Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 11
February 22, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half
This week’s list of Michigan boys basketball teams to watch next month includes quite a few that have taken next steps toward elite this season, plus a few looking to hold on to top spots.
Most weeks during the season, we check in with four teams from each class that have been especially impressive. After a bit of a hiatus, we’re back for the rest of the winter starting with this look at 16 more.
Class A
Detroit East English (15-3) – The Bulldogs won a nail-biter over Detroit Collegiate Prep to advance to the Detroit Public School League tournament final, then won their first PSL tournament championship with an 86-62 victory over Renaissance.
North Farmington (15-2) – The Raiders have been surging since last losing Jan. 14 to Clarkston; they’ve won eight straight, including beating Clarkston 58-53 on Feb. 12, and are tied with Clarkston for first in the Oakland Activities Association Red standings with two league games to play.
Petoskey (15-1) – The Northmen are a perfect 10-0 in Big North Conference play and have lost only to Cheboygan, by a point Jan. 5. Petoskey must beat Gaylord tonight and then finish a season sweep against second-place Traverse City Central on Friday in order to clinch the league title outright.
Ypsilanti Community (15-1) – The Grizzlies are Class A contenders and have their destiny in their control; they can clinch the Southeastern Conference White title outright by winning out.
Class B
Birch Run (15-2) – Save for a two-game losing streak over six days in early January, Birch Run has been on point and sits second in the Tri-Valley Conference East. The Panthers take on league leader Frankenmuth on Wednesday with a chance to take a share of first place.
South Haven (14-2) – The Rams have clinched the outright Wolverine Conference North championship after tying for second in the South a year ago. A one-point loss last week to Edwardsburg was the team’s first since opening night.
Wayland (15-1) – The Wildcats earned a share of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Gold title with an 81-41 win over Hastings on Friday and have won 12 straight since their only loss, 63-56 to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central on Dec. 29. Wayland finished second in the league last season.
Wyoming Godwin Heights (15-2) – The Wolverines earned a share of the O-K Silver title by beating Hopkins 77-42 on Friday, coming off a surprise three-point loss to Portage Northern three nights before. The reigning Class B champion hadn’t fallen since opening night, but Northern is solid in Class A at 11-5.
Class C
Kalamazoo Hackett (16-0) – The Fighting Irish have won the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley title and need only one more win to equal last season’s team that finished 17-7. They haven’t had an opponent come within single digits since Schoolcraft – their next opponent – did so Feb. 1.
Muskegon Heights Academy (13-2) – The Tigers’ only losses were to Class A teams – Rockford last week and Battle Creek Central in December. They’ve equaled the 13 games won all of last season and with four more to play before the tournament begins.
Niles Brandywine (13-5) – The Bobcats came back from a three-game losing streak Feb. 5-12 to win twice on back-to-back nights last week and hold a half-win lead on Bridgman in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference Red with a league game to play.
Southfield Christian (16-1) – The Eagles have won 14 straight since falling to West Bloomfield by a point in overtime Dec. 12, and they can finish a perfect run in the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference Blue by beating fourth-place Ann Arbor Greenhills this week. They own wins over Belleville by a point and Southfield by three.
Class D
Bellaire (15-1) – The Eagles have won 12 straight since falling to East Jordan on Dec. 18 and can clinch a share of the Ski Valley Conference championship against fourth-place Indian River Inland Lakes tonight after handing second-place Johannesburg-Lewiston a loss on Friday.
Frankfort (15-1) – The Panthers finished their first back-to-back league titles since 1961-62 by beating Buckley on Friday to clinch the Northwest Conference championship; they lost only to Traverse City St. Francis, by a point Dec. 17.
Onekama (15-2) – The Portagers clinched the West Michigan D League title outright with a win over Custer Mason County Eastern on Friday after tying annual league power Baldwin for the title last season; Onekama has a two-game lead on Baldwin this time.
Wyoming Potter’s House Christian (14-3) – The Pumas’ 80-50 win over two-loss Kalamazoo Heritage Christian last week earned them the Alliance League South title; their losses this winter were by a combined six points, and they beat Pewamo-Westphalia 55-53 on Friday to extend their winning streak to 11.
PHOTO: Rivals Saginaw and Saginaw Arthur Hill are among many teams prepping for tournament runs with Districts set to begin in two weeks. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
28-0 Surge Sends GR Catholic Central to Saturday
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 8, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS – At first glance, it might seem that the Grand Rapids Catholic Central boys basketball team had a relatively easy time in Thursday’s first Division 2 Semifinal against Ferndale.
It was anything but, and only came to fruition following a dominating fourth quarter that helped push the Cougars to an 81-55 victory over the Panthers at Van Andel Arena.
Catholic Central improved to a perfect 19-0 and will play either Pennfield or Bridgeport on Saturday at Breslin Center.
An up-tempo and competitive game turned into a lopsided ending as the Cougars scored an astounding 28 consecutive points in a span of seven minutes, six seconds from the end of the third quarter until late in the game.
“I thought our defense initiated a bunch of offense for us in that fourth quarter,” Catholic Central coach TJ Meerman said. “We rebounded a lot better, and coming out of half we knew they were going to make a push because that’s what they do. I’m proud of our guys, and our team defense and the way they shared the ball on offense tonight was a special thing.”
Catholic Central trailed 44-42 with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter, but scored the final six points of the quarter and opened the fourth with a 22-0 run.
Torrid outside shooting aided the spurt as the Cougars knocked down five consecutive 3-pointers at one point, including three from junior Jorden Brooks.
“We just came out and played hard in that fourth quarter on both ends,” said Brooks, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the second and was 6 of 11 from beyond the arc.
“I said to myself just keep shooting, and my teammates were setting me up for those 3-point shots.”
Brooks’ hot shooting helped Catholic Central on Monday in an upset of top-ranked Benton Harbor in the Quarterfinals.
“His play speaks for itself, and he puts in a lot of time in the gym and it’s shown all season,” Meerman said. “He’s been doing this for us all season, and he had a fantastic run on the offensive end, but he made an impact on defense by keeping his guy in front of him.”
Catholic Central, which lost to Benton Harbor in the 2018 Class B Final, held a 35-25 advantage at halftime as sophomore Kaden Brown was the offensive catalyst by scoring 14 of his team-high 23 points.
Ferndale, however, scored the first eight points of the third quarter to cut into the deficit and eventually grabbed the lead.
“This team doesn’t get down on themselves,” said junior Jack Karasinski, who recorded 19 points and had five rebounds.
“We took a timeout, regrouped and we kept pushing forward. This is a dream because as a sophomore we got this opportunity taken away from us, and we’ve had the hardest route so far I believe with the teams we’ve gone through. I think it has built our confidence.”
The Cougars also received stellar overall play from freshman guard Durral Brooks, who stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, seven assists, five rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals.
“That’s what he does,” said Jorden Brooks, his older brother. “He’s a good defender, passer and finisher. He can do anything, and it’s crazy that he has three more years left. We just want to go out and hopefully give him his first state championship as a freshman.”
The fourth-ranked Eagles were making their first appearance in the Semifinals since 1985, and were hoping for a chance to win a championship for the first time since 1966.
Instead, they were unable to stop the offensive onslaught by the Cougars in the fourth quarter as they were outscored 33-11.
Ferndale led 44-42 at the start of Catholic Central’s run, then trailed 70-44 with 3:25 to play.
“I thought we did a poor job offensively, and we didn’t get back on defense,” Ferndale coach Juan Rickman said. “Brooks hit four or five threes, and I saw him do that against Benton Harbor. We didn’t execute in our transition defense and didn’t find him.
“The game just got away from us, and we gave up a lot of points to the three guys we wanted to keep from scoring. You never like to lose, so it’s just tough.”
Junior guard Jason Drake scored a game-high 27 points for the Panthers, but was held scoreless over the final eight minutes of the game.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jack Karasinski dunks two of his 19 points for Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Thursday. (Middle) GRCC's Kaden Brown works to get upcourt. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)