Country Day Will Play for 9th Title
March 22, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Detroit Country Day coach Kurt Keener said he doesn’t get hung up on numbers, like the ninth MHSAA title his team could claim Saturday.
For this group of Yellowjackets, it would be the first. And that’s what counts most of all.
Country Day has come to Breslin Center and left without a championship the last two seasons. But for the first time since winning Class B in 2010, the Yellowjackets will play in the championship game – thanks to a 73-42 Semifinal win Friday over Cadillac.
“It would mean everything to me,” Country Day senior Austin Price said. “The last two years we came up here expecting to win and fell short. It would be great to end on a high note and win my last game as a high school basketball player.”
Top-ranked Country Day will face either Wyoming Godwin Heights or Detroit Community for the title at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
In terms of Finals experience, few programs could sit on further ends of the spectrum.
While Country Day is a Breslin regular, Cadillac (21-5) made its first appearance in an MHSAA Semifinal.
Country Day’s last two Finals weekend visits ended with Semifinals losses to eventual champion
Lansing Sexton. But these Yellowjackets have a different look than some of their most recent teams, with a smaller lineup and a style Keener tells his players should be more track meet than golf match.
That speed became tough for Cadillac to handle immediately, as Country Day (24-3) jumped to a 22-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Vikings committed nine turnovers during the first eight minutes.
But they wouldn’t be run off. Cadillac pulled within 26-20 midway through the second quarter.
“At 26-20 we had the game where we wanted it,” Cadillac coach Jeff McDonald said. “We wanted it to be close and give ourselves a puncher’s chance.”
But they ran out of punches soon after, as Country Day went on a 14-2 run and never led by fewer than 10 points over the final 18 minutes.
Junior Edmond Sumner led the Yellowjackets with 30 points on 9 of 15 shooting, and also had six steals. Senior Mory Diane added 11 points.
Of Cadillac’s 26 turnovers, 21 were Country Day steals.
“Defensively, they don’t make mistakes. And obviously they like an uptempo game. They like to gamble on defense,” Vikings senior Nick Paquet said. “We like to slow it down, make it a halfcourt game. We allowed ourselves to play a little faster than we wanted to, and that hurt us.”
Paquet led Cadillac with 18 points and four steals. Junior Jalen Brooks added 15 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day's Edmond Sumner pushes the ball upcourt Friday while Cadillac's Jalen Brooks (2) and Lewis Finch (15) give chase. (Middle) Brooks makes a strong move to the basket during the Semifinal. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Next Generation Chargers Make C Final
March 23, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Carson Meulenberg and Trenton Koole had never played a game of this magnitude before taking the Breslin Center floor Thursday.
But their dads had, and perhaps indirectly that provided them a little experience. At least it seemed like it.
Covenant Christian didn’t seem bothered by any of the usual anxieties teams face when they play during the final weekend for the first time. The Chargers – in an MHSAA Semifinal for the first time since winning Class D in 1994 – got ahead early and never slowed in downing Manton 62-35 to earn a spot in Saturday’s Class C championship game.
Koole’s dad Scott played on that 1994 team that beat Eben Junction Superior Central 79-70 in the championship game. Scott Koole also played with Dave Meulenberg on the 1993 team that beat Muskegon Western Michigan Christian 53-42 to win the Class D title that season as well.
“To just stay calm, keep your composure, play your best,” Carson Meulenberg recalled of the advice his father gave him before Thursday. “Don’t worry about a lot of things. A lot of it is worrying about nothing, so just go play your game.”
And Covenant Christian’s game this season frequently has focused on defense, which was lockdown against the Rangers and will be especially key in Saturday's 4:30 p.m. Final against Flint Beecher.
Koole blocked Manton’s first shot of the game, and Covenant Christian had three blocks during the first five minutes. The Rangers still hung in to trail only 11-7 at the end of the first quarter, but the Chargers (21-5) scored the first 19 points of the second and never led again by fewer than 20.
They held usually sharp-shooting Manton (21-5) to 22 percent success from the floor, including 16 percent from 3-point range.
“Finally,” Calvin Christian coach Tyler Schimmel said. “To be honest, since the first District game, we haven’t played that well. I told the guys before (this) game, you’re due for one, especially defensively.
“This year, we actually have (had games like this). That’s why I kept telling my guys they’re a good team. They’re capable of doing those types of things.”
Koole led Covenant Christian with a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds, and Meulenberg and junior forward Zach Kaptein both had 10 points. Senior guard Benji Kuiper had six points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals, and junior Tyler Cammenga had nine points and seven rebounds.
Manton’s top three scorers this season were juniors and sophomores; junior Jayden Perry led again with 13 points, and junior Hunter Ruell had eight points.
“On film, we knew they were going to be athletic just by watching them,” Manton coach Ryan Hiller said. “Once they started getting offensive boards, and the transition game, and I don’t know how many shots they blocked that first half … through the first five minutes, we saw a trend there, and we had to adapt the things we normally do, and we struggled there.”
Manton was playing in its first Semifinal since 1996. The Rangers had been eliminated in the District Finals the last three seasons, losing those games by a combined seven points.
Covenant Christian is riding a streak of 14 wins in 15 games, and now has some bragging rights at home in addition to Saturday’s opportunity.
“He talks about it all the time to me, brags and says he made it this far,” Koole said of his dad's Finals memories. “Now I can go back to him and tell him I did the same thing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Covenant Christian’s Benji Kuiper (12) works to get around Manton’s Jayden Perry during Thursday’s Semifinal. (Middle) The Rangers’ Wyatt Baker gets up a shot with the Chargers’ Carson Meulenberg (24) defending.