Freeland Turns to Seniors to Settle In, Secure 1st Trip to Championship Day
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2026
EAST LANSING – In the end, all it finally took for Freeland was to get comfortable.
It didn't take any fiery halftime speeches, brainy coaching decisions or improved shooting by a veteran Falcons team. It was simply a matter of settling in that helped Freeland knock off Romulus Summit Academy North 57-47 in Friday's Division 2 Semifinal at the Breslin Center.
Freeland turned a 12-5 first-period deficit into a two-point halftime lead, and a 37-27 lead after three quarters into a spot in Saturday's 6:45 p.m. Final – which will be the first championship game in program history.
Why the turnabout? Freeland coach John Fattal said it was all about comfort.
"Getting stops and settling in on offense," he said. "We have a lot of highly-skilled players who are unselfish and share the ball. That's just how we are. It wasn't any coaching adjustment, it was just about settling in. We've got a lot of seniors who've played in big games and we just believed we could beat Romulus."
Comfort and a 12-player senior class which mostly has been together since the third grade. They started out playing together as grade schoolers, entered travel ball together as sixth graders and benefitted from watching the last Freeland team play at the 2022 Semifinals when they were in eighth grade. That locker room full of experience has led players to have tons of confidence in one another, senior all-state guard Wilson Huckeby said.
"It's a bonding thing," said Huckeby, who finished with 22 points, four rebounds and three assists. "We're comfortable that everyone has a job to do."
Freeland (25-3) led by as much as 47-32 with five minutes left. The closest Summit came was 12 points with 2:18 to go.
Experience and bonding aside, Fattal credits the team's success to an offense which picks its spots to score. Freeland shot 48.5 percent from the floor, turned the ball over a meager six times and hit 21 of 34 free throws, including 12 in the fourth quarter.
"It wasn't necessarily defense, it was just settling down and getting a shot every time down the floor," he said. "We saw what they were trying to do, and we got used to playing against that.
"Literally we have a 15-man roster who has bought in. The community, parents, players and that's reflected in how we play."
Senior guard Cooper Wagner said a defense which held the Dragons (26-2) – who hadn't lost to a Michigan school all season – to just 34 percent (16 of 47) from the floor was outstanding. That turned around a game which saw Freeland hold Summit to just 12 points over the middle two quarters.
"Just to get a stop on defense," he said. "Keeping them from scoring."
Falcons center Tristan Comer, who contributed 20 points and 13 rebounds, said playing for a state title has been on the players' minds for years.
"We've talked about it since we were freshmen. Everyone has worked toward it, and now it's come to fruition," he said.
Summit coach Derek Clark offered credit to Freeland, but also thought his players were trying to do too much.
"Usually we share the ball more," he said. "I think we wanted to put our capes on, and I don't blame them. Everyone just wants to make plays, and we didn't make the best plays. We just didn't face adversity well."
Junior guard Ramere Roberts led the Dragons with 17 points.
PHOTOS (Top) Freeland’s bench watches in hopeful anticipation as Wilson Huckeby shoots a 3-pointer Friday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Summit’s Codey Bush (2) considers his options from the wing. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Lumen Christi Building Toward Banner Aspirations under Tropea's Guidance
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
March 26, 2024
Among the first things Josh Tropea noticed when he took the boys basketball coaching job at Jackson Lumen Christi were all the state championship banners.
Not for boys basketball, but for multiple other sports.
“I’m a confident coach, confident in my abilities and knowledge,” Tropea said. “You have to have some self-confidence to come in here when there are 54 state championships in other sports and none in basketball.”
Tropea wants to change that. In his second year at the Jackson County school, he came close, getting the Titans to the Division 3 Quarterfinals. The Regional title was the program’s first since 2013. He feels, however, the foundation has been set for what he thinks will be a bright future.
“We are super deep,” Tropea said. “Our freshman class is very good, the eighth-grade class is very good. We have talent coming for years. I believe we will have the ability to play for state championships in the future. We were there this year, I think.”
Tropea has made a habit of resurrecting programs during his coaching career. The South Lyon native started at Walled Lake Western while still in college. He had brief coaching stints at Whitmore Lake and Howell before settling in at Milan, where he built that school into a Class B powerhouse, winning the Finals championship in 2013-14 and going 92-27.
He left Milan for a job at Chelsea, did that for a couple of seasons and left to become an assistant coach at Spring Arbor University. He came back to Chelsea for two seasons before resigning and landing at Lumen Christi two years ago.
The Titans have had moderate success over the years, winning several conference and District titles and six Regional championships in all. They have just one trip to the Semifinals, that coming back in 1975. In 2016 the Titans fell on hard times, winning just once and starting a seven-year span of failing to reach .500 once.
Enter Tropea and an 11-win improvement from 3-18 in 2021-22 to 14-10 last season.
This year’s team went 22-5 and became just the seventh in school history to win 20 games in a season.
There were several big moments, and the Lumen Christi gym was packed night in and night out.
“I told people when I got here that I’ll know I’m successful when I can pack this gym. It seats about 3,500,” Tropea said. “When we walked out of the locker room to play Hanover-Horton in the Regional, every seat in the gym was filled. Where there weren’t bleachers, there were people standing. It was unbelievable. In the second half of the game, you couldn’t hear. Everything had to be communicated through hand signals. That was a huge moment. My players may never play in front of anything like that again in their lives.”
Lumen Christi has been a football powerhouse for decades, and Tropea is fine with that. This past season all of his players but three were from the football team that won the Division 7 championship.
Tropea said it was an easy transition to their winter sport.
“I coach great athletes who are prepared for success, who are coached hard, watch film and know how to compete,” Tropea said. “The football program takes all the hard stuff off my plate. I just get to coach basketball.”
The next piece to sustaining a top-five team, he believes, is improving the players’ skill level. For that, he’ll lean on a coaching staff that includes Tyler Aldridge, the varsity coach for five seasons before Tropea arrived.
“Tyler is incredible with the kids, great at skill work,” he said.
Tropea joined a coaching fraternity at Lumen Christi. The school’s first basketball coach was Justin Perticone, followed by Mike Ramker, Dan Crowley, Rick Karasek and, before Aldridge, Pat Neville.
“At one point or another, all six of those guys were at practice or at our games this year,” Tropea said. “It’s such a cool thing. Coach Ramker was in the front row for all our games. After the games, I hang out with some of our former coaches. I’m in a golf league with one of them. We are all connected and support one another. It truly is a brotherhood here. Once you are here, you are part of the Lumen family.”
Ramker called it unique. He coached Ann Arbor St. Thomas to a 1974 Class D championship, then Lumen Christi from 1977 to 1994. He returned for one more season in 2009-10 and was coaching in the program until last year.
“The school definitely has built that culture,” Ramker said. “That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Lumen Christi.”
A tough non-league slate helped the Titans get on a roll when the postseason began.
Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, Adrian Lenawee Christian, Michigan Center and eventual Division 3 champion Niles Brandywine were on the regular-season schedule, along with Catholic High School League foe Riverview Gabriel Richard, another Division 3 Semifinal team that Lumen Christi played three times, winning once.
“We feel like we are way more prepared going into the state playoffs than the teams we are playing,” Tropea said.
As he builds next year’s schedule, the goal remains to get ready for the MHSAA Tournament.
“We return six kids who played major minutes for us and four guys who started for us,” he said. “Our young guys will be in tough situations next year, but I know they are ready.
“The seniors I have returning next year were on a 14-win team as sophomores, and a 22-win team as a junior. We’ve changed our mentality. We’re not playing for league titles. Our focus is on March, and our kids have bought into that. If we lose a game in the middle of the season, that’s not going to bother them.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jackson Lumen Christi coach Josh Tropea, kneeling, huddles with his team this season. (Middle) Lumen players, including Lundon Hampton (23) apply defensive pressure. (Below) A full bleachers of Titans fans cheer on their team. (Photos by Rick Bradley.)