Lakeshore Finds Way to Win, Play for More
March 25, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – The Stevensville Lakeshore boys basketball team of January and February won as many games as it lost.
The Stevensville Lakeshore team of March will play Saturday for its first MHSAA championship.
It’s been that drastic of a turnaround over the last month for the Lancers, who came back to beat Big Rapids 61-60 in Friday’s late Class B Semifinal to advance to their first title game since 2012.
The win also ran Lakeshore’s streak to 11, a string that’s included two victories in overtime and three by two points or fewer.
“We’ve always had this goal. We always thought we were this good to make it here,” Lakeshore senior center Braden Burke said. “We just had a rough patch in the middle, but everyone stayed positive. We never really thought we were out of it. We just did our thing and eventually came around.”
Lakeshore will take on reigning Class B runner-up Detroit Henry Ford in this season’s final game, at 6:30 p.m., as both seek their first MHSAA title.
The Lancers have indeed emerged from some rough patches to close this season. After going 5-0 in December, Lakeshore lost its first two games of 2016 and then five of six from Jan. 29-Feb. 19. Those defeats resulted in the team finishing fourth in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West behind three teams that shared the title.
But the Lancers defeated two of the co-champions at the start of this run and have continued to battle through – although just as the team had a rough go during the middle two months of the season, so did it look to be done after Friday’s middle two quarters.
Lakeshore led 11-8 at the end of the first quarter, but Big Rapids went on a 41-33 run over the second and third to swing the score and carry a five-point lead into the final period. The Cardinals (23-3) ran the lead to seven on senior Jeffrey Davenport’s bucket with 6:12 to go.
Big Rapids connected on eight of its 11 3-pointers during the run, and shot better from beyond the arc (48 percent) than inside it (44 percent) for the game.
“In all the films we watched on them, we never saw them make that many 3s,” Lakeshore coach Sean Schroeder said. “They shot the heck out of it, and it’s a credit to them. But it’s also a testimony to my team in that boy, we seem to find a way to win. And that’s how we’ve been throughout the entire tournament.”
One last 3-pointer by Big Rapids senior Kenny Davis put his team up 56-50 with 3:57 to play. But Lakeshore senior Gibson Archer answered with a trey as well, starting a 9-0 run that he also finished with a score to put the Lancers up 59-56 with 34 seconds remaining.
The teams traded pairs of free throws before Davenport put back a rebound with seven seconds left to cut the deficit to one. Big Rapids managed to stop the clock with a foul with just under a second to play – but after two Lancers free-throw misses could get off only a desperation shot that was on line but short and just after the buzzer.
“The one thing that always happens with this group of kids is they always come to play, and they did tonight,” Big Rapids coach Kent Ingles said. “You get to the state semifinals and it’s a tight ball game, one point, and it could either way. I hope the people in the community are proud of these kids and the entertainment they provided again too.
“We stumbled a couple years in quarters and finally got here, so I guess we’ve got next year to get back here again.”
Burke scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and junior Max Gaishin had 15 and 10, respectively, to help pace Lakeshore. Archer finished with 15 points as well. And senior Logan Steffes had 11 points including a key steal and score late.
Junior Demetri Martin led Big Rapids with 22 points and four assists, and Davis had 15 points on five 3-pointers.
The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Stevensville Lakeshore’s Braden Burke (34) pins a shot against the glass just above the reach of Big Rapids’ Braeden Childress. (Middle) Kenny Davis (14) launches a 3-pointer from the corner.
Lincoln Comes Through at Crunch Time Again to Complete Division 2 Repeat
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
March 15, 2025
EAST LANSING — With the game – and a second-straight Division 2 championship – hanging in the balance Saturday, senior guard Markus Blackwell stepped to the free-throw line at the Breslin Center.
Swish. Swish.
Ballgame.
Blackwell’s two free throws with 26.9 seconds to play helped push Warren Lincoln to a 58-51 victory over Romulus Summit Academy North and the first repeat championship in Division 2 since Lansing Sexton double-dipped in 2011-12.
“I was thinking we could win it there,” Blackwell said. “When I go to the free-throw line, I gotta make my free throws. All these games prepare us for that type of stuff. I knew I was going to make the free throws.”
Blackwell’s free throws gave the Abes a two-possession lead in a game that was tight throughout. After Summit missed a 3-pointer, the Dragons were forced to foul senior Christopher Morgan, who also made his free throws and put the game out of reach.
“Man, what a game. What a Final,” Lincoln coach Wydell Henry said. “Hats off to Summit for a great game. They had us down, and it was back and forth. But these guys showed what they were about all year. Just persevering, resilience. Just playing hard. They never quit, they never gave up, we never got down. We’re battle-tested.
“I told my guys to stay with it and we’ll be successful, and these guys made plays down the stretch to get us the victory.”
Lincoln (23-4) spread the offense around nicely, with Markus Blackwell scoring 13 points, Morgan, Da’Marion Bozeman and Geon Hutchins 12 apiece, and Moses Blackwell nine. All five scorers are seniors, with Hutchins the only newcomer among that group this winter.
“When I came up here, that was the whole goal was to go back to back, and they welcomed me in, and this whole season we fought hard and we won,” he said.
Andrew Ashwood led the Dragons with 11 points, while Amir Perryman had 10.
Summit jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the first quarter and ended it with a 15-13 advantage. Lincoln responded by taking a five-point lead in the second quarter, but the teams entered halftime knotted at 25-25.
A three-point play by Ashwood in the third quarter put the Dragons ahead 38-34. Perryman hit a 3-pointer, and Chase Houser made a layup to push Summit to a 43-36 lead.
Late in the quarter, Da’Marion Bozeman recorded a steal and went coast to coast, making a layup at the buzzer to pull Lincoln within 45-41 entering the fourth. He wasn’t done there, as back-to-back 3-pointers by Bozeman and Markus Blackwell to start the final quarter launched Lincoln out front 47-45, and the Abes never trailed again despite Summit’s efforts.
Trailing by four with 1:21 left, Houser made a bank shot and drew a foul, but missed the free throw, leaving it 53-51. That’s when Markus Blackwell was fouled and sealed the game.
“Only one team wins their last game,” a somber Summit coach Derek Smith said. “This team went out like a team, and I can’t ask them for nothing more.”
Smith – the program’s third coach in three seasons – closed out his first year at the helm with a 24-4 record.
“They overcame all the adversity in the world,” Smith said. “They’re a resilient group, and we’ll be back. We’ll be back.”
Henry also believes his team isn’t making its last Finals appearance.
“We started from ground zero. Getting kids to believe in what you’re trying to do and the program you’re trying to build,” he said. “It’s a blessing, and I don’t take these things for granted. To come up here two times in two years and go out 2-0, I’m excited.
“We’ll be back. We’re going to do it again.”
PHOTOS (Top) Warren Lincoln’s Geon Hutchins dunks during his team’s Division 2 Final win Saturday night at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Abes’ Markus Blackwell (3) drives with Summit’s Jordan Fuller defending. (Below) The Gators’ Amir Perryman (1) makes a move toward the basket. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)