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.
Senior-Led Stevenson Makes Statement
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
March 22, 2016
STERLING HEIGHTS – Three times coach Rick Bye took Sterling Heights Stevenson to the MHSAA Finals in football.
Since the mid-1980s few schools in the Metro Detroit area have a football program as successful as that at Stevenson. Since 1985, Stevenson has qualified for the football playoffs 20 times. Twelve times the Titans won 10 or more games. During one stretch they reached the Semifinals six consecutive seasons (1993-98).
The baseball program has thrived recently under coach Joe Emanuele. The Titans won the Division 1 title in 2005, reached the Semifinals twice (2011 and 2013) and went to the Quarterfinals in 2014.
But in boys basketball, the Titans have not been able to compete at nearly as high a level as football and baseball. Before this season, Stevenson had one Regional title.
Now it has two.
Stevenson (20-4) defeated Roseville, 60-44, last Wednesday in a Class A Regional Final. The Titans will face North Farmington (22-2) in tonight’s 7 p.m. Quarterfinal at Calihan Hall at the University of Detroit Mercy.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming. Coach Mark LaCombe is in his third season, and the Titans have shown improvement each winter. They were 13-8 in 2013-14 and 16-5 last season, a finish that included a Macomb Area Conference White title.
But first-round knockouts in the MHSAA Tournament didn’t sit well with the five seniors who start for LaCombe this season.
Luke Lamoreaux, a 5-foot-9 point guard and a three-year starter, is one of four returning from last season’s lineup. He was the captain on the soccer team in the fall and is the leader of this team. Lamoreaux said the difference between last season and the team this season is experience.
“We’ve gotten stronger in the weight room,” he said. “We hit the weight room a lot.
“It’s a lot of hard work. Plus it’s a senior-led team. We played a lot of tough teams in the summer. And we played a tough nonconference schedule. We played (Macomb) Dakota. We had a 15-point lead and lost in overtime. We said if we can play with the No. 2-ranked team, we can play with anybody. We’d like another shot.
“We’ve always been a good football school. We’ve wanted to make our mark in basketball. What we’re doing now is we’re making a statement with this run.”
Stevenson isn’t a tall team. Its tallest starter is Stacy Howard at 6-2. LaCombe uses a four-guard lineup and generally subs two to three off the bench. Jahi Hinson (6-3) is one of those reserves, and he’s the lone junior in the rotation.
“We’re undersized,” LaCombe said. “The kids play harder than anyone we play. The kids that play, play at a high level.”
Three players, including Lamoreaux, average between 11 and 12 points. Mylon Weathers (6-0) and Vince Ramachi (6-1) averaged 12 points apiece, Lamoreaux 11.5. Lamoreaux has stepped up his game in the tournament. He’s averaging 15.5 in four tournament games.
“The basket looks really big to him now,” LaCombe said. “He’s getting a name for himself. He plays well on the big stage.”
Weathers is the team’s top defender and will guard the opposition’s top scoring guard. In a District Semifinal, he held Clinton Township Chippewa Valley senior Steven Lloyd to 11 points, 10 below Lloyd’s average.
Stevenson hasn’t received much publicity this season for obvious reasons. LaCombe knows a team has to earn respect, and he said that’s what his team has done. The MAC White isn’t a strong basketball division, and to prepare his team for a long run LaCombe scheduled nonleague games against Rockford, Detroit Western International, Rochester Adams, Warren DeLaSalle and Detroit Country Day. Stevenson’s four losses were to teams that won District titles.
“We weren’t quite ready last year,” he said. “Defensively they’ve executed as well as a coach could ask for. They’ve made adjustments. We trap a lot.
“The brackets were set up perfectly for us. A lot of times you set goals for the season: a league and district titles. That wouldn’t have been good enough for this group. I don’t think we’ll have a group like this come out of Stevenson for a long time.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Luke Lamoreaux and assistant coach Bill Szlaga share a celebratory embrace during Stevenson's Quarterfinal run. (Middle) Stacy Howard (3) prepares to signal a 3-pointer as teammate Austin Beba launches the shot. (Photos courtesy of the Sterling Heights Stevenson boys basketball program.)