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.)
20-0 Just Start for Senior-Driven Ravenna
March 4, 2020
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
With 20 seconds remaining in Tuesday night’s victory, the Ravenna student section started chanting:
“Undefeated! Undefeated!”
That was about as wild and crazy as the Bulldogs got after a truly historic achievement – moving to 20-0 and wrapping up the first-ever perfect boys basketball regular season in school history with a 71-51 victory over host Fruitport Calvary Christian.
Afterward in the locker room, one of the players wrote the following message on the whiteboard:
0-20.
“That’s been our philosophy all year,” explained first-year Ravenna coach Courtney Kemp, whose team is ranked No. 5 in the final Associated Press state rankings. “I remember seeing 0-5 and 0-6 up there. We want to play with the humility, the hunger and the sense of urgency of a team that is desperate to get a win.”
The Bulldogs know they have accomplished something truly special on the hardcourt, an achievement that will be talked about in the small farming community in eastern Muskegon County for years to come.
They also know that they can’t afford to celebrate it right now, as they will be hosting a grueling Division 3 District, starting with a third showdown on Monday against West Michigan Conference rival North Muskegon (14-5). If they survive that, stern tests loom against a pair of tournament-savvy teams in Kent City and Muskegon Western Michigan Christian.
“It’s a season to remember, for sure,” said 6-foot-5 senior center Jacob May, who scored a team-high 21 points with five rebounds in Tuesday’s regular-season finale. “It’s been a blast. Our goal was to put a banner up in the gym and we got that conference title, but we can’t be satisfied with that.”
May is one of five senior starters who rose above some early setbacks to win the school’s first boys basketball conference championship in 40 years and first outright WMC title in 47 years. It was the school’s third boys basketball championship in 51 years in the WMC.
The perfect season becomes more impressive when you consider that the team lost its coach in June, when Justin Johnson left after five years to take the same job at Division 1 Muskegon Mona Shores. Johnson, whose teams won a combined 16 games over his first three years, guided the ‘Dogs to a breakthrough 15-7 finish last year and their first postseason win in more than a decade.
In August, star guard Josh Cox suffered a serious knee injury in the season-opening football game against Hopkins. Then in November, 6-5 senior Grant Parker learned he needed surgery and decided not to play basketball to recover in preparation for his college football career at Saginaw Valley State.
The ‘Dogs have never used any of those losses as an excuse, instead wearing down one opponent after another with their deep, senior-laden roster.
The strength of the team is a versatile front line of three seniors – May (14 points, nine rebounds, two blocked shots per game), 6-4 Calvin Schullo (14 points, five rebounds) and 6-4 Hunter Funk (nine points, 8.5 rebounds, four assists).
Kemp, who served as Ravenna’s junior varsity coach under Johnson, also brings good length off the bench in seniors Jack Emery (6-3) and Dom Mabrito (6-2) and junior Joel Emery (6-1).
The backcourt is in the hands of senior football standouts Connor Kilbourne and Trevor Sterken, with sharpshooter Dom Jones coming off the bench.
“They are all so competitive,” said Kemp, who like Johnson before him, played high school basketball at Unionville-Sebewaing. “Our depth is one of the biggest reasons for our success, which makes a huge difference in games and in practice. These guys go at each other hard every day, and it makes them better.”
That depth was on display Tuesday against Fruitport Calvary, which came out on fire from long range but ultimately couldn’t keep up for four quarters. May and Schullo were the only two Bulldogs in double figures, but 10 of the team’s 12 players scored.
Ravenna’s quest for perfection was tested during four consecutive road games in mid-February. The Bulldogs edged Wyoming Potter’s House on Feb. 11, then survived their closest call with a 54-52 win at North Muskegon two days later. Next came Ravenna’s most impressive win, a 70-36 overwhelming of neighboring rival Muskegon Oakridge on Feb. 18, followed by a win at Scottville Mason County Central to improve to 17-0.
Schullo said one of the biggest motivators was a pair of heartbreaking losses on the football field – during the regular season against Oakridge and a season-ending loss to Montague in the Division 6 District championship game.
“They took it from us in football, so we were determined to get it back in basketball,” said Schullo, who scored 13 points Tuesday.
The challenge now for Ravenna is to exhale, momentarily, and enjoy a historic hardcourt achievement at a school known statewide for football – boasting MHSAA Finals championships in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2003 – while simultaneously preparing for a tough District where everyone will be out to hand the Bulldogs their first loss.
“It sounds funny to say, but we still don’t feel like we’ve accomplished anything yet,” said Kemp, who is assisted by Andy May and Tim Jones. “That has to be our mentality because teams are going to be gunning for us next week. We can celebrate 20-0 later.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ravenna’s Jacob May attempts a free throw during a win this season. (Middle) Calvin Schullo operates the offense under the watchful eye of Bulldogs coach Courtney Kemp. (Photos courtesy of the Ravenna High School yearbook staff.)