Pirates sail into first Final since 1993
March 20, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Nick Spitzley, no doubt like the other eight seniors on Pewamo-Westphalia’s basketball team, dreamed growing up of playing for an MHSAA championship.
He needed to use his imagination, since the first and only time the Pirates did play for a Class C title was in 1993, a few years before he was born.
“Obviously we always came out on top,” Spitzley recalled. “Making a lot of shots, and I was always getting pumped up with my team.
“Since I was little, it’s always been a dream, and it’s come true. We’ve been playing together since fifth grade, maybe before that.”
P-W’s seniors are halfway through the final weekend of their high school careers and more than halfway to making that dream come true.
The No. 10-ranked Pirates advanced to Saturday’s Class C final by defeating No. 9 Muskegon Heights 54-44 in the first Semifinal on Thursday at the Breslin Center. P-W’s nine seniors will get to play in the final game of the season for the first time in school history, at 4:30 p.m. against No. 2 Detroit Consortium.
Pewamo-Westphalia will become the second straight team from the Central Michigan Athletic Conference to play for the Class C title, and third in eight seasons. Laingsburg fell in last year’s Final by a point, 40-39, to Flint Beecher. Bath won the Class C title in 2007.
Also from the CMAC, Fulton was Class D runner-up in 2011 and Fowler finished the same in 2002.
The Pirates had to come back over the final minute to beat Beecher in Tuesday’s Quarterfinal, and made it two-for-two against some of the state’s most storied programs by then eliminating Heights, which played in its 22nd Semifinal and fourth over the last five seasons.
P-W has won 81 percent of its games under coach Luke Pohl during two tenures over a combined 17 seasons. But the Pirates haven't had the chance to add the championship game chapter to their story in more than two decades.
“Knowing we had to beat a team like Flint Beecher and Muskegon Heights, with the history behind those schools, in unbelievable,” Pohl said. “If you follow our league, you’ve seen how many times the league has been here the last 10 years. It’s rock ‘em, sock ‘em basketball in the wintertime, and we’ve got great coaches there – those kind of guys sharpen my skills as a coach. But you’ve gotta have players to win, and we’ve got really good players.”
Spitzley is a four-year starter, one of the top scorers in school history, and did his part Thursday with 22 points and eight rebounds.
But the Semifinal win was truly a full senior effort, as all six players who saw time were 12th graders and a pair added big plays to Spitzley’s game-high scoring surge.
The first came 1 minute, 14 seconds into the second half with the Pirates trailing by a point. Guard Evan Fedewa scored and was fouled on his way to the hoop, and hit the ensuing free throw to give the Pirates a 29-27 lead. They would never trail again.
But Muskegon Heights came close to taking back the lead. The Tigers (20-4) pulled within four with 4:20 to play when P-W center Lane Simon was fouled on a score and also made the following free throw to push the lead back to 46-39 and seemingly drain the last bit of momentum from Heights’ comeback run.
Simon added 17 points, 10 rebounds, and both Fedewa and Kyle Nurenberg grabbed nine rebounds for the Pirates.
Junior Antonio Jones led Muskegon Heights with 16 pints, and senior Eddrick Tornes added 12. Jones made what could be one of the shots of the tournament, a spinning pull-up jumper thrown up without a look at the basket. But overall, his team shot just 24 percent from the floor including 14 percent as P-W pulled away during the second half.
Still, the return run was an accomplishment coach Dalrecus Stewart made sure to note. The Tigers have been here plenty of times, but this one was a little different – the school closed after spring 2012 and re-opened that fall as a public school academy.
“I know (my players) are feeling hurt, but this was a little bit more than a basketball game for us with all of the things that have gone on in our city as well as our school district the last few years,” Stewart said. “The championship they won today was about bringing hope to despair. They are a shining bright spot and what they’ve done is beyond measure. They’re my champions.”
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) P-W’s Lane Simon (1) goes to the rim during Thursday’s Semifinal win over Muskegon Heights. (Middle) P-W's Nick Spitzley works to get past Muskegon Height's Eddrick Tornes.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Muskegon Heights’ Aaron Sydnor (3) wins the tip-up battle to score late in the first half against Pewamo-Westphalia. (2) Pewamo-Westphalia opened the second half with a 17-3 run. Lane Simon drives for two during that spurt.
Ghosts of 2024 Disappear as Riverview Gabriel Richard Advances in Breslin Return
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2025
EAST LANSING – Experience did indeed win out in the second Division 3 Boys Basketball Semifinal on Thursday at Breslin Center.
Last year, Riverview Gabriel Richard lost in the Semifinals in heartbreaking fashion as Detroit Old Redford hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win.
Returning all five starters from that team, Gabriel Richard used its experience to good use and didn’t let Pewamo-Westphalia get close during the second half, earning a 66-45 victory.
The Pioneers advanced to Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. championship game and will play Arts & Technology Academy of Pontiac in a matchup of programs that have never played in a Final.
“Last year at this time we lost at the buzzer, and those ghosts were in here a little bit when we came into the building,” Gabriel Richard coach Kris Daiek said. “But we squashed those early.”
Seniors Luke Westerdale and Nick Sobush both scored 22 points to lead the way for Gabriel Richard (24-2), which shot 51.9 percent from the field (27 of 52) overall and 36.4 percent (8 of 22) from 3-point range.
Westerdale went 0-for-5 from 3-point range in last year’s game against Old Redford, something he said was on his mind all year but quickly erased when he made his first 3-pointer of the game.
“I’ve honestly thought about that the entire year,” he said. “All 365 days. For the first play, for a 3 to fall, it was a sense of relief.”
The Pioneers also forced 13 Pewamo-Westphalia turnovers while committing just five of their own.
Daiek said his team used Old Redford’s game-winner last year as fuel the entire offseason.
“I knew it was going to spark us,” he said. “These guys used that shot to become where they are right now.”
Junior Grady Eklund scored 16 points, and junior Trent Piggott had 11 for Pewamo-Westphalia (24-4).
The Pirates were making their first trip to the Semifinals since winning the Division 3 title in 2019.
“The farther you go in the tournament, the more the losses hurt,” Pewamo-Westphalia head coach Dominic Schneider said. “I know right now you see the tears in their eyes. You see how much they care, and that is what brings you back as a coach. The kids care and put it all on the floor. Tonight wasn’t our night. They hit more shots than us and were the better basketball team.”
Gabriel Richard led 27-24 at halftime before starting to separate itself late in the third quarter.
The run began when Westerdale drove the lane and fed a perfect alley-oop pass to Drew Everingham, who finished with a thunderous dunk to give the Pioneers a 44-32 lead.
Everingham and Westerdale then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Gabriel Richard up 50-34 lead with 42 seconds to go in the third quarter.
“After that, it was over, I felt like,” Sobush said.
The Pioneers didn’t let up in the fourth, putting the game away by going up 61-39 with 3:17 remaining on a layup by Westerdale.
Gabriel Richard led 15-12 after the first quarter following an Eklund half-court shot that beat the buzzer.
PHOTOS (Top) Drew Everingham (11) dunks during Riverview Gabriel Richard's Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) Gabriel Richard's Nick Sobush (1) drives to the basket.