Breslin Bound: 2023-24 Boys Report Week 2
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 11, 2023
We're always on the lookout, especially at the start of a season, for teams on the rise – maybe they are bouncing back from a tough run last year or continuing to build on recent success and attempting to take the next step.
We spotted a few more as we looked back on the second week of this boys basketball season, and others are sure to emerge as we continue looking forward to more early-season big-time matchups and the showcase events that fill the December calendar.
“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 Ledge 64, Saginaw 55 The Comets are off to a 4-1 start, and this win over Saginaw (3-1) – a Division 2 semifinalist last season – was the headliner from the Moneyball Classic at Holt.
2. Grand Rapids Northview 70, Grand Rapids Catholic Central 67 Northview (2-0) reaffirmed its spot among teams to watch in West Michigan with this early win over the Cougars (1-1) at The Invite at Calvin University.
3. Detroit Cass Tech 58, Holt 51 The host Rams gave the reigning Division 1 champion Technicians one of their closer regular-season games of the last two seasons at the Moneyball Classic, but Cass Tech hung on to move to 30-1 since the start of 2022-23.
4. Ferndale 60, River Rouge 57 Since losing its opener last week to Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, Ferndale (2-1) has downed Davison by eight and handed River Rouge (2-1) this first loss of the season.
5. Grandville 59, Hudsonville Unity Christian 56 Grandville (2-0) may not be known as much for boys basketball, but could be soon. Defeating a Division 2 quarterfinalist from last season in Unity (3-2) at The Invite certainly deserves some attention.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Muskegon Reeths-Puffer (2-0) The Rockets have improved from nine to 13 to 15 wins over the last three seasons, respectively, and a 38-34 victory over Grand Haven on Friday avenged one of the 10 losses from last winter. Reeths-Puffer previously opened with a 74-67 victory over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, still FHC’s lone loss.
Saline (3-0) Sophomore Jonathan Sanderson has opened this season scoring 40, 30 and 51 points, the 51 to lead Saline past Canton 74-72 in overtime last week. The Hornets were a solid 16-7 last season and tied with two others for second in the Southeastern Conference Red, but might be on the verge of more.
DIVISION 2
Freeland (4-0) The Falcons are the lone team to hand Grand Ledge a loss (see above), doing so to win the Petoskey Invitational before taking a major early step in the Tri-Valley Conference Red on Friday with a 54-49 win over rival Frankenmuth. After reaching the Division 2 Semifinals in 2022, Freeland finished 17-7 last season.
Grand Rapids Christian (3-0) A 60-50 win over Hudsonville on Saturday as part of The Invite at Calvin University topped off a nice run of three victories over five days for Grand Rapids Christian. The Eagles also defeated Wyoming 58-53 and Grand Rapids South Christian 58-48 as they work to build on last season’s 20-6 finish.
DIVISION 3
Laingsburg (3-0) The Wolfpack finished 25-1 last season, its only loss in a Division 3 Quarterfinal as Daniel Morrill finished his run as coach. New leader Tim Beebe has Laingsburg continuing to roll, with a 59-55 overtime win over Pewamo-Westphalia on Wednesday especially notable as P-W had won the last four Central Michigan Athletic Conference titles before the Wolfpack prevailed last winter.
McBain (3-0) After a rare down season in 2021-22, the Ramblers bounced back to go 20-6 last winter and have already avenged one of those defeats with a 63-56 win over Boyne City last week; Boyne also won 20 games last season. McBain opened Highland Conference play with an 80-49 victory over Manton as it looks to repeat as league champion.
DIVISION 4
Britton Deerfield (4-0) The Patriots have shown they can win the close ones already this winter, with Friday’s 42-41 win over Petersburg Summerfield adding to a 60-58 edging of Adrian Madison during opening week. The Summerfield win avenged last winter’s season-ending District loss to the Bulldogs as Britton Deerfield finished 9-14. B-D also has wins over Pittsford and Concord, both avenging close losses from last December.
Fruitport Calvary Christian (4-0) The Eagles earned three wins last week, perhaps most notably their 62-57 victory over Fruitport High that was reportedly the program’s first over their neighbor and avenged a 73-36 loss from opening night a year ago. Calvary also has early wins over Holton, Grand Rapids Sacred Heart and Kent City after finishing 14-10 in 2022-23.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Friday – Detroit U-D Jesuit (3-0) at Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (5-0) – The matchup is circled every season. Brother Rice won all three last winter to clinch the Catholic League Central title, with Jesuit placing second.
Friday – Iron Mountain (3-0) at Norway (3-0) – The Knights have handed reigning Division 4 champion Munising its first loss this season and will attempt to do the same for a Mountaineers team that finished 21-2 last winter.
Saturday – East Kentwood (1-1) at Saginaw (3-1) – Michael Thomas brought East Kentwood an 18-7 record in his first season as coach last winter, and this should tell some more about how much the Falcons are progressing.
Saturday – Zeeland West (2-0) vs. North Farmington (2-0) at Northville – After improving to 17 wins last season, Zeeland West has lined up an early-season matchup with one of the top teams of the last few at the Northville Winter Shootout.
Saturday – Ann Arbor Huron (0-0) vs. Detroit Edison (1-1) at Northville – After finishing 23-3 last winter, Huron will cap its first week of games this season with this 8 p.m. matchup at the Winter Shootout.
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PHOTOS (Top) Cadillac works to clog the lane during its 53-38 win over Mount Pleasant. (Middle) Goodrich and Clio face off Friday, with the Martians going on to a 71-34 victory. (Top photo by High School Sports Scene. Middle photo by Terry Lyons.)
Harbor Beach Motivated by Past, Focused on Present in Chasing Future Goals
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 12, 2025
Andrew Kabban and his Harbor Beach boys basketball teammates know how quickly a good thing can end.
After going 19-3 and dominating the Greater Thumb Conference East a year ago, the Pirates had their bubble burst with a buzzer beater in the Division 4 District Final against Cass City, a team they had defeated by 13 a month earlier.
“We’ve kind of had last year stuck in the back of our minds,” said Kabban, a junior point guard. “We have a lot of returning players, we only lost two guys last year, so we all remember what happened last year. We’ve built on that experience, and we’re trying to use our experience to our advantage.”
That experience has allowed the Pirates to hold onto last year for motivation while focusing on what’s directly in front of them, and it’s working. Heading into Wednesday night, they are 17-1 this season, including a perfect 9-0 in the Big Thumb Conference Black. That includes wins over Division 2 Croswell-Lexington (12-5) and Millington (16-2). Their one setback was a 2-point loss against Yale (18-1), the No. 9 team in Division 2.
Of course, they’ll need to keep doing that into March in order to feel as though they’ve truly grown.
“Even with me, I’m a team captain, and sometimes I can catch myself talking about (a bigger game against) Millington, for instance,” junior Benson Harper said. “I just have to remember that we have to take care of business first and stay focused. If we don’t stay focused, something bad can happen to us.”
It becomes easier to maintain that focus when everyone’s on the same page, and for this version of the Pirates, they’ve had plenty of time playing together to get there.
The majority of the roster – nine players – comes from the junior class, with three seniors joining them. That’s a group that has been playing together since elementary school in multiple sports, and winning plenty along the way.
“We started playing together in second grade,” Harper said. “We’ve just been playing ball together forever. We lost one game in seventh grade, then went undefeated in eighth grade. … We’ve just been winning together, and when you see everybody every single day, you build a bond with them, not even just in sports.”
That consistency spans sports and even the coaching staff. Head coach Ron Wruble is also the defensive coordinator for the football team, and the Pirates were 11-1 this past season and 9-2 the year prior.
“These kids, they’re obviously playing football together and playing basketball now, and most of them hang out together, too,” Wruble said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie in the group, and I think they just enjoy being together.”
There was one season where they weren’t all together, however, as Harper was moved to the varsity squad as a freshman. He wasted no time becoming a go-to option for the Pirates, and earlier this season eclipsed the 1,000-point mark.
“He started for us as a freshman, and you can just see his development over the last three years,” Wruble said. “He’s gotten bigger, stronger – his skill set was at the varsity caliber as a freshman, but it’s just been moving up from there.”
In his first season, however, the Pirates were an uncharacteristic 7-12. Harper was happy to be playing at the varsity level, but certainly missed his classmates.
“It was definitely tough, because I was so young and so used to playing with them,” Harper said. “We had kind of a crappy freshman year, and I wasn’t used to losing. But I was also happy to see them winning (on the junior varsity level), and they dominated, too.”
When they all came together again at the varsity level, the success was almost instant. That came as no surprise to Wruble.
“It’s just the general makeup of the team – there’s a big core of kids that are gym rats,” he said. “They live in the gym and the weight room.”
That’s led to a high level of competition in practice, as Wruble praised the depth of his team. It also has the Pirates dominating against a schedule that was built to prepare them for the postseason.
“We try to schedule teams that are going to be the better programs, and that really helps us in the long run,” Wruble said. “We’re coming through the second time around with our conference opponents, and hopefully we can play well and take care of business there.
“Obviously, our District loss last year was a heartbreaker. We lost the District championship at the buzzer with a 3-point shot, and that’s still sticking in the minds of our kids, and they want to get back there and avenge that then, and hopefully move on from there. But it’s going to be one game at a time, and we even break it down further than that: one play at a time. A play in the first quarter had just as much meaning to the end of the game as a play at the end of the game.”
That message – with the help of past experiences – is coming through loud and clear.
“The goal is to win a District and win a Regional,” Kabban said. “The regional is not out of reach for us. But we have to win the District first. We have to win our league first. But we know that we’re capable of doing whatever we put our minds to.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Harbor Beach’s Benson Harper (10) makes a move in the lane during his team’s Jan. 17 win over Capac. (Middle) Skiler Kruse (4) elevates above surrounding defenders with a shot in the post. (Photos courtesy of the Harbor Beach yearbook staff.)