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.
Football, Basketball Successes May Be Just Start for Talented Ludington Crew
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2026
Thad Shank has coached basketball at Ludington for almost 30 years and has lived in the quiet, Lake Michigan shoreline town for most of his 58, and he’s never seen anything quite like it.
“We have a lot of young talent in Ludington right now, some really special athletes coming through at the same time,” said Shank, whose team completed a memorable 24-3 season with a loss to Freeland in Tuesday’s Division 2 Quarterfinal at Mount Pleasant.
“And they are only going to get better.”
That’s a scary thought for Ludington’s opponents, who have already felt the wrath of the new-look Orioles in football and basketball this year.
Ludington posted its first undefeated regular season in football last fall since 1989, outscoring its nine opponents by an average of more than 40 points and winning the West Michigan Conference Lakes title for its first outright conference championship since 1999.
Many of those same athletes jumped right onto the hardcourt, where the Orioles were once again perfect in the WMC Lakes (12-0) and won District and Regional titles – the 16th boys basketball Regional championship in school history.
Moments after that basketball run ended Tuesday night in Mount Pleasant, the Orioles were already talking about next year.
“I can’t wait for my senior year,” said Ludington junior Taj Williams, a 5-foot-11 point guard and wide receiver who led all scorers with 24 points. “We have a lot of athletes coming back, and we will be even better. This offseason is going to be huge for us to get bigger and stronger.”
Tuesday night was the passing of the torch, in an unfortunate way, as senior leader Cam Gunsell left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury and Williams stepped forward as the Orioles’ new leader.
Gunsell, who has committed to play quarterback and defensive back at Ferris State, surpassed 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards during his career, and also topped 1,000 points in basketball.
Williams, a definite college prospect at receiver, led the Orioles last fall with 31 catches for 900 yards.
Williams showed off his basketball skills on a statewide stage Tuesday, alternating between draining mid-range jumpers with his smooth, lefty stroke and acrobatic finishes at the basket. The Orioles’ floor general also led the team in scoring at 19 points per game.
Returning alongside Williams next year in both sports will be three multi-talented Himes brothers – Messiah (junior), Kyle Jr. (sophomore) and Mikey (freshman) – who all bring electric energy and tremendous speed and leaping ability.
“It’s different now,” said Kyle, who scored 14 points off the bench in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal. “Ludington is kind of known for having big guys, but not a lot of speed. We are the opposite. We’re pretty small, but we have a lot of athleticism.”
Mikey Himes has already been tabbed as Gunsell’s replacement at quarterback by new football coach Brent Gillett, who was promoted from his offensive coordinator spot after Charlie Gunsell stepped down after 22 years. Messiah and Kyle will both play key roles as receivers and ball-carriers.
Ludington could potentially start a small but extremely athletic basketball lineup next winter with Williams and the three Himes brothers, but the list of returnees to watch doesn’t stop there. In fact, six of the Orioles’ nine players in their regular rotation are underclassmen.
Juniors Steele Stowe and JT “Country Strong” Keith also are playing key roles among several contributors whereas they might have been counted on to shoulder more on past Ludington teams.
While the Orioles had great seasons in football and basketball, Williams noted there is certainly unfinished business in both sports.
Ludington football still has just one playoff victory in school history, which came during the COVID year of 2020, after a heartbreaking 32-31 loss to Big Rapids in last year’s Division 4 District opener – a game which Ludington led by 11 points with less than six minutes remaining.
In basketball, Williams & Co. would love to get back to the “Final Four” at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, where Ludington advanced in 2017 (lost in Finals) and again in 2019 (lost in Semifinals).
“You look at it and we lost last year in the Regional Finals when most of these kids were sophomores,” said Shank, whose father, Gene, was also a basketball coach at Ludington.
“We took that next step this year, and we’ll see what next year brings. The best part is these kids are not just great athletes, they work hard and they love to compete. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Ludington’s Kyle Himes Jr. (21) brings up the ball during a game against Mason County Central on Dec. 20. (Middle) Taj Williams looks up court during the Orioles’ 64-43 victory. (Photos by Leo Valdez/Local Sports Journal.)