Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 6
January 15, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Undefeated teams quickly are becoming few as boys basketball season heads into mid-January.
But this week's list of teams making noise includes a handful that remain perfect – although a few more will face their toughest challenges soon.
Records and scores below are based on those submitted to the MHSAA.com Score Center.
1. New Haven (6-0) – Coming off 21 wins last season, the Rockets had high expectations – and made great on a good start with a 101-98 double-overtime win over Mount Clemens on Friday; Mount Clemens hadn’t lost.
2. Detroit Pershing (9-0) – The Doughboys just keep proving their status as Detroit's best, downing Detroit Martin Luther King 78-64 and then Detroit Douglass 73-67 in overtime last week.
3. Stevensville Lakeshore (7-0) – A Class B Semifinalist a year ago, Lakeshore is surging again with only one win by fewer than 11 points this season – and that was against South Bend St. Joseph of Indiana.
4. Holt (10-1) – The Rams further cemented themselves as the class of Greater Lansing this season by beating reigning Class B champion Lansing Sexton 50-46 on Friday.
5. Frankenmuth (8-0) – This week’s “Battle of the Fans” contestant will need all the support against rival and top Tri-Valley Conference East competitor Bridgeport on Friday, but the Eagles survived a 50-46 win over Essexville Garber a week ago.
6. Climax-Scotts (8-0) – The Panthers got their first test this season in a 51-42 win over Bellevue on Friday, but no other opponent has come within 14 points.
7. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian (7-3) – After opening 1-3, the Warriors have won six straight and handed Spring Lake its first loss, 49-47, on Saturday.
8. Ithaca (7-0) – The Yellowjackets know how to play football, but they’ve long had a strong hoops program as well and have an early lead in the TVC West.
9. Lake Linden-Hubbell (7-0) – The Lakes had to survive overtime against Hancock and then three more against Calumet in December, but have won four straight by at least 18 points.
10. DeWitt (6-2) – A relative newcomer to Class A, the Panthers shocked the local competition with a 56-54 win last week over Okemos, and also own a five-point victory over improved Grand Ledge.
PHOTO: Ithaca's Markes Gadlen (14) pushes the ball upcourt against Carson City-Crystal this season. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Country Day Will Play for 9th Title
March 22, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Detroit Country Day coach Kurt Keener said he doesn’t get hung up on numbers, like the ninth MHSAA title his team could claim Saturday.
For this group of Yellowjackets, it would be the first. And that’s what counts most of all.
Country Day has come to Breslin Center and left without a championship the last two seasons. But for the first time since winning Class B in 2010, the Yellowjackets will play in the championship game – thanks to a 73-42 Semifinal win Friday over Cadillac.
“It would mean everything to me,” Country Day senior Austin Price said. “The last two years we came up here expecting to win and fell short. It would be great to end on a high note and win my last game as a high school basketball player.”
Top-ranked Country Day will face either Wyoming Godwin Heights or Detroit Community for the title at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
In terms of Finals experience, few programs could sit on further ends of the spectrum.
While Country Day is a Breslin regular, Cadillac (21-5) made its first appearance in an MHSAA Semifinal.
Country Day’s last two Finals weekend visits ended with Semifinals losses to eventual champion
Lansing Sexton. But these Yellowjackets have a different look than some of their most recent teams, with a smaller lineup and a style Keener tells his players should be more track meet than golf match.
That speed became tough for Cadillac to handle immediately, as Country Day (24-3) jumped to a 22-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Vikings committed nine turnovers during the first eight minutes.
But they wouldn’t be run off. Cadillac pulled within 26-20 midway through the second quarter.
“At 26-20 we had the game where we wanted it,” Cadillac coach Jeff McDonald said. “We wanted it to be close and give ourselves a puncher’s chance.”
But they ran out of punches soon after, as Country Day went on a 14-2 run and never led by fewer than 10 points over the final 18 minutes.
Junior Edmond Sumner led the Yellowjackets with 30 points on 9 of 15 shooting, and also had six steals. Senior Mory Diane added 11 points.
Of Cadillac’s 26 turnovers, 21 were Country Day steals.
“Defensively, they don’t make mistakes. And obviously they like an uptempo game. They like to gamble on defense,” Vikings senior Nick Paquet said. “We like to slow it down, make it a halfcourt game. We allowed ourselves to play a little faster than we wanted to, and that hurt us.”
Paquet led Cadillac with 18 points and four steals. Junior Jalen Brooks added 15 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day's Edmond Sumner pushes the ball upcourt Friday while Cadillac's Jalen Brooks (2) and Lewis Finch (15) give chase. (Middle) Brooks makes a strong move to the basket during the Semifinal. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)