GRCC Earns 1st Final with Size, Surprise
March 23, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s victory celebration had a championship feel Friday night.
The Cougars hadn’t locked down their first MHSAA boys basketball title yet. But it was impossible to not understand their heightened excitement.
Leading from start to finish, GRCC eliminated New Haven with a 69-53 Class B Semifinal win at the Breslin Center, in the process ending the reigning champion’s 52-game winning streak.
And if that was at all a surprise, how the Cougars got there was just as stunning.
Junior guard Austin Braun, carrying a 7.8 points-per-game average heading into the week, scored 31 while Mr. Basketball finalist Marcus Bingham, Jr., watched the final five minutes from the bench after fouling out.
“I got a couple buckets early and my teammates just really got me going, just getting me hyped on the bench,” Braun said, “and just telling me, ‘If they don’t stop you, just score the ball.’
“It helps when you have two bigs and Darrell (Belcher) and Devin (Boyd) were great players around me. It just opens up a lot for me.”
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (24-2) will play for that first championship against Benton Harbor at 6:45 p.m. Saturday in the final game of this boys basketball season.
Those bigs – the 6-foot-11 Bingham and 6-8 senior Jacob Polakovich – were plenty effective in a number of ways Friday.
Bingham had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Polakovich had eight points and eight rebounds. But their larger impact came defensively. Bingham had six blocks, and together the tandem played a significant role in New Haven’s 30-percent shooting from the floor.
The Rockets’ 6-7 junior star Romeo Weems put together a solid line with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven steals. But even he was off his usual sharpness, making only 7 of 25 shots from the floor.
New Haven (26-1) as a team entered the week making 49 percent of its shots, with Weems connecting on 53 percent.
“We adjusted our shots. We saw it on film and we went to attack them,” New Haven coach Tedaro France II said. “We wanted to jump stop and pump fake. (But) they changed our shot selection a lot, disrupted our shots in the paint with some of their size.”
Braun, meanwhile, was just about perfect offensively. He made 8 of 9 shots from the floor, including his lone 3-point try, and 14 of 16 free throw attempts. He also had three assists and three steals.
The first of those steals came between buckets as he scored the game’s first four points. The free throw shooting came in handy at the end, as Braun drilled nine over the final five minutes to help the Cougars extend an 11-point lead to 18 after Bingham’s night was done.
“I knew he could score like that,” Polakovich said. “It’s just always been a matter of having a lot of mismatches inside with me and Marcus and being able to crash. … (But) a lot of people don’t realize he’s capable of doing that every single night. He’s a lot more than just a really great passer.”
Bingham did finish with 11 points despite a tough 3-of-11 shooting night as well, and grabbed 13 rebounds with six blocked shots. Weems was followed by senior guard Tavares Oliver, Jr., with 15 points and senior forward Ashton Sherrell with 12 points and seven rebounds.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Marcus Bingham, Jr., gets a hand on Romeo Weems’ shot Friday at the Breslin Center. (Middle) GRCC’s Austin Braun puts up a shot with Ronald Jeffrey III defending.
Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 12
February 26, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Special for Second Half
Soon we’ll be celebrating District, Regional and Finals champions in boys basketball.
But as we roll into the final week of this regular season, we’ve got a few more memorable stories to tell.
Take, for example, Burton Bentley, which clinched its first league title in 41 years earlier this month after going 9-12 a year ago. Or Okemos, which made an impressive yet at least a little bit unexpected closing run mentioned more below. Last week had a few more surprise wins too that could make storylines more interesting as we get into tournament mode.
Breslin Bound is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. To offer corrections or fill in scores we’re missing, email me at [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Novi 71, Canton 56 – The Wildcats have rattled off six straight wins and with this one not only earned a spot in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship game, but also handed Canton its only loss this season.
2. Okemos 64, East Lansing 56 – Okemos had beaten the Trojans without star Brandon Johns on Jan. 19, but this win over East Lansing with him clinched for the Chiefs the outright Capital Area Activities Conference Blue title.
3. Maple City Glen Lake 53, Frankfort 47 – This tied things up at the top of the Northwest Conference with Glen Lake, Frankfort and Buckley in line to share the title with one last league game to play.
4. Ishpeming 53, Iron Mountain 47 – Second place Ishpeming can’t catch Iron Mountain in the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference, but on this night the Hematites handed the Mountaineers their lone defeat this winter.
5. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 52, Madison Heights Bishop Foley 36 – After going 12-10 last season, Cranbrook is 18-1 and won the Catholic League C-D tournament title with this victory.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Detroit U-D Jesuit. (16-3) – The Cubs are Detroit Catholic League Central and A-B tournament champs again, and haven’t lost a game instate since Dec. 15. Jesuit opened this season with a four-point overtime win over Detroit Edison, and will see now-Detroit Public School League champ Edison again Thursday in an Operation Friendship game.
Flint Carman-Ainsworth (17-2) – The Cavaliers won the Saginaw Valley League by three games and gave reigning Class A champion Clarkston one of its few challenges this season, falling by just five on Dec. 7. The only other loss came to Holland West Ottawa (17-2), and nonleague wins over Grand Blanc (16-3), Detroit Renaissance (11-5) and Flint Hamady (13-5) should have Carman-Ainsworth prepared as well.
CLASS B
Detroit Voyageur (18-0) – The Cougars are an intriguing team to watch over the next few weeks coming off Michigan Metro Athletic Conference division and tournament championships and with a win as well over Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (14-4). The Gators and MMAC Black runner-up Detroit Community (10-5) are the only opponents that have come within single digits.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (16-1) – Considered a Class B contender from the start this season, GRCC has lost only to another in Wyoming Godwin Heights. The Cougars since have won 13 straight and all by double digits, including a pair against Spring Lake (15-4).
CLASS C
Hanover-Horton (16-2) – The Comets have clinched a share of the Cascades Conference title after tying for second last season, and are well on their way to equaling or bettering last year’s 19-4 overall finish. Only second-place Michigan Center (15-2) has come within single digits during Hanover-Horton’s 12-game winning streak.
Kalamazoo Christian (18-1) – The Comets have built on last season’s surprising run to the Quarterfinals with a perfect one through the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley. The only loss came to SAC Lakeshore winner Coloma (17-2), 58-52 on Jan. 23.
CLASS D
Ellsworth (16-3) – Friday’s win over Vanderbilt clinched a shared Northern Lights Conference title for Ellsworth, which improved from finishing runner-up a year ago. The Lancers haven’t had a game closer than 28 points since falling Jan. 26 in their second meeting this season with eventual league co-champ Wolverine (16-1).
Flint International Academy (17-2) – In its first season in the conference, International can clinch the North Central Thumb League Stars championship outright Tuesday against Kinde-North Huron and has won 12 straight including avenging an earlier loss to second-place Dryden (12-6). Two more big wins have come over Kingston (16-3).
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Waterford Mott (16-3) at White Lake Lakeland (15-4) – Both have doubled their win totals from last season, and Mott can clinch the inaugural Lakes Valley Conference title outright.
Thursday – Hazel Park (17-1) at Clarkston (17-1) – The Wolves won the first meeting big, but a Hazel Park return favor would mean a shared Oakland Activities Association Red title as long as neither trips up Tuesday.
Thursday – Grand Rapids Catholic Central (16-1) at Holland West Ottawa (17-2) – These league champions get one more tune up before going their separate ways for the tournament.
Thursday – Benton Harbor (18-1) at Wyoming (15-4) – The Wolves also are a league champ and can get one more test before the Class A tournament against this Class B favorite.
Thursday – Novi (12-7) at Grand Blanc (16-3) – The KLAA championship game will pit Gold champion Grand Blanc against the runner-up Wildcats for the third time after winning the first two meetings.
PHOTO: Okemos, here against Grand Ledge, clinched a league title last week by finishing a season sweep of East Lansing. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)