Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 8
January 21, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
It’s all relative until they meet each other on the court, of course.
But there are some Michigan high school boys basketball teams absolutely dominating as we turn toward the final five weeks of the regular season.
A total of 22 teams remain undefeated. Bump that number to 55 counting teams that sit 10-2 or better. See below for crazy scoring stats for two of those high-achieving teams. And yet, every game is an opportunity – see Almont (8-3) handing Richmond (12-1) its first defeat Friday after Hemlock (6-5) did the same to Sanford Meridian (10-1) on Tuesday
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. River Rouge 66, Flint Beecher 61 – A matchup of two MHSAA championship favorites, Division 2 River Rouge improved to 10-1 while sending Division 3 Beecher to 11-1 at the Horatio Williams Freedom Classic.
2. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer 63, Muskegon 59 (OT) – This is less an upset than a rarity because Reeths-Puffer is 11-1, but Muskegon won last season’s two meetings by 32 and 10 points.
3. Oxford 49, Pontiac 46 – Unbeaten Oxford gained a slight edge in the Oakland Activities Association Blue standings by handing Pontiac its first defeat; the rematch is Feb. 19.
4. Detroit U-D Jesuit 74, Detroit Catholic Central 62 – The Cubs made it a league season sweep of the surging Shamrocks and can clinch a share of the Detroit Catholic League Central title with a win Tuesday.
5. Detroit Martin Luther King 50, Detroit Cass Tech 48 – Both went on to lose Saturday showcase games, but this one pulled King into a tie for first in the Detroit Public School League Midtown after the Crusaders had fallen to Cass Tech by 14 on Dec. 18.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
• Clarkston (10-2) – The two-time reigning Class A champion graduated Mr. Basketball last spring and saw the third-winningest coach in state boys basketball history retire. But after opening this season with two losses, the Wolves have won 10 straight including over King on Saturday.
• Walled Lake Northern (11-0) – After finishing fourth last season, Northern appears to be closing in on the Lakes Valley Conference title with five straight double-digit league wins including one against second-place Waterford Mott. The Knights also will equal last season’s overall win total with their next victory.
DIVISION 2
• Benton Harbor (12-0) – The reigning Class B champion continues to roll, winning big most nights but also showing it can hold on for close victories. The Tigers edged Ferndale 90-81 at the Mayweather Basketball Classic on Saturday and also have wins over Henry Ford, Saginaw and Indiana contender South Bend Riley.
• Otsego (12-0) – The Bulldogs are outpacing the competition by an average of 25 points per game. They sit first in the Wolverine Conference North after the first run through the league schedule as they look to repeat in the league and improve on last year’s 19-2 overall finish.
DIVISION 3
• Madison Heights Madison (11-1) – Madison bounced back from starting last week with its lone loss, to Warren Lincoln, by beating Clinton Township Clintondale 88-84 in overtime to clinch a share of the Macomb Area Conference Silver title. It’s the Eagles’ second straight, and they can make it outright with a win over Eastpointe on Tuesday.
• Pewamo-Westphalia (12-0) – The Pirates were supposed to trail at least Dansville this season in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference after finishing second to Laingsburg a league ago. But P-W made it a season sweep of the Aggies with a 60-56 win last week and beat second-place Laingsburg by 33 in their first meeting.
DIVISION 4
• Flint International Academy (6-4) – The overall record isn’t stunning, but the reigning champion Phoenix lead the North Central Thumb League Stars thanks to a 12-point win over two-loss Kingston in December. The four losses came to nonleague opponents now a combined 41-7, including undefeated Brimley and Division 2 Bridgeport and Richmond.
• Marcellus Howardsville Christian (11-0) – A 41-point win over second-place New Buffalo last week gave Howardsville a two-game lead in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference White. And that win has been the norm: the Eagles are winning by an average of 42 points per victory.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Friday – Beaverton (9-2) at Sanford Meridian (10-1) – Despite being stunned last week by Hemlock, that was nonleague and Meridian still leads the Jack Pine Conference with Beaverton just a game back.
Friday – Athens (11-0) at Bellevue (12-0) – The Broncos finished three games ahead of Athens a year ago to win the Southern Central Athletic Association West. The margin looks to be closer this time regardless of which team wins the title. Bellevue’s wins are all by double digits, and Athens has 10 victories by 10 or more.
Friday – Redford Thurston (7-4) at Redford Union (8-4) – They’re tied atop the Western Wayne Athletic Conference standings after Thurston won by eight in their first meeting in early December but fell Friday to Dearborn Heights Crestwood.
Saturday – Benton Harbor (11-0) vs. Detroit Edison (7-4) at North Farmington – The headliner of the Prep Ball Classic showcases a matchup of reigning champs, Benton Harbor in Class B (as noted above) and last season’s Class C winner Edison.
Saturday – Detroit U-D Jesuit (9-2) at Flint Beecher (11-1) – Beecher just suffered its only loss (see above), and Division 1 Jesuit’s defeats have been pretty strong as well to Division 2 contender New Haven and Chicago power Morgan Park.
Second Half’s weekly “Breslin Bound” reports are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Student Financial Services Bureau located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information, including various student financial assistance programs to help make college more affordable for Michigan students. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 savings programs (MET/MESP) and eight additional aid programs within its Student Scholarships and Grants division. Click for more information and connect with MI Student Aid on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO: Gwinn's Tucker Taylor (32) – who needs four points to reach 1,000 for his career – considers his options last week while Ishpeming's Darius Yohe (22) defends. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)
Promise Kept, Dream Continues for Morenci
March 26, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Every summer, Morenci boys basketball coach Jim Bauer comes up with a catchy, aspiration-filled slogan for his kids basketball camp T-shirts.
Pathway to Breslin. Small Town, Big Time. “Breslin is on every shirt,” Bauer said, “but deep down, you’re thinking, am I ever going to get there?”
Three years ago, a freshman named Austin Sandusky made a promise he and his teammates kept Thursday. And now they’ve got an opportunity to carry it one step farther.
Morenci will play for its first MHSAA championship after handing Waterford Our Lady its only loss this season, 53-52, in a Class D Semifinal on Michigan State University's home floor.
“We started in fourth grade, and it seemed every tournament we’d be in the championship game,” Sandusky said. “Every year our coaches told us it wasn’t for this championship game, it’s for when we’re juniors and seniors on the varsity level trying to get to the (MHSAA) championship game. We knew they wouldn’t say that unless they truly believed it.”
Morenci (25-2), unranked when this tournament began, will face top-ranked Powers North Central in the 10 a.m. Final on Saturday.
Bauer has coached four 20-win teams over two tenures measuring a decade at Morenci, with this year’s his second straight to reach that milestone win total. But he’s also had three teams finish with sub-.500 records, including only two seasons ago.
No Morenci player measures taller than 6-foot-3, and senior guard Alex Thomas said he and his teammates always knew they’d be a little smaller than their opponents. But the Bulldogs returned four starters after falling to eventual MHSAA runner-up Adrian Lenawee Christian in last season's District Final. Two weeks ago, Morenci won its first Regional title since 1954, and the Semifinal was the first in the program’s history.
But the run nearly ended there – even though the Bulldogs led Thursday for all but 3 minutes and 55 seconds.
They were ahead from the middle of the first quarter until Our Lady senior Nick Robak hit a go-ahead jumper to make the score 38-37 with 7:08 to play.
Morenci took the lead back and pushed it to six points three times, including with 14 seconds remaining. But Robak hit another big shot – a 3 pointer to cut the deficit in half with eight seconds left – and after a steal by junior teammate Adam Kline was fouled on another 3-point attempt with less than a second to go in regulation.
Robak was faced with making all three free throws to tie the score. An 86-percent free-throw shooter, he connected on the first two – but missed the third.
“Layups and free throws, they matter. And they probably came back to bite us in the end,” said Our Lady coach Paul Robak, also Nick’s uncle. “Thirty-two minutes were played, and we lost our opportunity a long time before (the final second). We would’ve never gotten here without the efforts of Nick. … There are lessons in everything, and although we came here to win and not get a lesson, I hope we can find that lesson down the road.”
Robak scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to go with four assists. Kline added 12 points and five assists and junior forward Clay Senerius had nine points, 11 rebounds and four assists. But the team made only 6 of 14 free throw attempts and missed some shots from the lane that usually have fallen.
The Semifinal was Our Lady's first since 1993. The Lakers finished with a school record for wins in ending 25-1.
Thomas had 19 points and seven rebounds as the only player in double figures for Morenci. Sandusky added seven points, five rebounds and five assists as all five Bulldogs starters scored at least six points, and eight players saw at least nine minutes of action.
They didn’t play an opponent this season that received votes in the final Associated Press rankings. But they did avenge both of their losses and had won all of their tournament games by at least 12 points before Thursday’s nail-biter made what might’ve seemed like an unrealistic Sandusky dream continue to come true.
“You never discourage a kid from having a dream,” Bauer said. “You go along with it and hope for it.
“That’s what I wanted too.”
Click for the full box score and video from the postgame press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Morenci players celebrate their first MHSAA championship game berth. (Middle) Waterford Our Lady’s Nick Robak gets past a defender for an open look Thursday.