Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 9
February 6, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A record-setting boys basketball season enjoyed another highlight last week when Beaverton’s Roy Johnston set the MHSAA record for career coaching victories with his 729th, a 61-24 win over Farwell.
With some pretty significant highlights now in the history books, the state’s hoops scene will turn it’s attention to the final three weeks of the regular season – and lining things up for what should be another exciting March. This week’s top matchups are a highlight of our latest Breslin Bound report – powered by MI Student Aid.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Detroit Martin Luther King 66, Detroit East English 60 – In avenging an earlier 14-point loss to East English, King solidified itself as the team to beat in the Detroit Public School League tournament.
2. Cornerstone Health & Technology 55, River Rouge 50 – The Class C Wolves are an intriguing contender in that class and handed the Class B Panthers their only loss.
3. Walled Lake Northern 42, Walled Lake Western 23 – After falling by seven to Western in overtime in their first meeting, Northern moved into a first-place tie with its rival in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association North after another neighbor, Walled Lake Central, followed by handing Western a second loss in a row.
4. Portage Central 70, Benton Harbor 64 (OT) – The Mustangs bounced back from a painful 24-point loss to Kalamazoo Central to hand Benton Harbor also its first loss of this season.
5. Grand Rapids Covenant Christian 80, Lansing Christian 67 – The Chargers got to 10 wins by handing only the third loss this season to the Pilgrims, who were ranked No. 1 in Class D earlier this winter.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (11-3) – After a brief slowdown midseason, the Cougars are moving again with five straight wins to solidify their spot atop the Oakland Activities Association Blue at the midpoint in the league schedule. Another title would be Stoney Creek’s second straight.
Westland John Glenn (12-1) – Coach Rod Watts, who previously turned around Lansing Eastern’s program, has John Glenn back in the mix after a couple of middling seasons. The Rockets have equaled last winter’s 12 wins and avenged the lone loss, to Canton, with a 57-51 win last week to pull into a tie for first place in the KLAA South.
CLASS B
Detroit Collegiate Prep (12-2) – The Colts will enter this week’s Detroit PSL tournament as the undefeated champion of the league’s West Division 2 after also winning the division and a District title a year ago. They won all 10 league games this winter by double digits.
Sanford Meridian Early College (12-1) – The Mustangs, who finished second to Beaverton in the Jack Pine Conference a year ago, put an end to the Beavers’ celebration last week with a triple-overtime win in the next game after Johnston set the coaching record. Both have one loss in the league after splitting this season.
CLASS C
New Buffalo (9-4) – After finishing two wins behind champion Cassopolis last season, New Buffalo is tied for first after handing the Rangers their only Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Blue loss on Jan. 27. They meet again Feb. 18 in a make-up of what was supposed to be the first matchup this season.
Schoolcraft (12-1) – An 11-point loss to undefeated Kalamazoo Hackett on Jan. 10 is all that has kept Schoolcraft from being the team with the perfect record and first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley. They meet again Feb. 21; Schoolcraft has won all of its last five games by at least 40 points and should provide quite a challenge.
CLASS D
Gaylord St. Mary (10-4) – The Snowbirds will have a tough time catching Bellaire in the Ski Valley Conference – they have three league losses and Bellaire has none. But this season is a giant success so far after St. Mary went 8-13 a year ago, and it does get a shot at Bellaire again Feb. 15 after losing their first meeting by 11.
Holland Calvary (9-3) – The Crusaders have won three straight and six of their last seven, including 61-51 last week over Holland Black River to move into first place alone in the Alliance League. Calvary is going for its sixth straight league title – the last handful came with the conference split into divisions, but all eight schools are in one again this winter – and needs only two more wins to equal last season’s overall total.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Friday – Frankenmuth (11-1) at Bridgeport (13-0) – The Eagles’ only loss was 69-59 to the Bearcats on Dec. 13, and this rematch should end up sealing if the teams share the Tri-Valley Conference East title or Bridgeport wins outright.
Friday – Detroit Catholic Central (9-4) at Detroit U-D Jesuit (10-3) – The Shamrocks stunned Jesuit 52-51 only two weeks ago and have an outside chance of sharing the Detroit Catholic League Central title with another win.
Friday – Norway (13-0) at Iron Mountain (12-2) – A loss to Ishpeming on Friday hurt Iron Mountain’s title chances, but the Mountaineers could still shake up the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference a bit by handing leader Norway a first loss.
Friday – Westland John Glenn (12-1) at Wayne Memorial (11-2) – John Glenn won the first meeting Jan. 20, 69-65, and both are 7-1 in KLAA South play with two games left.
Saturday – Muskegon (13-0) at Ypsilanti Community (10-3) – These are stacking up as two of the contenders in Class A, and this could be one of the last telling nonleague games of this regular season.
PHOTO: Bridgeport takes on Frankenmuth on Friday in one of the most notable games in the Saginaw area and statewide in Class B. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Cass Tech Continuing Rise to Hoops Elite
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
January 4, 2018
DETROIT – When you think of Detroit Cass Tech, one would probably think of its football program.
Why not? The program coach Thomas Wilcher has built there has been arguably the best in the state the past dozen years.
That fact doesn’t bother Steve Hall, the head coach of the Technicians’ boys basketball team. On the contrary, Hall, a 1988 Cass Tech graduate and co-athletic director (along with Wilcher), takes pride in it.
It also serves as motivation.
Hall is in his third season at Cass Tech, and when the next rankings are released his Technicians will be ranked No. 1 in Class A by at least one news service, State Champs Network, and likely others.
Cass Tech is 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Detroit Public School League. The Technicians are currently on winter break and scheduled to play next against Detroit Henry Ford on Jan. 12.
That a PSL team is ranked No. 1 is common. Teams like Detroit Cooley, Detroit Pershing, Detroit Renaissance, Detroit Southwestern and, most recently, Detroit Western, all have been ranked No. 1 over the past many years.
But for Cass Tech, it is unusual. In fact, it is believed that a top ranking for a Cass Tech boys basketball team would be the program’s first.
Hall is careful not to boast or gloat. After all, it’s early in the season and nobody awards MHSAA championship trophies in January.
“It’s hard to feel great about being No. 1,” Hall said. “The last thing you want to do is exhale.”
The program has achieved success in the past but, truthfully, it’s been awhile. Before Hall took over, Cass Tech most recently had won two PSL titles under coach Robert Shannon, the last coming in 1998. During the late 1980s, when Hall was one of the state’s top players, Cass Tech reached the 1988 Class A Quarterfinals before losing to the eventual champion, Cooley. Cass Tech had defeated Cooley that season in the PSL quarterfinals. The 1993 team that won the PSL title made it all the way to a Class A Semifinals.
During the 1950s Cass Tech was a powerhouse in the city winning three PSL titles over the decade. As one might surmise, Cass Tech has never won a state title. And just once has it reached an MHSAA Final, as the Technicians lost to Birmingham Brother Rice, 60-56 in overtime, in the 1974 Class A championship game.
Since 1998, Cass Tech had reached a PSL final just once (2013). That is, before Hall came aboard.
Last season Cass Tech defeated Detroit Martin Luther King, 59-47, to capture the school’s eighth PSL title. The Technicians won a District title for the first time since 2014 and finished 20-5, a vast improvement from the 11-10 record they posted in Hall’s first season.
As good as last season was for the program, it was just one step forward. Hall has set loftier goals.
His three-year plan included becoming regarded at the state level and nationally. That plan is on schedule.
“There were some dynamics that first year,” Hall said. “I was hired late and I didn’t have the kids during the summer. We beat (Detroit) Western, Benton Harbor and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s that season. It’s a tough league. The stable programs had upperclassmen leading them. It was a year of growth. I wouldn’t have the same appreciation (for the success) if we had won that first year. ”
Though Hall is in just his third season at Cass Tech, he’s built a strong resume as a coach, within the PSL and at the collegiate level. High school basketball fans will remember the great Detroit Rogers teams in the early 2000s that won three consecutive Class D titles (2003-05) with Hall as head coach. When that school closed in 2005, Hall went to Detroit Northwestern and guided the Colts to the PSL title in 2008, Northwestern’s first league championship in 30 years. That season Northwestern reached a Class A Regional Final before losing to Pershing.
Hall then left Michigan and became an assistant coach at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania. He stayed there four seasons before he was hired by Youngstown State in Ohio as an assistant. Hall remained there for four seasons before returning to Detroit.
This team has talent, but is void of any one superstar. None of the four seniors are Division I recruits. Hall returned six players who started at least one game last season and the top senior is Randy Gilbert, a 6-foot-6 forward who signed with Ferris State.
There are Division I recruits coming up, however, including 6-3 sophomore Tyson Acuff and 6-5 juniors Kalil Whitehead and Tyland Tate.
Gilbert, who alternates between forward and center, is in his fourth season as a starter. He may not have made the varsity so early or with such an immediate impact playing at one of the city’s established basketball powers.
“Even going into my sophomore year people started to say things like I should transfer somewhere else,” Gilbert said. “I didn’t think about that at all. I thought we had potential.
“Coach Hall has been great to us players. He’s opened up a lot of doors. He takes us to a lot of team camps during the summer to different level of schools like Division I, Division II and NAIA so everybody gets a shot and to see where they can play (in college).
“I don’t look at Cass Tech being a football school now. We changed that.”
In the long run, that’s been one of Hall’s goals. Hall is a basketball coach, but he’s also a fan of all sports, in particular those at Cass Tech. He wants to see all of the athletic programs enjoy success, not just his team.
“When you’re a coach, it’s a way of life,” Hall said. “When I went to Cass our girls (basketball team) won the Class A title. I’ve been to Ford Field to watch the football team. I’ve been to their practices. I grew up around the school. My father (Ferd Hall) was an assistant principal here when I was growing up in the mid-70s. Cass Tech has always meant so much to me.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Cass Tech boys basketball team including head coach Steve Hall (far right) stands together at a game this season. (Middle) Randy Gilbert prepares to throw down a dunk. (Photos courtesy of the Cass Tech boys basketball program.