Highlight Reel: Boys Basketball Finals

March 26, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

The winter sports season concluded Saturday at the Breslin Center with four title games in the 2016 MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament, presented by Sparrow Health System.

Below are links to video highlights from Saturday’s games. Click on the final score to watch s game in its entirety and purchase DVDs. 

Class A

Detroit U-D Jesuit 69, North Farmington 49

Thomas Takes It - Billy Thomas led North Farmington in the Class A Final against Detroit U-D Jesuit with 23 points – two of them coming on this third quarter steal.

The Cassius Collection - Cassius Winston had 31 points and nine rebounds for Detroit U-D Jesuit in the Class A Final against North Farmington. Here's a montage of plays from the FOX Sports Detroit broadcast.

Class B

Detroit Henry Ford 61, Stevensville Lakeshore 47

Steal & Sprint To The Hoop - Detroit Henry Ford had a big run to finish the first half against Stevensville Lakeshore in the Class B Final. Jeremy Crawley makes the steal here and streaks down the court for two of his 18 points.
 
Cutting Into The Lead - Here's a sequence from the fourth quarter of the Class B Final where Stevensville Lakeshore makes a run.

Class C

Flint Beecher 63, Grandville Calvin Christian 61

Block You Very Much - Midway through the fourth quarter of the Class C Final, Levane Blake of Flint Beecher comes up with a monster block against Grandville Calvin Christian.

Squires Take The Lead - Grandville Calvin Christian took its last lead at 61-60 with 1:14 remaining when Tony DeWitte got an old-fashioned three-point play.

Class D

Powers North Central 59, Waterford Our Lady 48

Jets Defense - Powers North Central makes its living off defense - here's a steal by Dawson Bilski converted into a layup by Bobby Kleiman.

Lakes Rising - Waterford Our Lady mounted a second half rally against Powers North Central. Here's a nice feed from Andrew Kline to Devin Senerius during that run.

The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System. 

PHOTO: Flint Beecher's Jordan Roland (3) drives past a pair of Calvin Christian defenders during the Class C Final.

In Memoriam: Erik O. Furseth (1930-2022)

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 1, 2022

For 50 years, Erik O. Furseth’s voice chimed throughout MHSAA and Michigan State University athletic events. That voice surely will continue to live in the memories of the many who cherished listening to him, as he died Monday evening at the age of 91.

Furseth began as the public-address voice of MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals in 1968 and continued well into his 80s as those games moved from Jenison Field House to other locations across the Lower Peninsula and eventually settled into Breslin Center. He also was the longtime MHSAA football championship game voice going back to their days at the Pontiac Silverdome and provided the narration for MHSAA Baseball Finals for a decade. He announced his last MHSAA event in 2018.

An MSU basketball player during the early 1950s, the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native played in the Spartans’ first Big Ten game in 1951. A forestry student initially, Furseth switched to communications. He later became a legendary rock-n-roll radio DJ in Lansing, and for a decade hosted Saturday night dances at the Lansing Civic Center that drew 1,000 teenagers a night – and a surprise performance by a young Stevie Wonder.

Furseth’s voice continued to be known particularly by Spartan fans as the homecourt voice for MSU basketball from 1968-2002 and MSU football from 1971-98. For more, see this feature from the MHSAA Basketball Finals programs written in 2013.

Furseth moved from East Lansing to Traverse City about 25 years ago. Click for his obituary and funeral arrangements.