Calvin Christian Follows Hot Hand in C
March 24, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Grandville Calvin Christian’s success is built on team basketball, feeding the hottest hands at opportune times.
Smoke might have been rising off Tony DeWitte’s fingers during the first half of Thursday’s Class C Semifinal against McBain at the Breslin Center.
The 6-foot-2 senior guard made 10 of 11 shots during the first half for 26 points, and Calvin Christian opened up a lead that stayed in double digits for good over the final 20 minutes to advance to Saturday’s championship game with a 65-42 win.
DeWitte finished with 31 points on 12 of 15 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds, and had both of his assists late as the game crept out of reach for the previously-undefeated Ramblers.
“I came out shooting with confidence. The ball was going in, and my teammates found me, got me open,” DeWitte said. “The rim feels two times bigger like that. The ball keeps going in, and it’s great.”
Allow Calvin Christian coach Ryan Stevens to elaborate.
“When he gets hot like that, his teammates know that,” Stevens added. “We have a lot of kids who can do that. They find each other when they are hot, and the thing about Tony is he can score so many different ways. You’ll see him score inside, outside, off the dribble, off the pass, off a screen, off a back cut. He’s just a very good scorer all-around, very hard to defend.”
Calvin Christian (21-4), unranked at the start of the postseason, will face reigning champion Flint Beecher at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The Squires will be playing for their first championship since 1994 after reaching the Semifinals for the first time since that season.
DeWitte entered this week as his team’s leading scorer at 18.2 points per game, and Stevens said his standout shooter’s Thursday performance wasn’t rare – he and DeWitte’s teammates have been witness to that kind of scoring outburst going back to when his seniors were finishing up elementary school.
But it certainly seemed to knock McBain a bit off its game, as the No. 3 Ramblers never warmed up offensively and gave up more than 60 points for the first time since giving up that exact number in the season opener.
“We tried some different things. They hit everything,” McBain coach Bruce Koopman said. “They executed extremely well, and that gave them excellent opportunities to get back and play defense on us. I thought there was a time when (the deficit) was 10, and we got three or four stops in a row. But we didn’t capitalize. Maybe if we’d gotten a few of those to close the gap, it would’ve been different.”
Senior guard Braden Stevens added 10 points and seven assists for Calvin Christian, which made an incredible 60 percent of its shots from the floor after opening with a blistering 70-percent success rate during the first half.
Junior guard Logan Eling had 18 points to lead McBain (26-1), while junior center Craig Sterk had nine points and eight rebounds and senior guard Cole Powell added nine points and six rebounds.
Calvin Christian (21-4) was prepared for elite competition after facing a league schedule that included two matchups with reigning Class B champion Wyoming Godwin Heights and two more against last season’s Class C runner-up, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian. The Squires lost all four of those games, but came back to beat NorthPointe in the District Final.
“We always talk about ladders, and at the beginning of the season it felt like we were midway up the ladder,” Stevens said. “A lot of teams get there when the tournament starts, but it felt like we were already up there midway through the season.
“We had a couple of losses to Godwin and NorthPointe, and we weren’t satisfied with our record. (So) we wanted to work toward the end of the season.”
The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: Calvin Christian’s Tony DeWitte (20) pushes the ball upcourt during Thursday’s first Class C Semifinal. (Middle) The Squires’ Braden Stevens (10) works to stay in front of McBain’s Logan Eling.
Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 12
February 29, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half
We’re only a week away from the start of the MHSAA Tournament, and it’s tough to not look a few days ahead to the matchups on the way – but we must to recognize a few more of the successes so far.
Most weeks during the season, we check in with four teams from each class that have been especially impressive. Here’s a look at 16 more that could ignite a run when Districts begin next week.
Class A
Clarkston (15-2) – After splitting with North Farmington, the Wolvers must defeat sixth-place Tory Athens on Tuesday to clinch a shared Oakland Activities Association Red championship. It would be at least the fifth straight league title for Clarkston, which made the Class A Quarterfinals last season and looks poised again with its only other loss to undefeated Macomb Dakota in December.
Grand Rapids Christian (17-1) – The Eagles clinched an outright Ottawa-Kent Conference White championship with a 52-40 win over second-place Lowell on Friday and have won 13 straight since falling to Hudsonville over holiday break. A matchup with reigning Class B champion Wyoming Godwin Heights on Tuesday is intriguing.
Grosse Pointe South (16-3) – The Blue Devils already are two wins better than last season and have clinched the Macomb Area Conference Blue championship with a game to play. They open District play next week against Detroit Martin Luther King, looking to avenge a 54-45 loss to the Crusaders on Jan. 18.
Muskegon (16-3) – The Big Reds have won nine straight and clinched the O-K Black title with two games to play in the league, adding a 72-71 win over second-place Zeeland East on Friday to finish a perfect run in the conference. They haven’t lost since falling to Detroit East English and Wayland (which are a combined 32-5) in back-to-back games in mid-January.
Class B
Allendale (16-2) – The Falcons have won 16 straight and finished an outright O-K Blue title run Friday with a 52-50 win over second-place Coopersville. Allendale was second in the league but only 12-8 overall a season ago.
Benton Harbor (14-4) – Despite an overtime loss Friday to Portage Northern, Benton Harbor has clinched the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West championship after finishing second last season on the way to the Regional Finals. A matchup with SMAC East champion Kalamazoo Central (15-3) could be telling of a run to come.
River Rouge (15-3) – The Panthers are closing in on another nice finish following up last year’s league and District titles, with a defeat to Detroit Allen in mid-January the only one in the Michigan Metro Athletic Conference this winter. River Rouge fell to Romulus and Flint Beecher over a 10-day period earlier this month, but came back to beat Saginaw Arthur Hill by a basket and can close the regular season with six straight wins.
Williamston (16-3) – The Hornets have taken on and beaten most of the best in the Lansing area, with losses only to Lansing Catholic (17-1) in overtime, East Lansing (18-0) and DeWitt (15-3). They came back to beat co-leader Lansing Catholic by three in the rematch and beat Portland on Friday to secure a shared Capital Area Activities Conference White championship.
Class C
Adrian Madison (17-2) – The Trojans finished a perfect 14-0 in the Tri-County Conference to win the league title by three wins after finishing a win behind Morenci in 2014-15. The next big test comes Tuesday with Class B Hillsdale (16-2).
Ithaca (17-2) – After sharing the Tri-Valley Conference West title last season, Ithaca has won it outright with a game to play against seventh-place St. Charles. The Yellowjackets’ only losses were to Class B Alma and Frankenmuth, which are a combined 32-4.
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (17-1) – The Huron League title belongs to the Falcons again after three straight second-place finishes; they finished a perfect league run with a 64-59 win over Milan on Friday and have won 15 straight since falling in overtime to Adrian Lenawee Christian on Jan. 8.
St. Ignace (17-2) – It’s always easy to forget about the Saints because the school’s girls program is so strong. But St. Ignace’s boys are led by Gage Kreski, who set the Upper Peninsula scoring record with more than 2,000 career points Saturday, and they finished a perfect run through the Straits Area Conference.
Class D
Boyne Falls (17-2) – The Loggers finished off a pair of league opponents last week to earn a share of the Northern Lakes Conference championship with Alanson, which it lost to Jan. 5 but then beat Jan. 29. The title was at least the fifth straight for Boyne Falls.
Marshall Academy (18-2) – The Griffons closed the regular season with 10 straight wins and their only losses to Bellevue and Vestaburg. Those two losses and a five-point win over Camden-Frontier were the only games this season that didn’t result in double-digit wins for the Mid-South Conference champ.
Morenci (13-6) – Last season’s Class D runner-up went through a bit of a tough stretch during the first half of February, losing three of five games. But the Bulldogs have since won three straight and finished second to Adrian Madison in the TCC.
Waterford Our Lady (15-3) – Despite a loss to Class C Royal Oak Shrine in the Detroit Catholic League C-D Tournament Final, the Lakers did sweep Shine to win their division title and look good to make another run after reaching the Class D Semifinals last season.
PHOTO: Ithaca’s Jake Smith works to get around an Alma defender in their game earlier this season. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)