Consortium Proves To Be Best in Class C
March 22, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Detroit Consortium’s boys basketball team fell in a 2011 Semifinal to eventual Class C champion Schoolcraft. A year later, the Cougars’ season ended with a two-point Regional Final loss to eventual title winner Flint Beecher.
Joshua Jackson was watching – but couldn’t help. He was still in junior high.
But the now-sophomore decided then that when he was old enough, he’d play a part in the Cougars' first MHSAA title.
Consortium entered this postseason ranked No. 2 in the final Class C poll. With the 6-foot-8 Jackson leading and surrounded by a talented a cast, the Cougars eliminated No. 1 Mount Clements and No. 3 Negaunee this week and finished with a 61-44 championship game win over No. 10 Pewamo-Westphalia on Saturday at the Breslin Center.
“Playing with most of the guys last year, I always had trust in them,” Jackson said. “I just had something to prove, and they wanted to win just like I did.
“To prove so many people wrong, I know maybe one person picked us to win (over Mount Clemens). I guess they thought overall their team was better than ours. (But) I think we’ve proved people wrong all year winning big games.”
Consortium beat some of the best in finishing 25-2 this winter.
The Cougars also defeated No. 5 Detriot Allen in their Regional Final, plus ranked Class A Saginaw Arthur Hill, Romulus and Detroit Southeastern, ranked Class B Detroit Country Day and Detroit Douglass, an MHSAA semifinalist in that class.
And that’s some of what coach Tobias Tuomi reminded his players when Consortium led Pewamo-Westphalia only 27-25 in the championship game.
“We just said to cherish the moment. I told them to appreciate all the work, and it is a heck of an opportunity just to be here,” Tuomi said. “But we didn’t come here to be here. We came to win a state championship. To do that, we’d have to do all the little things we do in practice, things that won us games all season.”
P-W (23-3) was doing them to keep pace during the first half and up until taking a 34-32 lead three minutes into the third quarter. Despite trailing by 11 at the end of the first period, the Pirates drew even heading into the final minute of the first half before senior guard Rudy Smith hit a go-ahead basket to give Consortium the two-point lead at the break.
But after senior Evan Fedewa’s 3-pointer gave the Pirates that third-quarter advantage, Consortium outscored them 19-3 to take a 51-37 lead with 6:50 to play.
Consortium’s defense tightened and P-W’s shooting percentage fell – from 43 percent from the floor during the first half to 32 percent in the second. Meanwhile, the Cougars upped their offensive output, improving from 42 percent from the floor to 63 over the final two quarters. Senior guard Ronald Booth, in particular, scored 12 of his 14 points during the second half to finish as one of three Consortium players in double figures.
“We just dug down, got a little more focused,” Tuomi said. “Definitely, (P-W was) taking a lot tougher shots.”
Smith also finished with 14 points for Consortium. Jackson led with 22 points on 9 of 13 shooting – including hitting all three of his 3-point attempts, and also grabbed 13 rebounds.
“For the old guys like me, I saw Earvin Johnson play here at (Lansing) Everett, and I had season tickets when he was (at Michigan State). He’s a similar type of player to him,” P-W coach Luke Pohl said of Jackson. “Whether he’s going to become that kind of player is another story, but he’s really talented. He might be the most talented person our teams have played against. He can see the court real well, passes well … and he’s a really humble kid.”
Senior center Lane Simon scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds for P-W, and senior guard Nick Spitzley finished a four-year varsity career with 10 points and three assists.
They and nine seniors total brought the Pirates to their first championship game since 1993. Pohl – who graduated from P-W in 1976 and has coached over two tenures since 1995 – called this the best team in school history. It definitely highlighted the Pirates a little more prominently on the statewide basketball map.
“Obviously I wanted to achieve the state championship,” Simon said. “But it feels like we got a lot of respect back."
Consortium did make the Quarterfinals with Jackson last season, again falling by two to Beecher as the Buccaneers went on to repeat as champions. But that was impressive in itself – the Cougars continued on although coach Al Anderson died unexpectedly that February.
The run also set the stage for things to come.
“We wanted to sit and sob and cry about it, but at the end of the day we knew that what he wanted was for us to win a state championship more than anything,” Jackson said. “So we knew that was something that we had to do.”
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Consortium’s Rudy Smith pushes down the floor as Pewamo-Westphalia’s Nick Spitzley gives chase during the Class C Final. (Middle) The Pirates’ Lane Simon goes strong to the basket for two of his game-high 23 points.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Joshua Jackson follows a miss with a big dunk for Detroit Consortium in the fourth quarter of its Class C championship game against Pewamo-Westphalia. Jackson finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds in leading his team to the win. (2) Some nice passing by Pewamo-Westphalia sets up Evan Fedewa for a 3-pointer to give the Pirates a 34-32 lead in the third quarter against Detroit Consortium in the Class C title game.
Nieto Closes Magnificent Madison Career as Team's All-Time Leading Scorer
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
April 2, 2025
Antonio Nieto has never met Pete Bagrow, but he’s closely following in the footsteps of a fellow Adrian Madison basketball player.
Last month, Nieto passed Bagrow to become the all-time leading scorer in Madison boys basketball history. Nieto was the first player in school history to break the 1,000-point barrier and will play college basketball at Siena Heights University, just like Bagrow.
“Tell him I said congratulations,” said Bagrow, a 1984 Madison graduate and now general manager of sales at a car dealership in Texas. “But, kid him a little that he had the 3-point shot and played in more games.”
In an age where it seems more and more players are surpassing 1,000 points and piling up large scoring totals, Nieto was a steady, consistent player during his four years at Madison. He reached 30 points just twice in his career – with his career high 31. He made a career-high 28 3-pointers this season – a figure surpassed by 20 players in Lenawee County alone.
“I think it is interesting that in my 20 years at Madison, and all of the good players we have had, none scored 1,000 points,” said Madison coach Erik Thompson. “Antonio made it a goal his freshman year and got it. He’s a basketball-only kid. He loves the game.”
Nieto benefited from the MHSAA’s five-quarter rule as a freshman, where he could play four quarters of junior varsity and stick around for another quarter as a varsity player. He practiced with both teams – one before school and one after.
“The other guys accepted me, so it was good,” he said. “It took a little bit of adjusting to get used to varsity, but not too much.”
By his sophomore year he was averaging in double figures. His junior year he averaged 18.1 points a game, and it started to dawn on him that 1,000 points was within reach.
“I’d see his name on the (record) board,” Nieto said about Bagrow. “After my sophomore year, I started thinking about 1,000 points. Last year, I would sort of keep an eye on where I was. I knew I could get it this year.”
The mission was accomplished during a 12-game Madison win streak this season that included a 43-37 win over previously-unbeaten Onsted, which was ranked among the top five teams in the state in Division 2 at the time. That win helped Madison clinch its first league championship in a decade.
“That was big,” Nieto said. “We knew we could beat them. The first time we played them, we watched film and we were confident, then the game came and they beat us by 25. Even in the locker room after that game, we knew that the next time we played we could get them.”
Nieto’s 15 points in that game helped Madison secure the upset, and it was during that victory that he reached 1,000. Before that, Madison was the only team in Lenawee County history without a 1,000-point scorer.
Nieto said his game evolved over his four years, especially thanks to hitting the weight room.
“I got a lot stronger,” he said. “I put up a lot of shots in the gym, too.”
Madison went through some changes during Nieto’s varsity career as well. The school was in the Tri-County Conference his freshman and sophomore seasons but moved to the Lenawee County Athletic Association last year. His freshman season was also the first time Madison played in Division 2.
This season the Trojans shared the LCAA title with Onsted, the first trophy won during Nieto’s four seasons.
“We had a good season. I’m satisfied,” Nieto said. “I wish we would have won more. I think we won 55 games in my four years. That’s pretty good.”
Nieto chose to stay close for college, selecting Siena Heights, which is just a few miles from his home. Among reasons is his close-knit family.
“My sister always comes to my games, my mom and dad and my uncles,” he said. “They all sit in the same spot and sit together. I know they are there.
“Sometimes my mom will get after me about playing defense. It helps me having them there.”
His basketball family is close-knit, too.
“Not that we weren’t a family last year, but I think this year we really became a close family, all the players and coaches,” he said. “I think that is what helped us get over the top.”
Madison’s 18 wins this season were the most for the Trojans since 2015-16.
The school celebrated Nieto becoming the all-time leading scorer, something Bagrow doesn’t recall happening when he was in school.
“I think they painted the number 974 (his career point total) on a piece of plywood and hung it in the school. I think the guy I passed had the record for only two or three years,” he said. “I can’t believe the record has held this long. That’s 40 years.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Adrian Madison’s Antonio Nieto (4) puts up a shot during a game this season. (Middle) Nieto, holding a banner, celebrates his 1,000th career point surrounded by family. (Top photo by Tyler George.)