'Football Guys' Play Big Roles for Big Reds
February 6, 2020
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Cameron Martinez is not done having fun in high school.
Martinez, MLive’s two-time Michigan High School Football Player of the Year, signed his national letter of intent to play football at Ohio State during a midday event Wednesday at Muskegon High School.
But unlike the rest of the Buckeyes’ incoming class, who are either specializing in only football or have already left their high schools and early-enrolled in Columbus, Martinez is playing a key role for the Big Reds’ state-ranked basketball team.
“I want to enjoy being a high school kid as long as I can,” said Martinez, who rushed for 6,491 yards and 145 touchdowns during his four-year varsity football career, with his first two years at Muskegon Catholic Central and the last two at Muskegon High.
“I really do enjoy playing basketball, and we want to make a long run. We still haven’t played our best game yet.”
Martinez is not the only Division I football signee who chose to honor his commitment on the hardcourt for Muskegon.
Billie Roberts and Jordan Porter, who both will play defensive line at Bowling Green, provide valuable muscle inside for the Big Reds, who are ranked No. 7 in Division 1 in the latest Associated Press poll.
Muskegon is 10-1, with its only loss coming Jan. 4 against visiting Chicago Curie, the top-ranked team in Illinois. In addition to being perfect in Ottawa-Kent Conference Black play, the Big Reds have pulled out tight nonleague wins over Rockford, East Kentwood, Ferndale and, most recently, Saginaw on Saturday at the Redhawk Showcase in Grand Rapids.
Muskegon coach Keith Guy, who also happens to be the stepfather of Martinez, shudders at the thought of not having the three Division I football recruits on his team.
“We do things a little different around here,” said Guy, explaining the symbiotic relationship between the Big Reds’ football and basketball programs. “I am thankful that these guys play football. They bring physical toughness, leadership and just an expectation of winning.”
Martinez, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound guard, averages 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, but his big contribution is as the team’s defensive stopper. While in football he electrified the crowd with his offense (Exhibit A: His seven rushing touchdowns in this year’s playoff opener against Marquette), in basketball he brings the fans to their feet by locking down on the opponent’s best player.
“It’s a lot like playing defensive back, where you are guarding someone 1-on-1,” explained Martinez, who is projected as a defensive back and kick returner at Ohio State.
Roberts, a 6-5, 270-pound post player, has been slowed and often sidelined by a lingering stress reaction in his fibula, and is averaging just one point and one rebound per game.
Guy, who led Muskegon to the Class A championship in 2014, said his big man is starting to get healthier, which will be critical as the team chases its ultimate goal of another Finals title.
Porter, a 6-4, 240-pound forward, brings size and versatility off the bench. He averages 2.5 points and four rebounds per game.
“Basketball helps me so much,” said Porter, who is projected as a defensive end and hybrid lineman/linebacker at Bowling Green. “Obviously, it helps me conditioning-wise. But it really helps with footwork and moves.”
Muskegon High School gets more than its fair share of visits from college football coaches, and many ask to watch basketball practice to get better looks at their prospects’ athletic abilities. Those coaches especially like to see how well linemen prospects like Roberts and Porter can move.
“I got my first offer from Indiana in my sophomore year because of basketball,” said Roberts, who went 52-4 during his four-year varsity football career and played in four MHSAA championship games at Ford Field. “They knew I had good size, but they saw that I could run and move and I think that’s why they offered me.”
Roberts is starting to move better every day, according to Guy, and Guy said that’s a big reason for his team’s improved play of late. After a narrow win at Ferndale on Jan. 20, the Big Reds blew out four straight conference opponents before Saturday’s dramatic win over Saginaw.
Guy sported an Ohio State football T-shirt during Wednesday’s signing event, but his mind was on this weekend’s big back-to-back games – Friday at Grand Rapids Union and Saturday at home against Grand Blanc.
He expects Muskegon’s historic Redmond-Potter Gymnasium to be rocking and rolling Saturday, when Grand Blanc, 10-3 and an honorable mention in Division 1, rolls in with standout 6-5 sophomore Ty Rodgers.
Muskegon will counter Rodgers with a veteran team, including five senior starters and one of the state’s best backcourt duos in Jarvis Walker and Vernon Nash III. Walker, a Mr. Basketball candidate, averages 21.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, while Nash averages 14.8 points.
The X-factor in Saturday’s showdown might be the Big Reds’ “football guys,” who Guy hopes will give his team a physical and mental edge.
Roberts can’t wait.
“There’s nothing like high school,” explained Roberts, flashing a big grin. “I could have early enrolled, but I didn’t want to miss my senior basketball season and prom and all that. I want to stay a kid a little bit longer.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon’s Cameron Martinez, right, walls off a Chicago Curie ball handler during their teams’ Jan. 4 matchup. (Middle) The Big Reds’ Billie Roberts works to gather a loose ball. (Below) Jordan Porter makes a move to the basket. (Photos by Tim Reilly.)
TC Christian's Broderick Approaching Records, But Team Goals Top His List
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
January 10, 2025
If Reese Broderick falls short of the main goal this season, he may never forgive himself.
Rest assured he‘ll likely go easier on his Traverse City Christian basketball teammates.
Broderick is the Sabres’ senior sharpshooter with defensive prowess. The most career 3-pointers in MHSAA history and the school’s scoring record could be his when the dust settles on this season.
But neither feat is at the top of his season goal list.
Broderick has his eyes set on helping his team win the school’s first boys basketball District championship. That outcome might also include a postseason win over the school’s biggest rival, Lake Leelanau St. Mary.
The Eagles ended Broderick’s freshman and sophomore seasons. They also ended his older brother Brock’s career in 2022 as the Brodericks were playing varsity together as a freshman and senior, respectively.
The older Broderick finished that season as the school’s all-time scoring leader, setting the bar at 1,528 career points.
The younger Broderick entered the 2025 calendar year with 284 career 3-point shots made is about to top the 1,300 career scoring mark. He connected on four 3-pointers in the first game of 2025 in a loss to Onekama. He had six the next time out in a win over Leland and finished this week with three more in a win at Bear Lake.
He is now at 297 career 3-pointers made, ranking him fifth in MHSAA history. Matt Kitchen, who starred for Mayville and Unionville-Sebewaing, owns the career mark of 340.
But hosting a District trophy is of far greater importance to Broderick. The Sabres are 9-2 on the season and collecting wins is their focus.
“I am already on the list, so that’s not too high of a priority and it’s an honor to be on the list,” said Broderick, who joined the 1,000-point club a year ago. “As a school, we haven’t won a District yet, so that’s definitely the big goal and after that just keep going."
Points from Broderick, a second-team all-state selection the past two seasons, are not counted on as much this winter.
“His points are probably 12 points per game — it could be 25, but we’re not worried about (that),” said Sabres coach Rene LaFreniere. “We’re got four guys that any one of them could be all-state selections if we made the push — with Reece being one of them — but at the end of the day, they want to win the District trophy. That’s their focus.’
LaFreniere, now in his fourth year at the school with an enrollment barely topping 100, has seen the Sabres rotate scoring leaders all season. Senior guard Austin Miller – who gets points in transition and is considered the team’s top defender – junior power forward Garret Schultz, and sophomore Asher Coates, a newcomer who can score but focuses on distributing the ball, have all had a few double-digit nights already this season.
Schultz led the Sabres in scoring in their win over Bear Lake with 18 points. Coates kicked in 17.
The team’s stingy defense though has been a bigger contributor to the Sabres’ success, noted LaFreniere. They held Bear Lake to just 32 points this week.
“We’re holding teams to 38-42 points per game,” LaFreniere said. “Right now defensively is what they’re more focused on.”
And while the Sabres play tough defense, Broderick draws the opponent’s best defender every time. It’s not really anything new though.
And while the Sabres are not focused on Broderick getting the career mark, they’ll take every 3-pointer he can muster. The offense relies on screen actions and inbound passes to get the 3-point opportunities.
“I get the ball, but it’s tough,” said Broderick, who missed two games due to illness this season. “I’ll take whatever I can get at the end of season.”
Broderick is rarely hesitant to take the shot whenever it presents itself on the court. He always takes a look at how the team is set for rebounding before making the shot decision.
“The thought is I want to shoot it every time,” he said with a little laugh. “Honestly, it’s just flow — whatever I am feeling.”
Mistakes and shortfalls are tolerated a lot more for teammates than by Broderick himself. “I am pretty easy going — hard on myself though,” he said. “But easy on others, I think.”
LaFreniere loves the intensity his quiet leader plays with at both ends of the court.
“He doesn’t say much,” LaFreniere said. “He’s definitely hard on himself, but most people don’t realize that Reece is one our better defenders on the floor. He likes to play defense. He understands the little nuances of the game.”
The Sabres have 11 games left during regular season. They’d love to ride some hot shooting and strong defense deep into the postseason. Suttons Bay will host the District, which also features Leland, Buckley and Frankfort in addition to St. Mary.
Traverse City Christian will try to take one game at a time, but is looking ahead to a rematch with the rival Eagles. Christian will host them Feb. 7, a part of their unwritten agreement to play each other twice during the regular season. In addition to each school gaining a quality local opponent, the need is greater as neither school currently competes in a league.
St. Mary won 36-27 in front of a large audience in December, as the Sabres shot as they often do in their rival’s gym.
“They got us up there at their place because historically we never shoot well in their gym, and I don’t know why,” LaFreniere said. “But the good side is they don’t shoot well in our gym either. We can’t wait to see.”
A full gymnasium is expected when the Eagles venture south to Traverse City.
“I think it’s a good rivalry – it’s healthy and it’s respectful, and we kind of feed off of it — it’s fun,” LaFreniere said. “When we go to their place it’s a packed house, and when they come to our place it’s a packed house.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City Christian’s Reese Broderick is approaching the MHSAA record for career 3-pointers. (Middle) Broderick looks for an open dribbling lane this winter against Manton. (Below) Broderick gets up a shot last season against Bear Lake. (Top photo courtesy of Traverse City Christian High School. Action photos by TC Rick Sports Photography.)