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.)
Dugener Delivering as North Muskegon Enters February Undefeated Again
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
February 6, 2025
Adam Dugener has certainly emerged as “the dude” for the North Muskegon boys basketball team.
Chants of “Doog” were raining down from the rafters of North Muskegon’s intimate old gym last week when Dugener drained a school-record nine 3-pointers in a key 65-52 win over West Michigan Conference Rivers rival Mason County Central.
“Shooting is my thing, and sometimes I can get hot,” said Dugener, downplaying his 38-point night in the Norsemen’s win.
“When I’m hot, I feel like I’m going to make everything and that I should keep on shooting.”
That game wasn’t even his biggest scoring night of the season – that being a 39-point performance in a lopsided win over a good Hart team Dec. 20.
Dugener is averaging 23 points per game for the Norsemen, who are 15-0 and ranked No. 9 in the latest Michigan Sports Writers Division 3 poll heading into a pair of big games this weekend at Muskegon Western Michigan Christian on Friday and home Saturday against Grand Rapids Covenant Christian.
“Adam is a legit scorer who demands attention from the defense,” said Chuck Rypstra, who is in his 11th year as NM’s head coach. “He’s in the gym all the time, working at it and trying to get better. Then we have a lot of other pieces around him.”
Dugener is not always on fire, which was the case Wednesday night at Manistee when his shot was slightly off and he managed just 11 points.
The host Mariners made a run at the unbeaten Norse, closing to within eight points midway through the fourth quarter. Dugener, just a junior on a senior-laden team, got his teammates together for a few calming words and keyed a late run to put the game away.
Dugener, who also averages five rebounds, four assists and four steals per game, had a pair of rebounds, a steal and two big assists during that stretch – his most notable play a nifty long outlet pass to Braylen Burrell for a breakaway layup.
“When I’m not having a good shooting night, I try to contribute in other ways,” said Dugener, who is the son of Matt and Susan Dugener. “I’m always looking to get better at distributing and getting the ball to my teammates in the right place.”
TJ Byard, a 6-foot-1 senior who recently committed to play football at Lawrence Tech as a receiver, is a versatile weapon who averages seven points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals per game. Byard scored a game-high 16 points, with three 3-pointers, in Wednesday’s win at Manistee.
Burrell is the team’s other main 3-point shooting threat, along with Landon Grimm off the bench. Burrell has 36 3-points this season, right behind Dugener’s 39 triples.
Dugener is the only one of the five starters – also including Byard, Burrell, center Chuck Meyers and forward Jaden Villalpando – who wasn’t part of NM’s football team that advanced to the Division 7 Semifinals before losing to eventual champion Millington.
“I think our best is still yet to come, because some of those football guys are still rounding into form,” said Rypstra. “We have a lot of guys that play multiple sports, which is great, because they know how to compete and they know how to win. Now they are getting the basketball reps in.”
That supporting cast is critical if the Norse want to win a fifth-straight District championship and get past their Regional roadblock in March.
North Muskegon, which finished 22-0 during last year’s regular season, has won four consecutive Districts but has not had much success in the Regional round – winning just one Regional game over the past four years, in 2021. Both of the past two years, the Norse lost three-point heartbreakers to Pewamo-Westphalia in the Regional opener.
North Muskegon has established itself as a top-tier defensive team, using their trademark 2-3 zone defense to suffocate and frustrate teams along the way.
Rypstra believes that defensive focus, which relies on taking away fast break and other easy scoring opportunities, will keep his team in every game. The key to taking the next step could be avoiding prolonged dry spells on the offensive end – which is where Dugener comes in.
He’s a self-described gym rat who said he fell in love with the game while playing in his driveway with his two older brothers, Nate and Jared.
“My two older brothers pushed me in those games out in the driveway and they would never let me have anything easy, even though I was smaller than them,” explained Dugener, who hopes to play college basketball and major in something in the science field.
“That really prepared me for tough defenses and pressure situations. I want to be ready for those pressure shots.”
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) North Muskegon’s Adam Dugener splits a pair of Manistee defenders to get to the basket. (Middle) Dugener (2) considers his options as he reaches midcourt. (Photos courtesy of Susan Dugener.)