Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 9
February 10, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first week of February saw the final boys basketball showcase events of 2014-15 and the first league tournament of this winter, with the Detroit Public School League beginning its countdown to Calihan Hall.
The following teams were among those that impressed as the final month of the MHSAA regular season got underway.
CLASS A
Macomb Dakota (11-2) – The Cougars sit atop the Macomb Area Conference Red standings and are coming off their best week. Dakota beat second-place Clinton Township Chippewa Valley 75-67 on Thursday and then edged Ypsilanti Community 69-65 on Saturday at the Lumberjack Classic at Delta College.
Salem (11-3) – The Rocks have finished third three straight seasons since their last league title in 2011-12, but they’re tied with Novi for first this winter in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Central. Next up? Novi tonight, with sixth place South Lyon to finish out the league schedule Friday.
Sterling Heights Stevenson (10-3) – The Titans are 7-0 in the MAC White, two games ahead of the field with a loss to Dakota its only defeat of 2015. Stevenson finished third in its division last season and second in 2012-13.
West Bloomfield (12-1) – The switch from Blue to the White division of the Oakland Activities Association has been a nice change; West Bloomfield was seventh in the Blue last season but sits atop the White standings with three of four league wins by 14 or more points.
CLASS B
Detroit Communication Media Arts (13-3) – Despite its first loss since Dec. 18, to Detroit Osborn, CMA finished its run to a Detroit PSL division crown and then doubled up Class A Detroit Southeastern 40-20 in the first round of the league tournament.
Detroit Osborn (11-5) – The Knights claimed their second straight Detroit PSL division title and continued a nine-game winning streak by beating CMA in overtime and then Detroit Cody in the first round of the league tournament.
Edwardsburg (10-3) – The Eddies’ aspirations of repeating as Wolverine Conference West champs took a blow with a two-point loss to first-place Dowagiac on Jan. 26. But they’ll travel to Dowagiac on Friday with a chance to create a three-way tie at the top.
Imlay City (12-2) – The Spartans pulled within half a win of the Blue Water Area Conference lead by handing Yale its first defeat this season, 49-42, on Feb. 3. Imlay City's lone league loss came by a point Jan. 20 to Richmond, the league leader and opponent Wednesday.
CLASS C
Burton Atherton (10-5) – The Wolverines posted a 3-0 week, avenging a previous loss to Flint Hamady with a 65-60 win Friday and then beating Bridgeport in the Lumberjack Classic. Atherton is third in the Genesee Area Conference Blue.
Cassopolis (9-6) – The overall record isn’t stunning thanks in part to a tough schedule featuring a number of larger schools, but that experience gained is paying off in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph East. The Rangers sit in first place and beat a solid BCS West team in Buchanan 61-52 on Thursday.
Muskegon Heights (8-4) – The Tigers again are playing a variety of schools of all sizes and are 5-1 after a 3-3 start. Wins against Baldwin and Muskegon Catholic Central are impressive, but so are losses to Rockford, Lansing Sexton, Bridgman and Benton Harbor.
Shelby (14-0) – These Tigers can clinch their second straight West Michigan Conference championship tonight against second-place North Muskegon, which they beat 48-45 on Jan. 27. North Muskegon and Whitehall are the only opponents to come within single digits of Shelby this season.
CLASS D
Cedarville (9-0) – With much the same cast as last season’s MHSAA semifinalist – and the key players from the fall’s 8-player football runner-up – Cedarville sits atop the Eastern Upper Peninsula Athletic Conference and has won at least 41 straight league games dating to the 2009-10 season (which is as far back as MHSAA regular-season archives go).
Frankfort (12-1) – The Panthers boys are matching the powerhouse girls team this winter, sitting tied for first in the Northwest Conference with Maple City Glen Lake. Frankfort plays Glen Lake again Friday after falling to Lakers 45-44 on Jan. 13.
Holland Calvary (13-1) – The Crusaders have clinched a share of their fourth straight league title and can make it an outright Alliance League North championship by beating second-place Kent City Algoma Christian on Friday for the second time in two weeks.
Powers North Central (12-0) – The Jets are preparing to land their third straight league title with a three-win lead atop the Skyline Central Conference West. An MHSAA quarterfinalist last season, North Central hasn’t lost a regular-season game since 2012-13 and got a big win, 46-41, over second-place Crystal Falls Forest Park on Friday.
PHOTO: Macomb Dakota edged Ypsilanti Community 69-65 on Saturday at Delta College. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).
Concord Finishes Strong to End Longest Playoff Run in 40 Years as 1st-Time Champ
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 14, 2026
EAST LANSING – As his teammate Connor Stevens strode to the free throw line to put the finishing touches on Concord’s 60-47 win over Detroit Douglass in the Division 4 Boys Basketball Final on Saturday, Brady Garrett pulled his jersey over his face.
The Yellowjackets senior shook his head, almost in disbelief before looking up to the massive Concord crowd assembled at the Breslin Center and screaming, “Let’s go!”
“First of all, I love basketball and I love the group of guys that I’m with,” Garrett said. “As time was winding down, it was hitting me. I’m a senior, this is it. This was everything I played for my whole life. To capture it with a state championship, it meant so much to me. I wouldn’t ask for a better group of guys to do it with.”
Garrett and his teammates brought Concord its first Finals title in boys basketball, finishing off the school’s first “final four” appearance since 1986.
“They’ve been waiting on it,” Stevens said. “All season they’ve been riding with us, and there’s no other way I’d want to go out than this. We all looked at each other and knew that’s what we had to do.”
Concord did it for its city and fans, as well as for Fred Garland, who had passed away in a car crash after leaving a Concord practice in December of 2024. Garland was a standout college basketball player who played for Concord coach Marcus Gill Sr. at Albion and was a former club coach of Stevens.
“We did this for Fred Garland,” Gill said. “(His death) rocked our heart and soul, and he wanted this bad. We did this for Fred.”
The Yellowjackets were able to channel all that emotion into an incredible fourth quarter, which broke open a game that was tied after three.
They outscored Douglass 19-6 in the fourth, holding the Hurricanes to 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) shooting from the field, while hitting 60 percent of their shots and not committing a turnover.
Much of that success hinged on a switch during the quarter to a zone defense, which caught Douglass off guard.
“We are primarily a man-to-man team, but we have our (3-2 zone) in,” Gill said. “We knew we wanted to save it a little bit for the second half today, because they’re a really good driving team, and we knew (Douglass guard Damani Oliver) can really shoot it, so we wanted to wait for the right time to try and get them out of their rhythm. We got into it, it was working and we were making stops, so we just stayed in it.”
Douglass coach Pierre Brooks Sr. credited that zone for slowing his team, but thought it was Concord’s senior-led roster that made the difference down the stretch.
“I think Concord’s experience kind of got the best of us in the second half,” Brooks said. “They’ve got seniors that were pretty hungry, and we just didn’t convert.”
The late push from Concord came despite not having star guard Jett Smith on the court for half of the fourth quarter, as he picked up his fourth foul during the final seconds of the third.
With him out, though, the Yellowjackets jumped ahead, leading by five when he re-entered the game with 4 minutes, 26 seconds to play.
“It was huge, but that’s why we’re a championship team, because we’ve got other guys,” Gill said. “Just like (in the Semifinal against Wyoming Tri-Unity Christian), they did a good job of taking (Smith) out of the game, but we’ve got a lot of good ball handlers. Yesterday it was Darrell (Dean) with the ball in his hands, today it was Brady Garrett. I thought he ran our team unbelievably.”
Smith still finished with 14 points, despite the foul trouble and hounding defense from Douglass junior Jacodi Nathan. Stevens led the Yellowjackets with 15 points and 19 rebounds, while Dean had 15 points. Garrett added six points, five assists and two steals.
Oliver led Douglass (21-8) with 15 points, while Nathan had 12, including a five-point stretch over the final seconds of the first half during which he hit a 3-pointer, stole the inbounds pass and laid the ball in, giving his team a 26-22 lead going into halftime.
“Today, we didn’t finish the first 16 minutes great, but we came out and battled and played Concord basketball the last 16 minutes,” Gill said. “And this is the outcome right here. Can’t be more proud of these guys.”
PHOTOS (Top) Concord boys basketball coach Marcus Gill Sr. holds up his team’s newly-won championship trophy Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Douglass’ Jacodi Nathan (11) drives hard to the hoop with Concord’s Tyler Rundle working to wall him off. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)