Dollar Bay Adding to UP's D Dominance
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 6, 2018
DOLLAR BAY — Small school. Huge tradition.
That’s pretty much the way it is with the boys basketball program at Dollar Bay, a high school of 100 students in this tiny community in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Dollar Bay completed a perfect regular season Thursday night with a 70-59 victory at Painesdale Jeffers and opened District play Monday with a 47-24 win over Chassell in Class D.
The Blue Bolts (21-0) hope to go deeper into this year’s tournament and next host Baraga in a Wednesday District Semifinal.
A year ago, they reached the Regional opener at Negaunee where they dropped a 75-73 decision to Powers North Central. The Jets then went on to capture their third consecutive Class D title.
“The biggest thing I took from that game is what we can do as a team,” said senior forward Jaden Janke, an all-Upper Peninsula Class D second-team pick last season. “That got us excited for this season. It made us want to work that much harder.”
Senior guard Devin Schmitz, an all-U.P. Class D first-team selection, had similar thoughts.
“We wanted to show we had good Class D teams up here,” he said. “We didn’t have Brandon (Thompson) for that game. Just having all the guys coming back made us excited for this season.”
If the Blue Bolts win the District, they would be shooting for the school’s first Regional crown since 1979.
“To have a successful program at Dollar Bay, it has to start from the ground up,” said coach Jesse Kentala. “The kids love basketball and play it on their days off. It’s really a joy being around these guys every day. In a small community, you get to know the families real well. There’s a lot of basketball history here.”
Pete Dix, a 1994 graduate, holds the all-time career scoring record at Dollar Bay with 1,556 points.
Schmitz scored 30 at Painesdale on Thursday, running his career total to 1,537. But Kentala said the players have always put the team before their personal goals.
“I’ve been coaching for 11 years and these are some of the most competitive practices I’ve seen,” he added. “The strength of our team is we have all five guys working together. This is the most unselfish group of guys I ever coached. For them it’s all about sharing the ball.”
“Our second unit is also real good,” Schmitz added. “Having these guys to practice with helps the starters. It’s kind of like playing with your little brother. They’re going to beat you sometimes.”
Dollar Bay already has some experience playing on a big stage this season. Last month it earned a 51-42 victory over Ewen-Trout Creek in front of a crowd of nearly 3,300 at nearby Michigan Tech.
“We were originally scheduled for Tuesday (Feb. 6) at our place, then we changed it to Wednesday night because nothing else was going on,” said Kentala. “We thought they would draw 1,000-1,500 people. None of us expected that kind of atmosphere. They were at capacity. There were people sitting on the hardwood. That might have been the biggest attendance for a jayvee game in the U.P.”
The contest was heavily promoted by Houghton Daily Mining Gazette sports editor Bryce Derouin and got media attention statewide.
“Bryce promoted the game real well,” said Kentala. “We had two real good basketball teams, programs that have had success for years. I think it was great for both programs.
"Moving the game to Tech is a decision we’ll never regret, and that’s something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. I even talked to a writer from the Detroit Free Press who did a small article on our team. You can’t help but chuckle when you think about it.”
What was it like playing in front of so many fans?
“It was real exciting,” said Schmitz. “We never played in front of that many people before. It was very loud. We couldn’t hear the coaches. When we went out and saw that many people, we said, ‘This is going to be fun.’ It made us want to dunk before the officials came to the floor. We could feel the building shake. We were lucky to experience that.”
Dollar Bay had a close call two nights later, edging Ontonagon 62-61 on its home floor.
“The week before, (the Ewen-Trout Creek game was) all people were talking about,” said Janke. “We’re trying not to make that game our peak. It was exciting to play at Tech, but we were glad to be on our home floor. Ontonagon has a good team. They’re not to be taken lightly.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Dollar Bay's Devin Schmitz goes up for a layup during Monday’s District win over Chassell. (Middle) Dollar Bay's Jacob Iacono drives to the basket. (Below) This season’s Dollar Bay boys basketball team, after its win Monday. (Top and middle photos courtesy of Bryce Derouin/Houghton Daily Mining Gazette. Below photo courtesy of the Dollar Bay athletic department.)
Missing McKenney Provides St. Mary's Another Opportunity to Grow
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2025
Such a situation certainly wouldn’t be ideal for Todd Covert and his Orchard Lake St. Mary’s boys basketball team.
But from now on during the MHSAA Tournament, if star guard Trey McKenney gets into foul trouble or has to miss extended game time for another reason, it might not be as nightmarish of a scenario as once thought.
On Jan. 9, during a game against IMG Academy (Fla.), McKenney suffered a broken bone in the top of his shooting hand.
He didn’t return until Feb. 8. But that month without McKenney ended up producing a revelation for Covert and his team.
Essentially, the sky didn’t fall and the reigning Division 1 champion showed it could still be one of the top teams in the state.
“Of course, when he’s with us I think we’re a lot better,” said St. Mary’s senior Jayden Savoury, who has signed with Michigan State for football but also is an important member of the basketball team. “But when he was down, a lot of guys had to step up. I think that built us up and made us better.”
During that stretch, St. Mary’s went 4-2, with the losses by one point to No. 1 East Lansing and two to No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice. One of the wins was over Grand Rapids Northview, which received votes in the final rankings of the regular season.
“Kids had to take on new roles and hit some big shots,” Covert said. “Obviously with Trey we missed his scoring. It took us a couple of games to rebound. He rebounds. He goes and gets it. We were blocking out the same, but we weren’t going to get it. That’s how East Lansing hurt us early, and they ended up beating us. It took us a minute (to adjust).”
McKenny, a Michigan signee, averaged 22.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a junior and is a finalist for the Mr. Basketball Award this season. The Eaglets this winter also returned two more starters and a top sub from last season’s championship-winning team, but losing McKenney provided them another opportunity to grow.
Covert said Savoury was one of the players who stepped up and filled an expanded role, as did senior and Western Michigan signee Sharod Barnes, and senior Isaiah Hines.
“In a weird way, it really made Trey appreciate what he had,” Covert said.
While watching from the bench during that stretch, McKenney constantly nodded his head in approval of what his teammates were doing.
“We have such a deep team, I think the next man is always going to be ready whenever somebody is hurt or whenever somebody is in foul trouble,” McKenney said. “Everybody was ready and everybody took the challenge on. I was happy to see the game from a different aspect.”
McKenney returned Feb. 8 in a Catholic High School League Bishop quarterfinal, then helped lead the Eaglets past Brother Rice in a semifinal game and then to another Catholic League title with a 58-57 win over Detroit U-D Jesuit in the Feb. 14 final.
With him back in the fold, St. Mary’s seems fully stocked to repeat as Division 1 champion entering a District Final game Friday against West Bloomfield.
Even more reassuring for St. Mary’s than having McKenney back is that if he got into foul trouble or had to miss extended time again, all hope wouldn’t be lost thanks to how St. Mary’s developed during the month he was out.
“Definitely,” Savoury said. “When he’s in foul trouble, we’ll be all right.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Trey McKenney holds up a banner celebrating his becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer during a win over Toledo Whitmer on Dec. 28. (Middle) Quincy Wright (5) dunks against East Lansing on Jan. 11. (Photos courtesy of the State Champs! Sports Network.)