Cougars Cap Winter with Long-Anticipated Celebration
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 10, 2021
EAST LANSING – The Grand Rapids Catholic Central boys basketball team was heartbroken when it lost in overtime by a single point to Benton Harbor in the 2018 Class B Final.
A second-half push Saturday guaranteed there wouldn't be any stressful final moments this time around at Breslin Center.
The Cougars secured the program’s first MHSAA Finals championship with a 77-54 win over Battle Creek Pennfield in the season's closing game, the Division 2 finale.
Catholic Central finished 20-0 and erased the disappointing memories of three years ago.
“A lot of guys from that (2018) team sent us a lot of messages over the last couple days about finishing what they started,” Cougars coach T.J. Meerman said. “So that was our mission tonight.”
Former Catholic Central star and current Michigan State player Marcus Bingham was in attendance to root his alma mater on.
“This is amazing,” said junior Jack Karasinski, who scored 18 points as one of four Cougars scoring in double figures.
“To see Marcus, and how it ended for him, we just wanted to get it done for our guys. I want to give praise to our coach. Sometimes I don’t think he sleeps. He walks in with an energy drink every day, so he wanted this one bad. I’m glad we got it done for him.”
Sophomore Kaden Brown sparked the Cougars and finished with a game-high 25 points. Freshman Durral Brooks had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while junior Jorden Brooks chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
“I love my guys and the coaches and it feels great to be able to come out and finish the season like this,” Brown said. “This was our goal from the start, and it feels great to come out and finish it how we wanted.”
An entertaining first half included seven lead changes and seven ties.
The score was 13-13 at the end of the first quarter, and a pair of free throws from Pennfield’s Aiden Burns with one second left in the second quarter knotted the game again at 31-31.
The Panthers took a 34-33 lead before Catholic Central used its trademark spurt to retake the lead and pull away.
Over a span of four minutes, the Cougars went on a 14-2 run and snared a 48-36 lead they never relinquished.
“I thought our guys bounced back in the second half with a lot of energy and a lot of fight,” Meerman said. “We were able to outlast them, and that’s been our motto all year. Defend, rebound and run, and that took over in the second half for us.”
Pennfield coach Nate Burns, whose team was making its first trip to the Finals, was mindful of Catholic Central’s ability to score in bunches quickly.
“Looking at film on them, they live off of their spurts,” Burns said. “And we knew coming in that we had to try and limit the damage of those spurts. They just happen so fast, and we thought we could withstand it, but then all of a sudden they are up by 10 and you try to regroup and they come with another wave.
“They have been doing that to everyone all year and we were hoping to be the exception tonight, but they got us.”
Junior guard Luke Davis helped the Panthers (21-3) stay close in the first half and finished with 17 points and four assists.
Senior Ryne Petersen added 11 points, and Aiden Burns had nine points and four rebounds.
“This group, led by our three captains, did everything they needed to do this season,” Nate Burns said. “This is the best team in school history.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Durral Brooks (10, with ball) works into the lane with Pennfield’s Aiden Burns (10), Shawn Gardner (24) and Ryne Petersen (23) defending. (Middle) The Panthers’ Gavin Liggett (3) gets a hand up on a shot by Catholic Central’s Jorden Brooks (23). Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Senior-Dominated Falcons Finish Freeland Careers in Best Way Imaginable
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 14, 2026
EAST LANSING – Not many teams had a sense of urgency to win it all as big as Freeland’s this season.
And Saturday night, they capped off a run to a title that went well beyond just this year.
Led by its 12 seniors – and two senior student managers – Freeland claimed its first Boys Basketball Finals title, defeating Hudsonville Unity Christian 42-32 in the Division 2 championship game at the Breslin Center.
“To go back home with this big thing (trophy) and do something that no Freeland boys team has ever done, win a state championship, is pretty special,” senior guard Wilson Huckeby said. “Not just for me, but for all these guys, I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Everyone that saw the floor for the Falcons in the Final will graduate, and they’ll go out in the best way they could imagine.
The game started slowly, as the Crusaders led 6-4 after the first quarter with the teams going a combined 4-of-19 from the field.
Some space opened up during the second quarter, but not much, as Unity Christian held a 17-15 lead at the half.
It was Freeland, though, that started to find a groove toward the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, going ahead by 13 with under three minutes to play.
“In the locker room, you walked in and it was just poised and composed,” Freeland coach John Fattal said. “Everyone knew in that locker room what the second half was going to look like. Everyone knew in our locker room what the belief looked like. Everyone understood that these guys were going to handle pressure, were going to make free throws, they were going to handle everything that Unity Christian threw at them, everything the environment threw at them, and they were just poised and composed the whole second half.”
The run was highlighted by 3-pointers from Tristan Comer and Connor Lasceski on back-to-back possessions, stretching a three-point lead to nine.
“Obviously I’m extremely confident in the shot,” said Comer, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound center who will play offensive line at Michigan State next year. “But I gotta give it to my teammates for setting me up with the perfect pass. I’ve only been able to develop a shot like that because of Coach Fattal and how he runs his practices and how he teaches when to take those shots.”
Comer finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Falcons (26-3), while Huckeby had 12 points, six rebounds and four steals. Senior Cooper Wagner had five points and six assists, and Lasceski had six points.
“Every shot (Huckeby) made was contested,” Unity Christian coach Scott Soodsma said. “We kind of screwed up a little right before half. We went to a zone and all of the sudden I think we forgot and left that kid open. He’s a great player. If you would have told me that Huckeby and Comer had 24 total, one of those could score 24 on their own. So, yeah, it was just one of those nights where I thought our defense didn’t let us down and it was right there. I thought we just weren’t able to put the basketball in the basket.”
Jack Kamminga led Unity Christian (25-4) with 14 points and five rebounds.
Unity Christian lost senior guard Brogan Sherd early in the third quarter to a leg injury. He was carried back to the locker room and returned on crutches to watch the end of the game. Owen VanderWaal was also limited because of an injury.
“We were down a little horsepower and we had a hard time scoring, that was the issue,” Soodsma said. “Those are our top two leading scorers and both of them are down on the bench. I thought Jack really stepped up and made a couple key baskets. (Kyler) Berghuis did a great job on Huckeby fighting over all those screens. But we couldn’t score. If you would have told me we were going to hold them to 42 points, I’m thinking we win that ball game by 10. I thought we’d get to 55, probably. But, tonight, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
PHOTOS (Top) Freeland’s Wilson Huckeby attempts to cut between a pair of Unity Christian defenders during the Division 2 Final on Saturday. (Middle) Unity’s Kyler Berghuis (3) dribbles into an opening just inside the arc. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)