D4 Eagles Regain Championship Stride
March 16, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Southfield Christian began this winter minus two starters who left the program for other schools and with just two wins in its first seven games.
In early January, the Eagles faced a decision to guide the rest of their season.
“Our conversation repeatedly after a couple of those games was we’ve gotta choose if we’re either going to be great, of if you’re going to be OK and we’re going to be OK with being .500 and just being average,” Southfield Christian coach Josh Baker recalled Saturday. “Beat some teams, and lose to some better teams and call it a season.
“What are we going to do here? So as a team, we just collectively decided we were going to put in more work, and we were going to put in more time and … we’re just going to give extra effort. That’s the only thing we know how to do.”
Once again, Southfield Christian figured out the rest. The Eagles finished 19-1 after that opening stretch and finished Saturday as a repeat MHSAA champion with a 63-39 win over Frankfort in the Division 4 championship game at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
The title was Southfield Christian’s fifth this decade. In addition to last season’s, the Eagles also won Class D in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The team’s only loss since Jan. 5 came to River Rouge, an eventual Division 2 finalist.
“This is very sweet. I’m not going to lie to you,” Eagles junior guard Da’Jion Humphrey said. “We worked hard – me, Jon (Sanders), everyone on the team, we put in countless hours. And as you can see, it pays off. Southfield Christian basketball is still here, and we’re still thriving.”
Humphrey and Sanders, a senior guard, were returning starters from last season’s team. They took on bigger roles as Harlond Beverly – the leading scorer in last year’s Class D Final – left for a prep school, and Caleb Hunter transferred to Detroit U-D Jesuit.
On Saturday, Humphrey led with 20 points, five assists and five rebounds, and Sanders had 19 points. Junior guard Noah Rheker added 10 points.
The Eagles jumped out to a 13-2 lead over the first 3½ minutes, and pushed the advantage to 24-12 by the end of the first quarter despite Frankfort making 63 percent of its shots from the floor during the period. The Panthers’ problem was they struggled to get many off, with eight of their 16 turnovers also coming over the first eight minutes.
Rheker scored Southfield Christian’s final basket of the first quarter and five more points during the first six minutes of the second as the Eagles extended their lead to 21.
“I was really trying to bring a spark, because I knew our biggest emphasis was to try to pressure the ball and really get after it,” Rheker said. “So I just really tried to set the tone and let these guys pick it up after me.”
Senior guard Will Newbold led Frankfort with 17 points and seven rebounds. With the game decided in the fourth quarter, the coaches emptied their benches. Panthers’ freshman Blake Miller quickly became a fan favorite during his hustle-filled four minutes – he ended up the team’s second-leading scorer with seven points to go with a pair of steals.
“The moment can kinda get you, but I thought our guys did a good job,” Frankfort first-year head coach Dan Loney said. “They didn’t back down. They played to the end. And as a coach, you couldn’t be happier.
“Look at the crowd out there. You see the kind of community we come from. We’re down 30 and they’re cheering like we’re up. As a coach, I really can’t explain the feeling when you see that. … The future is going to be bright in Frankfort, and we plan on being back here.”
Loney’s team finished 21-6, and the trip to the championship game was made more impressive by the fact the Panthers had graduated all of their starters and a top sub from last season’s 20-3 run.
“The fans and the crowd, it was so much different than back home,” Frankfort senior forward Jack Reznich said. “To be able to see all our fans, come out and see the (U-D) Jesuit school, all of them cheering for us. Just having everybody here, see all the lights and noise, it was a crazy feeling. It was life-changing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Southfield Christian’s Jon Sanders (10) gets a shot up over Frankfort’s Conner Smith during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) Will Newbold works to drive past the Eagles’ Rahmon Scruggs.
U-D Jesuit Wins Matchup of Undefeated
March 25, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Detroit U-D Jesuit’s first trip to the Class A Semifinals in 2014 was filled with awe.
The second trip, last season, ended in disappointment.
There was no longer awe Friday, and no less excitement – just a laser-like focus on taking the next step for the first time in program history, led by the best player to wear a Cubs uniform.
Senior guard Cassius Winston has played prominent roles in getting U-D Jesuit to the Breslin Center the last three seasons, and his 27 points and 12 rebounds were one of a few reasons the Cubs got past Macomb Dakota 72-51 in a matchup of undefeated teams considered the best in Class A heading into the postseason.
“Like I’ve said before, this is the final to my high school career, and I don’t think I’ve had a successful high school career unless we can win a state championship,” Winston said. “It means the world to finally get over that hump. We came in two years expecting to win it and came up short. Now we made it past that hump to make it to Saturday, so we’ve got to finish it off.”
The Cubs (27-0) will face North Farmington in Saturday’s noon Class A Final.
U-D Jesuit and Dakota were ranked 1 and 2, respectively, by The Associated Press at the end of the regular season, and both were playing to make an MHSAA Final for the first time. Dakota also was riding a perfect run, with the loss Friday ending its season at 26-1.
The Cubs’ 2014 run ended with a 10-point Semifinal loss to eventual runner-up Bloomfield Hills. Last winter, U-D Jesuit edged a point closer, losing by nine to eventual champion Detroit Western International.
The Quarterfinal win over No. 4 Ypsilanti Community on Tuesday to make this third straight trip definitely was worth celebrating. But Cubs coach Pat Donnelly said hoots and hollers were replaced by a quieter focus that showed him again that his players were all business.
“We did discuss the last two years and the feeling that we had leaving here Friday afternoon, and we talked about that throughout the season,” Donnelly said. “That allowed us to win the Quarterfinal and be very focused walking off the floor. … I think you saw the result of that today.”
It was quickly apparent during an 18-3 run that began 2:41 into the game and ended 2:28 into the second quarter with U-D Jesuit up 25-9. The lead grew to as many as 25 points as the Cubs also held Dakota to its second-fewest in a game this season.
The more sizable U-D Jesuit outrebounded the Cougars 39-24 and also shot 58 percent from the floor to Dakota’s 35 percent success rate, which got off to a cool 19-percent first-half start.
Winston, who will next play at Michigan State and was named the state's Mr. Basketball on Monday, made 8 of 16 shots from the floor in front of a Breslin crowd that included a full lower bowl and a number of fans in the upper bowl as well.
“That was probably the hypest game I ever played in,” Dakota junior Jermaine Jackson said. “Cassius is a great player. Mr. Basketball coming in, that’s a tough task.”
Junior Gregory Eboigbodin added 13 points and 18 rebounds for U-D Jesuit. Senior guards Steven Marshall and Tavin Allison led four Dakota players in double figures with 13 points apiece, and Jackson and sophomore Thomas Kithier each scored 12. Kithier also had nine rebounds and four assists.
Donnelly said he told Dakota coach Paul Tocco after not to let a Breslin loss take anything away from an excellent season, as the Cougars were now experiencing what the Cubs had experienced twice before.
“Obviously we’re disappointed, but we’ve very proud of the season we had,” Tocco said. “I know the experience of losing to Clarkston in the Regional championship last year was a big-time motivator for us to move beyond that point. It motivated our entire program. And we took another step, two steps, beyond that this year.
"To get here, I’m not going to lie – it’s a lot of fun. We tried to treat it as a business-type trip. We weren’t just happy to be here. We just got outplayed tonight.”
The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) U-D Jesuit’s Ike Eke (1) launches a shot over the outstretched hand of Macomb Dakota’s Thomas Kithier. (Middle) Dakota’s Jermaine Jackson (1) works to get past U-D Jesuit’s Elijah Collins.