High 5s: 3/27/2012
March 27, 2012
Every Tuesday, Second Half honors 2-4 athletes and a team for its accomplishments.
Have a suggestion for a future High 5? Please offer it by e-mail to [email protected]. Candidates often will have accomplished great things on the field of play -- but also will be recognized for less obvious contributions to their teams, schools or the mission of high school athletics.
Monte Morris
Flint Beecher junior
Basketball
Morris, a 6-foot-3 guard, scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds in both his Class C Semifinal and the championship game and had a combined 13 assists over both in helping Beecher to its first MHSAA title Saturday since 1987. Beecher beat reigning champion Schoolcraft 65-45 in a Semifinal on Thursday before downing Traverse City St. Francis 74-60 in the Final. The Buccaneers finished 28-0, becoming the 12th boys basketball team in MHSAA history to win that many games.
Up next: Morris is one of the state’s most sought-after juniors and was named The Associated Press’ Class C Player of the Year for the second straight. He averaged 18.3 points, 6.4 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game entering the final week of the season.’
I learned the most about basketball from: “Coach (Mike) Williams. I started playing with him in second grade. I just stayed in the gym and kept working hard every day.”
Besides teammates, among all the finalists at the Breslin Center, I’d most like to play with: Denzel Valentine (Lansing Sexton).
In my dream game, the four NBA guys I’d most like to play with are: “Dwight Howard down low. Then I’d have to go with Kevin Durant, Kobe (Bryan) and LeBron (James).” Where does that put you? “At the one,” Morris chuckled.
Live at Breslin Center: “I like playing on the big stage. It’s a treat. It’s a blessing that I get this opportunity, so I try to cherish it every time we get here.”
My favorite subject in school is: “I’ll have to go with chemistry/science, because it’s really not that boring. You learn about a lot of stuff.”
Denzel Valentine
Lansing Sexton senior
Basketball
The Associated Press Class B Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball runner-up missed triple-doubles by one and three assists, respectively, in helping the Big Reds to their second-straight Class B championship this weekend. Valentine, a 6-6 point guard, had 12 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and five steals in Sexton’s 74-59 Semifinal win over Detroit Country Day on Friday, and the next night had 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in the 67-32 championship game win over Stevensville Lakeshore. He was a combined 10 of 17 shooting from the floor and made both 3-point tries over those two games. Valentine was a four-year starter for the Big Reds and came back after tearing a knee ligament as a freshman.
“When you win two state championships, it just shows the dominance and how good you are during your high school career. Winning those back-to-back championships, I was just trying to build a legacy."
Up next: Valentine has signed with Michigan State. He is unsure what he’ll major in, but is considering something in athletic training. He’ll join a Spartans team that must replace another former two-time high school champion, Saginaw’s Draymond Green. “Day Day won two basketball championships, and he helped State to two Final Fours. So hopefully I can do that too. … It’s just a winning mentality I have, and I hope it leads on to college."
I learned the most about basketball from: His father and Sexton High coach, Carlton Valentine, who also was a captain on Michigan State’s 1987-88 team.
I modeled my game after: His brother Drew Valentine, a 6-5 forward who also was an all-stater at Sexton and just finished his junior season at Oakland University.
If I could play with four others, they’d be: His Sexton teammates Bryn Forbes and Anthony “Sapp” Clemmons and the Heat’s James. “Sapp and I would just give it to LeBron and Bryn.”
Sexton boys basketball
The Big Reds get the honor this week after completing a run that has drawn comparisons to some of the best in MHSAA history. Sexton won its second-straight Class B championship in its third-straight MHSAA Final, and over the last three seasons amassed a record of 74-9. Those wins tie for sixth-most in MHSAA history over a three-year span.
The Big Reds beat all of their opponents by at least eight points and won every game during the postseason by at least 10. They finished 27-1, with that lone loss to Class A then-No. 1 Detroit Pershing.
Buckley Ends Wait with 1st Semifinal Win
March 23, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Buckley’s boys basketball team waited a long time to make this history – more than 100 years on the court, and then through a double overtime Semifinal on the other side of the Class D bracket Thursday.
But however long it took to earn the program’s first MHSAA championship game berth, it was going to be worth it.
The Bears’ best run ever will reach this season’s final day, as they won their first Semifinal in team history 68-61 over Lansing Christian at the Breslin Center to advance to Saturday’s 10 a.m. Final against two-time reigning champion Powers North Central.
Only twice previously had Buckley made the season’s final week, playing in Quarterfinals in 2010 and 1998. But the Bears have built a dominating 26-0 run this winter keyed by a talented group of juniors who have brought plenty of attention to their small town tucked 20 miles south of Traverse City.
“Speechless. Unbelievable. (I’m sad) it’s over, but I’m glad we’re here,” junior Austin Harris said.
“Sometimes like tonight, I’m just standing out there watching these guys shoot free throws,” junior teammate Denver Cade added, “and I’m like, ‘Man, we did it. We’re here. Let’s just keep winning.’”
That toughest task is next to come. Buckley takes its perfect season into the championship game against the Jets, who needed double overtime in their Semifinal to get past Southfield Christian and extend their nation-best winning streak to 82 straight victories.
That 40-minute classic left Buckley and Lansing Christian waiting a little longer to finish the night. But the Bears were more than ready when they got their chance.
Buckley led for all but 16 seconds during the final 27 minutes against the Pilgrims (19-7), yet by only two after senior Nick Jamieson’s 3-pointer pulled them to within 61-59 with 1:03 to play. But the Bears closed on a 7-2 run making 7 of 8 free throws while Lansing Christian connected on only one shot in four attempts while trying to catch up over that final stretch.
“I thought that might be a problem,” Buckley coach Blair Moss said of the delay. “But these guys came right out. I said let’s go get them, let’s attack them. We’re not scared of anybody. We’ve been doing it all summer long, all fall, and I’m so proud of these guys because they took it right to them.”
Harris led with 28 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Cade added 13 points and nine rebounds. Guard Joey Weber, another junior, added 10 points and six boards.
Lansing Christian said good-bye to a strong senior group, with center Preston Granger leading one more time with 15 points and eight rebounds, Forrest Bouyer adding 13 points and Matt Havey scoring 10. All five starters will graduate this spring, but having brought the Pilgrims to their second Semifinal in five seasons.
“I met with them in August … and said what do you want to do?” Lansing Christian first-year coach Chris Mustaine said. “I’m brand new, this is a senior-heavy team. What do you want to do? What do you want to accomplish? Do we want this to be fun, or what are our goals?
“And they laid it out. They said we want to play at Breslin. We want to be the best possible team we can be, and they have spent every day since that day in August trying to do that, all the way up to today. Even in the middle of the fourth quarter, we said how can we get better? And they did; we just came up a couple shots short, a couple missed free throws short of having a shot at it at the end.”
For Buckley, the biggest test is yet to come. But the Bears were looking forward to that challenge already late Thursday night.
“We came down here and we talked,” Moss said, “and we said we’re not going to go home yet.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Buckley’s Ridge Beeman (30) tries to direct a shot around the outstretched arms of Lansing Christian’s Forrest Bouyer. (Middle) The Pilgrims’ Matt Havey (3) pushes the ball upcourt.