-Scoring Pair, Guided by Past Star Home Again
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
January 14, 2026
BALDWIN – Baldwin’s basketball team is off to its best start in years, thanks to a 1-2 backcourt punch that most teams can’t handle.
Senior Chase Dockery and junior Pierre “Pip” Johnson are lighting up the scoreboard for the Panthers, who are off to a 9-1 start at the regular-season halfway point and heading into Friday’s West Michigan D League showdown at Bear Lake.
“We realized this summer how special we could be,” said Dockery, a 6-foot-4 guard/forward who is averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds per game.
“Our secret is the way that we communicate and move the ball. We know that we can make a run this year.”
Baldwin, a small village in Lake County located on M-37, roughly between Grand Rapids and Traverse City, is known as a camping, fishing and hunting paradise for three seasons – with basketball taking center stage in the winter.
The community’s obsession with hoops is apparent when you check out the banners in Baldwin’s classic, old-school gym. One small section contains football, baseball and track banners, while the entire opposite wall is covered with boys basketball banners, highlighted by the Panthers’ Class D runner-up finish in 1959.
“Basketball is everything here; it’s all that we’ve got,” explained Johnson, the team’s leading scorer at 20 points per game.
Orchestrating the basketball resurgence is second-year coach Brandon Childress, one of the top athletes to ever come out of Baldwin and a first-team Class D all-state selection in both football and basketball during his senior year of 2014-2015. He also was named the state’s Division 4 Player of the Year in basketball as a senior.
Childress went on to play football, first at Central Michigan and later at Ferris State, then decided to return to his hometown to coach and also to work as Baldwin’s full-time college access and Promise Zone coordinator – helping kids prepare to go on to college and beyond.
“I come to school in the morning, and I’m a mentor and a coach to all of these kids all day long,” said Childress, 28, who also coaches baseball and football, the latter as an assistant to his younger brother, Braeden, the Panthers’ head varsity coach.
The old gym was rocking last Friday night, when Mesick rolled into town for a conference showdown.
Johnson, a lightning-quick, 6-0 point guard, was unstoppable driving to the basket, finishing with a game-high 28 points in the Panthers’ 61-50 win.
“My role is to be aggressive and to be able to go get a basket when we really need one,” said Johnson, who also averages six rebounds, three assists and three steals per game.
When Johnson does miss a shot, or is forced to give it up, Dockery is often there for a bucket.
The lanky lefty, who is equally comfortable shooting from behind the arc or battling inside, is a four-year varsity starter who leads the team in rebounding and also averages 2.7 steals and two assists per game. He was a key part of the Panthers’ conference and District championships as a freshman.
Baldwin finished 13-11 last year in its first under Childress, who took over from JJ Eads, who coached for five years and remains the school’s athletic director.
The Panthers returned all but one player from last year’s team, led by Johnson, a first-team all-conference choice, and Dockery, who was second-team all-league.
Childress said his team has already seen a variety of gimmick defenses designed to stop the Johnson and Dockery duo (with more to come), and he knows the key to his team making a postseason run will be the play of the supporting cast.
“With Pierre and Chance driving the basketball and drawing a lot of attention, our other guys will get open looks and we need them to knock those down,” said Childress, who made the Mid-American Conference all-academic team at CMU in 2016.
Junior Kyrce Cook (nine points) and sophomore Desafiar Lyons (eight points) both stepped up and took advantage of their opportunities against Mesick. Another key player is 6-4 senior Marcus Martin, who is returning from an injury and just getting back up to speed.
Baldwin’s only loss came against Blanchard Montabella (65-57) in the opening game of the Morley Stanwood Holiday Tournament on Jan. 2. The Panthers missed a staggering 13 free throws in the fourth quarter, but it was the team’s reaction to the loss which made an impression on their young coach.
“When we got back to Baldwin, they begged me to open the gym so that they could shoot free throws,” said Childress. “They shot free throws for two hours, then we went back the next day and played a much better game.”
Dockery and Johnson were the ringleaders of the night free-throw shooting session, and Childress said it’s their leadership and character which could push this team to the next level.
“Chance and Pip are both great individuals, nice kids and very good in the classroom,” said Childress. “They make my job a lot easier, because they hold everybody to a high standard.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Baldwin’s Chance Dockery elevates to put up a shot against White Cloud during a 63-41 win Dec. 2. (Middle) Pierre Johnson grabs a rebound against Oscoda during a 52-41 victory on Jan. 3. (Photos courtesy of the Baldwin boys basketball program.)