D3 Preview: Challengers Lined Up as Beecher Seeks to Complete Repeat Run
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 23, 2022
Flint Beecher is one of three 2021 champions returning to the Boys Basketball Finals this weekend, and the Bucs are among the most frequent visitors to Breslin Center with Thursday’s to be their eighth Semifinal appearance over the last 13 years.
That’s a pretty imposing opener for describing any bracket. But this one could be especially loaded with Schoolcraft also making a return trip and Menominee and Ecorse showing strong credentials all season long.
DIVISON 3 Semifinals – Thursday
Menominee (22-3) vs. Ecorse (9-12), Noon
Schoolcraft (23-2) vs. Flint Beecher (22-2), 2 p.m.
FINAL – Saturday – 4:30 p.m.
Tickets for this weekend’s games are $12 for both Semifinals and Finals and are available via the Breslin Center ticket office. All Semifinals will be broadcast and viewable with subscription to MHSAA.tv, and all four Finals will air live Saturday on Bally Sports Detroit, with the Division 4 and 1 games on BSD EXTRA and the Division 3 and 2 games on BSD’s primary channel. All four will be broadcast live as well as on the BSD website and app. Audio broadcasts of all Semifinals and Finals will be available free of charge from the MHSAA Network.
Here’s a look at the four Division 3 semifinals (with rankings by MPR at the end of the regular season, and statistics through Regional Finals):
ECORSE
Record/rank: 9-12, No. 148
League finish: Fourth in Michigan Metro Athletic Conference Black
Coach: Gerrod Abram, third season (39-20)
Championship history: Class B runner-up 1978, Class B Lower Peninsula runner-up 1942.
Best wins: 49-47 over Erie Mason in Regional Final, 73-71 over Riverview Gabriel Richard in District Semifinal.
Players to watch: Malik Olafioye, 6-2 jr. G; Kenneth Morrast Jr., 6-1 jr. G. (Statistics not provided.)
Outlook: Ecorse is headed to the Semifinals for the first time since 1980. It’s important to note the team’s MPR would have been much higher without 10 forfeits over the first two months of the regular season; the Raiders instead would be 16-5. And they’ve appeared to be Division 3 contenders from the start, with since-forfeited wins over Division 1 Brownstown Woodhaven (19-5) and Division 2 River Rouge (17-4). The District win over Gabriel Richard was the Pioneers’ only loss of the season. This group should continue to be strong; only one senior starts and there are only two seniors total on a roster that includes four sophomores and a freshman.
FLINT BEECHER
Record/rank: 22-2, No. 2
League finish: First in Genesee Area Conference Red
Coach: Marquise Gray, first season (22-2)
Championship history: Nine MHSAA titles (most recent 2021), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 72-41 over No. 5 Reese in District Final, 84-68 over Division 2 No. 12 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 75-69 over Division 2 No. 6 Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 63-60 over Flint Carman-Ainsworth.
Players to watch: Carmelo Harris, 6-0 sr. G; James Cummings II, 6-3 sr. F. (Statistics not provided.)
Outlook: The Bucs returned to win last season’s championship, their first since 2017, and have lost only to Division 1 Grand Blanc (20-5) and Detroit Martin Luther King (19-3) this winter while handing reigning Division 2 champion Grand Rapids Catholic Central (24-1) its lone defeat. Gray memorably starred at Beecher and Michigan State and played overseas before returning and serving as an assistant coach in advance of taking over the program. Harris and Cummings started on last season’s team, and 6-3 junior Robert Lee II was the only sub who saw more than two minutes of time in last year’s Final. Harris also is a returning all-state first-teamer.
MENOMINEE
Record/rank: 22-3, No. 1
League finish: First in Great Northern Conference
Coach: Sam Larson, fifth season (48-51)
Championship history: Class B champion 1967
Best wins: 60-56 (2OT) over No. 19 Benzie Central in Regional Final, 74-57 over Ishpeming Westwood in Regional Semifinal, 83-45 over Iron Mountain in District Final, 77-44 and 65-62 over Division 2 No. 1 Escanaba, 51-26 and 72-40 over Division 4 No. 4 Powers North Central.
Players to watch: Aidan Bellisle, 6-2 sr. G (15.4 ppg, 4.8 apg); Cooper Conway, 6-4 sr. F (12.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg); Brady Schultz, 6-6 sr. F (12 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.6 bpg).
Outlook: The Maroons have improved from 4-17 just three seasons ago to making the Semifinals for the first time since 2008. The only two in-state losses this winter came over the last five weeks, to Escanaba in the teams’ third meeting of the season (after Menominee won the first two, and by a point to Division 4 semifinalist Ewen-Trout Creek. Five seniors start, with three sophomores playing the most prominent roles off the bench. Larson was a sophomore on the 2008 team that lost to Lansing Catholic in Class B at Breslin.
SCHOOLCRAFT
Record/rank: 23-2, No. 6
League finish: First in Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley
Coach: Randy Small, 17th season (329-67)
Championship history: Class C champion 2011, runner-up 2009.
Best wins: 60-57 (Quarterfinal) and 61-32 over No. 17 Pewamo-Westphalia, 45-31 over No. 14 Watervliet in Regional Final, 59-31 (District Final), 51-40 and 54-41 over No. 18 Kalamazoo Christian, 49-45 over Division 2 No. 5 Parchment.
Players to watch: Tyler DeGroote, 6-7 sr. F (16.3 ppg, 10.2 rpg); Shane Rykse, 6-3 soph. G (13.1 ppg, 53 3-pointers); Ty Rykse, 6-7 sr. F (12.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 4.3 apg).
Outlook: Schoolcraft is making a repeat appearance at Breslin and fell by just four in overtime in last season’s Semifinal against Iron Mountain. The Golden Eagles are a combined 63-4 over the last three seasons. DeGroote and Shane Rykse were main contributors last season as well – DeGroote earned an all-state honorable mention – and Ty Rykse also started in the Semifinal. The defeats this season came to Division 1 Hudsonville and Parchment, and Schoolcraft avenged the latter. Senior point guard Asher Puhalski adds another 7.2 points, four rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
PHOTO Flint Beecher’s Keyonta Menifield goes to the basket during Tuesday’s Quarterfinal win over New Haven. (Photo by Terry Lyons.)
Tri-Unity Avenges Season-Opening Loss, Earns Retiring Coach Another Finals Win
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
March 15, 2025
EAST LANSING — The Wyoming Tri-unity Christian High School boys basketball team was not about to end its season the way it started – with a loss to Fowler.
The Defenders also were not going to let legendary coach Mark Keeler ride off into the sunset after a 38-year career without another Division 4 championship.
On the strength of suffocating defense and two double-digit scoring runs, along with frigid Fowler shooting during the first half, Tri-unity defeated the Eagles 49-32 on Saturday at the Breslin Center to claim its second-straight title and third over the last four years.
Keeler, who announced his retirement earlier this season, departs with his seventh MHSAA Finals championship. Fowler was making its first appearance in the championship since 2002 – when the Eagles also lost to Tri-Unity.
“This is not going to be a good time for me because I’m pretty emotional,” Keeler said. “I’m so stinking proud of them. Was that good defense? I think that was good defense. We played a great team. I thought we didn’t quit.”
Keaton Blanker led Tri-unity (27-2) with 12 points, followed by Noah Silverton with 11, all in the first half.
“Our biggest emphasis was playing 32 minutes,” Blanker said. “We don’t stop fighting until that final buzzer, and we did that. I’m just so happy for all us players.”
Tri-unity graduated eight seniors from last year’s championship team, with only Blanker and Joey Mellon seeing significant playing time, so another Division 4 title wasn’t necessarily a sure thing, especially after the loss to Fowler on opening night at home.
“I don’t think a lot of people thought that we could do this,” Blanker said. “We just fought. Every day at practice was a straight grind.”
Tri-unity’s defense was smothering all season – holding teams to an average of 39 points per game, the lowest of Keeler’s tenure – and it was downright sterling Saturday.
The first Fowler basket was a 3-pointer by Jacob Halfmann more than five minutes into the contest after Tri-unity scored the game’s first 11 points. That was quickly followed by another 3-pointer by Aaron Simon, but that was all the Eagles could muster as Tri-unity led 11-6 after the first quarter.
Six quick points from Tri-unity – aided by Fowler turnovers – pushed the lead back to 11 less than two minutes into the second quarter. At that point, Fowler had three times as many turnovers (six) as field goals (two).
The lead stretched to 16 halfway through the second quarter, prompting a third Fowler timeout.
A Jacob Halfmann 3-pointer at the 3:15 mark ended another lengthy Fowler scoring drought – and a 13-0 Defenders run – and made the score 24-9. He finished with a team-high 11 points.
The Eagles (25-4) struggled in the first half to find an answer for Silverton, who eclipsed double figures in points before they did.
“Today we just started a little slow. It took a little bit for us to settle in,” an emotional Fowler coach Kam Riley said. “We kept talking about, we got to settle in and be ourselves, and I thought we did that as the game progressed. Against a good team like Tri-unity, you dig a hole, it’s going to be tough to get out of it.”
An Alex Halfmann layup with 2:05 to play in the first half was the first Fowler field goal inside the 3-point arc. Despite a solid finish to the half by Fowler, the Defenders carried a 28-16 lead into the break.
The Eagles cut the lead to seven late in the third quarter as Tri-unity suddenly appeared mortal.
“They came back at us at the start of the second half, and we knew they would,” Keeler said. “I just thought my guys played great defense. I was more excited about our defense.”
A Clayton Rowlader 3-pointer pushed the lead back to double figures. Fowler pulled within 39-30 with 3:48 to play before Tri-unity closed the game with a 10-2 run boosted by two more 3-pointers by Rowlader. The Defenders finished 4-of-10 from long range after making only one of 23 attempts combined during Regional Final and Quarterfinal victories.
Keeler said this championship was different than the others because it’s his last, and that despite the loss of so many upperclassmen from last year’s team, he had a feeling this team could win it all.
“The competitive part of me, I wanted to win and I knew we could because I’ve watched these guys mature,” Keeler said. “I love defense. It’s the old adage, if you can do offense, you’ll win games, but if you play good defense, you’ll win state championships.”
Keeler finished his career with a 721-218 varsity coaching record, his wins ranking third in MHSAA boys basketball history.
PHOTOS (Top) Tri-unity Christian’s Keaton Blanker (4) exits the game in celebration during his team’s Division 4 Final win Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Defenders’ Cody Osbun elevates above three Fowler players to put up a shot. (Below) Fowler’s Aaron Simon (30) makes a move into the lane. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)