P-W Earns Chance at 1st Championship
March 14, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Pewamo-Westphalia always seems to be in the mix. The Pirates haven’t had a losing record since 1998-99, the last season before coach Luke Pohl returned to the program after two years away and led 19 straight winners.
Maybe last year’s seniors, coming off an 18-6 finish, wanted to provide their replacements with a little bit of additional motivation.
“Our seniors last year, pretty much all of our starters, were saying we’re not going to be good this year,” P-W senior Andre Smith said. “That we were actually going to be worse. That motivated us to all put in work over the offseason and get better.
“We were putting in a lot of work. But (to get) this far? I didn’t really think that much. But we’re here and we put in that much work, and it’s paid off.”
For the third time in its history, P-W has earned an opportunity to play for its first championship. The Pirates advanced to Saturday with a 60-45 Division 3 Semifinal win over Erie-Mason on Thursday at the Breslin Center.
P-W (27-0) will meet also-unbeaten Iron Mountain in the 4:30 p.m. championship game. It will be the program’s third appearance in the Final – the Pirates finished Class C runners-up in 1993 and 2014.
After another long football season – P-W finished 11-1 and made the Division 7 Regional Finals – a mostly new crew of basketball contributors worked to get up to speed before an opening night that also was a week earlier than usual this season.
To be honest, P-W may not have been even the favorite in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference – which produced three District champions this winter. But the Pirates downed favorite Dansville by 18 in their second game of the season, and Smith and his teammates knew then they might be on to something special – even if Pohl as well didn’t really expect to still be playing on the season’s last day.
“You just don’t know. You only have two starters back, but we’ve just jelled,” Pohl said. “We’ve done a lot of things well defensively, made it hard for offensive teams. We have great length, and a lot of guys have put in extra time. Andre took a huge jump, every guy took a huge jump. (So) I never dreamed that.”
It’s also likely no one expected the Pirates to jump out to a 15-0 start Thursday. But that wasn’t enough to count out Erie-Mason and particularly junior guard Joe Liedel.
The Eagles pulled all the way back to within a point at 23-22 with 2:20 to go in the first half as Liedel – who averaged 28.6 points per game this season – scored 14 of his game-high 31 during the comeback.
Another Liedel basket with 1:27 to play in the third quarter kept Erie-Mason only three points behind. But Smith pushed the margin back to nine with the first basket of the fourth, and the Eagles made only 3-of-16 shots from the floor over the final period as P-W pulled away.
“A lot of times, those (big early leads) come back to bite you,” Pohl said. “I’ve seen it happen too many times; a team lets up little bit, starts to feel the pressure as the other team is coming back. … The guys persevered. They battled through this all year long, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way we ended up finishing.”
Junior forward Aaron Bearss finished with a team-high 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for P-W, and Smith had 14 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Nathan Wirth grabbed nine rebounds as well as the Pirates won the boards 46-32.
Liedel had six rebounds and three assists to go with his 31 points, and senior center John Sweeney grabbed eight rebounds for Erie-Mason.
“My biggest thing is to keep getting better this offseason. I just want to keep taking everything we’ve done this year and be back here next year and be even better,” Liedel said.
Erie-Mason (23-3) made it to this final week by winning its first Regional title since 1973, one of many achievements as eighth-year coach Kevin Skaggs has built the program.
Two of his first three teams finished with sub-.500 records, but his last five all have been winners, with this one also earning the first league title of his tenure.
P-W was model of consistency that Skaggs, who came from the college ranks, used as something of a “benchmark” for the Erie-Mason program.
“When we got to Mason eight years ago, they had had only eight or nine winning seasons in 50 years of basketball,” Skaggs said. “I think this has been a continuous building project to get to this stage. It was not unexpected to get here. But what you can’t reproduce is the experiences that Pewamo has enjoyed. Those kids have watched the guys, when they were in elementary school, perform on this stage or at least get to the Regional Finals.
“Our guys are still in the process of they’ve created history. … They are creating the same things that the early teams that Luke coached during the late 90s and early 2000s (created).”
PHOTOS: (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Hunter Hengesbach (10) sets up the offense as Erie-Mason’s Joe Liedel defends. (Middle) Liedel gets a shot up over the Pirates’ Collin Trierweiler.
TC Christian's Broderick Approaching Records, But Team Goals Top His List
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
January 10, 2025
If Reese Broderick falls short of the main goal this season, he may never forgive himself.
Rest assured he‘ll likely go easier on his Traverse City Christian basketball teammates.
Broderick is the Sabres’ senior sharpshooter with defensive prowess. The most career 3-pointers in MHSAA history and the school’s scoring record could be his when the dust settles on this season.
But neither feat is at the top of his season goal list.
Broderick has his eyes set on helping his team win the school’s first boys basketball District championship. That outcome might also include a postseason win over the school’s biggest rival, Lake Leelanau St. Mary.
The Eagles ended Broderick’s freshman and sophomore seasons. They also ended his older brother Brock’s career in 2022 as the Brodericks were playing varsity together as a freshman and senior, respectively.
The older Broderick finished that season as the school’s all-time scoring leader, setting the bar at 1,528 career points.
The younger Broderick entered the 2025 calendar year with 284 career 3-point shots made is about to top the 1,300 career scoring mark. He connected on four 3-pointers in the first game of 2025 in a loss to Onekama. He had six the next time out in a win over Leland and finished this week with three more in a win at Bear Lake.
He is now at 297 career 3-pointers made, ranking him fifth in MHSAA history. Matt Kitchen, who starred for Mayville and Unionville-Sebewaing, owns the career mark of 340.
But hosting a District trophy is of far greater importance to Broderick. The Sabres are 9-2 on the season and collecting wins is their focus.
“I am already on the list, so that’s not too high of a priority and it’s an honor to be on the list,” said Broderick, who joined the 1,000-point club a year ago. “As a school, we haven’t won a District yet, so that’s definitely the big goal and after that just keep going."
Points from Broderick, a second-team all-state selection the past two seasons, are not counted on as much this winter.
“His points are probably 12 points per game — it could be 25, but we’re not worried about (that),” said Sabres coach Rene LaFreniere. “We’re got four guys that any one of them could be all-state selections if we made the push — with Reece being one of them — but at the end of the day, they want to win the District trophy. That’s their focus.’
LaFreniere, now in his fourth year at the school with an enrollment barely topping 100, has seen the Sabres rotate scoring leaders all season. Senior guard Austin Miller – who gets points in transition and is considered the team’s top defender – junior power forward Garret Schultz, and sophomore Asher Coates, a newcomer who can score but focuses on distributing the ball, have all had a few double-digit nights already this season.
Schultz led the Sabres in scoring in their win over Bear Lake with 18 points. Coates kicked in 17.
The team’s stingy defense though has been a bigger contributor to the Sabres’ success, noted LaFreniere. They held Bear Lake to just 32 points this week.
“We’re holding teams to 38-42 points per game,” LaFreniere said. “Right now defensively is what they’re more focused on.”
And while the Sabres play tough defense, Broderick draws the opponent’s best defender every time. It’s not really anything new though.
And while the Sabres are not focused on Broderick getting the career mark, they’ll take every 3-pointer he can muster. The offense relies on screen actions and inbound passes to get the 3-point opportunities.
“I get the ball, but it’s tough,” said Broderick, who missed two games due to illness this season. “I’ll take whatever I can get at the end of season.”
Broderick is rarely hesitant to take the shot whenever it presents itself on the court. He always takes a look at how the team is set for rebounding before making the shot decision.
“The thought is I want to shoot it every time,” he said with a little laugh. “Honestly, it’s just flow — whatever I am feeling.”
Mistakes and shortfalls are tolerated a lot more for teammates than by Broderick himself. “I am pretty easy going — hard on myself though,” he said. “But easy on others, I think.”
LaFreniere loves the intensity his quiet leader plays with at both ends of the court.
“He doesn’t say much,” LaFreniere said. “He’s definitely hard on himself, but most people don’t realize that Reece is one our better defenders on the floor. He likes to play defense. He understands the little nuances of the game.”
The Sabres have 11 games left during regular season. They’d love to ride some hot shooting and strong defense deep into the postseason. Suttons Bay will host the District, which also features Leland, Buckley and Frankfort in addition to St. Mary.
Traverse City Christian will try to take one game at a time, but is looking ahead to a rematch with the rival Eagles. Christian will host them Feb. 7, a part of their unwritten agreement to play each other twice during the regular season. In addition to each school gaining a quality local opponent, the need is greater as neither school currently competes in a league.
St. Mary won 36-27 in front of a large audience in December, as the Sabres shot as they often do in their rival’s gym.
“They got us up there at their place because historically we never shoot well in their gym, and I don’t know why,” LaFreniere said. “But the good side is they don’t shoot well in our gym either. We can’t wait to see.”
A full gymnasium is expected when the Eagles venture south to Traverse City.
“I think it’s a good rivalry – it’s healthy and it’s respectful, and we kind of feed off of it — it’s fun,” LaFreniere said. “When we go to their place it’s a packed house, and when they come to our place it’s a packed house.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City Christian’s Reese Broderick is approaching the MHSAA record for career 3-pointers. (Middle) Broderick looks for an open dribbling lane this winter against Manton. (Below) Broderick gets up a shot last season against Bear Lake. (Top photo courtesy of Traverse City Christian High School. Action photos by TC Rick Sports Photography.)