Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 11
February 19, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Only a few boys basketball teams remain this season that look unstoppable with the playoffs set to begin in two weeks.
Those squads top this week's list of recent high achievers. But in a bit of irony, they are followed by teams that over the last week knocked off highly-regarded opponents and made things look as wide open as ever.
1. Detroit Pershing (19-0) – Considered Michigan’s best regardless of class all season, Pershing beat Cass Tech 80-61 to claim the Detroit Public School League championship.
2. Grand Blanc (16-0) – The Bobcats have improved from 12 to 14 to now 16 wins over the last three seasons and won the KLAA West championship by four games.
3. Climax-Scotts (17-0) – The Panthers aren't a surprise after making last season’s Class D Final before falling to Southfield Christian, but they look like the favorites to finish with a win this time.
4. Detroit Country Day (13-3) – The Yellow Jackets beat Class A power Saginaw Arthur Hill in a big way last week, 86-61.
5. Dowagiac (16-1) – The Chieftains last week earned their best win of a great run by beating Otsego, which had only one loss as well; expect them to meet again in the Wolverine Conference championship game.
6. Midland (13-4) – The Chemics have had a solid winter and are third in the Saginaw Valley Association North, but they made a statewide wave by beating reigning Class A champion Saginaw 64-59 last week.
7. Rockford (12-6) – The Rams have had a couple tough runs this season after finishing Class A runner-up a year ago, but won a key rematch by beating East Kentwood 44-40 last week after losing by six to the Falcons at the end of January.
8. Southfield Christian (14-4) – The reigning Class D champion earned three wins last week including one of its best this season, 47-46 over also highly-regarded Allen Park Inter-City Baptist.
9. Redford Thurston (13-4) – The Eagles entered last week’s game against Dearborn Heights Robichaud 3-3 over their last six, but then avenged a 29-point loss by beating Robichaud 65-55 in their rematch.
10. Goodrich (13-4) – The Martians won their seventh game in eight tries by beating previously one-loss Frankenmuth 53-44 to cap off last week.
PHOTO: Detroit Pershing's Kahlil Felder (12) led his team to the Detroit Public School League championship and was named Mr. PSL for this season. (Photo courtesy of the Detroit PSL.)
Fowler Earns Opportunity to Finish Season Same Way as Eagles Started
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2025
EAST LANSING — Fowler began the season Dec. 3 with an opening-night road win over reigning Division 4 champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian.
On Saturday, the Eagles will end the season with a chance to officially dethrone the Defenders as champions.
Fowler did its part to set up the rematch during the second Division 4 Semifinal on Thursday, earning a 59-43 win over Allen Park Inter-City Baptist.
“We’re both completely different teams since that time, but I think we both know what we are going to get from each other,” Fowler head coach Kam Riley said of Tri-unity. “We knew there was a chance we could see them at the end of the year. We’re excited for the opportunity.”
The Eagles advanced to their first championship game since 2002 on the strength of 3-point shooting and rebounding.
Fowler didn’t shoot great from the field overall, connecting on 21 of 58 attempts. But nearly half of those made field goals were 3-pointers.
Fowler made 8 of its first 17 shots from 3-point range to build a 19-point lead during the second quarter and finished 10 of 27 from beyond the arc for the game, as seemingly everyone associated with Fowler was making them from deep – even a Fowler student dressed in an eagle costume hit a half-court shot during a contest before the fourth quarter started.
Seniors Asher Koenigsknecht and Aaron Simon both scored 15 points, and senior Jacob Halfmann had 14 for Fowler (25-3).
The Eagles also controlled the boards, holding a 44-32 rebounding advantage with 15 offensive rebounds.
Senior Alex Halfmann and junior Joe Epkey both had 10 rebounds for Fowler.
“We anticipated it could be hard to shoot in a gym like this,” Riley said. “We don’t play here a lot. We knew we had a size advantage. Just an incredible effort by our guys crashing the glass.
Fowler held a 36-17 lead with 3:08 remaining in the first half and extended the margin to 38-22 by halftime, never letting Inter-City Baptist pull closer than 14 points the rest of the game.
Fowler committed only one turnover in the first half and seven for the game against an Inter-City Baptist team that had an experience advantage given it played in the Semifinals at Breslin Center last year.
“We just told each other that it was another game,” Koenigsknecht said. “Don’t make the court put any more pressure on you. Just do your thing like we have all season.”
Inter-City Baptist (24-5) was led by junior Ethan Esse, who scored a game-high 25 points. The silver lining for the Chargers is that they should be well-equipped for another run next year with just one senior on the roster.
But that didn’t make a second-straight Semifinal loss hurt any less.
“We were a team that was averaging 23 assists to nine turnovers a game,” said Inter-City Baptist head coach Mark Kraatz, whose team had nine assists Thursday. “It just wasn’t the way we’ve been playing. We didn’t share it. We didn’t get the assists that I thought. Rebounding, assists and then they shot it well. They played well.”
PHOTOS (Top) Fowler's Asher Koenigsknecht (3) gets up a 3-point shot as Inter-City Baptist's Ethan Esse (22) attempts to get a hand on the ball Thursday. (Middle) Inter-City Baptist's Carlos Jackson (11) considers his options with Fowler's Joe Epkey defending.