Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 6
January 15, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We’re heading into the midpoint of this boys basketball season, and the surprises keep coming.
Detroit Henry Ford and Grand Ledge were full of them last week, and Berkley has been one of the state’s most intriguing all season. We touch on those a little bit below, along with a number of others that most recently caught our attention.
Breslin Bound is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. To offer corrections or fill in scores we’re missing, email me at [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Detroit Henry Ford 63, Detroit Cass Tech 60 – The Trojans should be back in the Class B title talk after handing a first loss to one of the major favorites in Class A.
2. Grand Ledge 59, East Lansing 53 – The Comets are 6-1 but weren’t getting much attention until this upset broke East Lansing’s 45-game regular-season winning streak.
3. Frankfort 69, Buckley 53 – The Panthers handed the reigning Class D runner-up this defeat after falling to Buckley by 39 and then only three last season.
4. Detroit Cass Tech 85, Muskegon 78 (OT) – The Technicians did not waste time bouncing back from the Henry Ford loss, downing Muskegon in overtime the next day at Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills.
5. Macomb Dakota 64, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley 62 – The Cougars took big losses early to Detroit U-D Jesuit and New Haven, but are undefeated in the Macomb Area Conference Red after handing Chippewa Valley its first defeat in the league and overall this winter.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Ann Arbor Skyline (7-0) – The Eagles have been building toward a start like this, even winning the Southeastern Conference Red title a year ago. They started the new year with a 20-point win over second-place Ann Arbor Pioneer on Saturday and have impressive wins by 14 over Belleville, one over Detroit Pershing and 20 over frequent nemesis Ann Arbor Huron.
Berkley (8-0) – The Bears have doubled their win total from last season after going 4-17, and they’re only a few more from guaranteeing a first winning season since 2010-11. They’ve pulled off a few close ones including a two-point victory over MAC Bronze leader Madison Heights Madison a month ago. Next up is Rochester with first place in the Oakland Activities Association Blue on the line.
CLASS B
Detroit Henry Ford (7-2) – The 2015-16 Class B champion still made the Regional last season despite finishing 13-11 overall, and another big run could be on the way. Ford opened this season with a two-point win over 2017 Class A semifinalist West Bloomfield, and has beaten a series of Class A teams including Cass Tech (see above). The losses came to Class A powers Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills and Hazel Park, the latter in overtime.
Ovid-Elsie (5-1) – The Marauders have hovered around .500 the last few seasons, but might have something more in store over the next two months after a fast start. Ovid-Elsie sits atop the Tri-Valley Conference West standings and hasn’t lost since its opener (to still-undefeated Fowler). Coming up Friday is a matchup with second-place Hemlock.
CLASS C
Norway (5-2) – The Knights moved over to the Skyline Central Conference after sharing the Mid-Peninsula Conference title last season and finishing 18-3 overall. They’ve won four straight and hold a half-game lead in the SCC’s Large School division. The two losses came in December in overtime to Powers North Central and by eight to nemesis Iron Mountain, which knocked Norway out of the tournament last season. Those two will face off again Feb. 9.
Sanford Meridian (7-1) – The Mustangs are playing for a second straight Jack Pine Conference championship and already have wins against usual annual contenders Beaverton and Clare. Meridian’s only loss was by 10 in early December to Class A Saginaw Heritage, and it’s got another similar test coming up against Midland Dow in two weeks.
CLASS D
Cedarville (7-2) – The Trojans are approaching the season’s midpoint in position to take back the Eastern Upper Peninsula Athletic Conference title after tying for second a year ago. Cedarville got past reigning champion Pickford 67-59 last week and has lost only to undefeated Hillman and Class B Boyne City.
Frankfort (6-0) – The Northwest Conference sent Buckley all the way to the Class D title game last year, and early this winter it’s Frankfort that could be setting up for a run. The Panthers held onto first place all alone in the league last week with a win over the Bears, and now face the other two teams with only one conference loss – Kingsley on Tuesday and Maple City Glen Lake on Thursday.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Rapid River (7-0) at Powers North Central (6-1) – The Rockets ended North Central’s record 84-game winning streak Dec. 7, but the Jets can make it six straight by taking the rematch.
Tuesday – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (7-2) at Warren DeLaSalle (6-2) – In a strong Detroit Catholic League Central, these are two of the best; DeLaSalle leads and St. Mary’s is third after falling to second-place U-D Jesuit by a point last week.
Thursday – Bellevue (8-0) at Camden-Frontier (8-2) – Both are pushing for Southern Central Athletic Association titles; Bellevue is tied for first in the West and Camden-Frontier is second in the East, and this game counts in the standings for both.
Thursday – Maple City Glen Lake (5-1) at Frankfort (6-0) – The Panthers also must survive Kingsley on Tuesday to keep their perfect start going, and Glen Lake is aiming to gain a share of first place in the Northwest Conference too.
Friday – Hazel Park (8-0) at West Bloomfield (3-3) – Hazel Park and reigning Class A champion Clarkston have been the talk of a strong OAA Red, but West Bloomfield also is undefeated in league play after opening with three tough nonleague losses including two by only two points apiece.
PHOTO: Berkley, here against Clawson in December, is one of this season’s biggest surprises. (Photo courtesy of C&G Newspapers.)
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.)