Season Low High Enough for Resilient Rockford to Earn Saturday Return
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2026
EAST LANSING – Forget about the value of running up huge point totals. The only thing that mattered to Rockford's boys basketball team was staying alive to fight another day.
Despite being held to their lowest point total of the season, the resilient Rams made enough key plays down the stretch to knock off Auburn Hills Avondale 38-35 in Friday's first Division 1 Semifinal at the Breslin Center.
The 38 points were the fewest scored by Rockford (24-4), seven less than the team totaled in its regular-season finale against Grand Haven and just the fifth time the Rams had scored fewer than 60 points in a game this season.
No problem, said Rams coach Kyle Clough, whose team advanced to Saturday's 12:15 p.m. championship game.
"It shows we have various strengths against a team like Avondale, which is electrifying. They took away some of the things we're good at," Clough said. "We didn't know about scoring (how many) points, but it could've been 10-9 as long as we can play tomorrow."
Rockford nearly let a 34-29 lead with four minutes left in the game slip away as the Yellowjackets turned two turnovers into two layups to cut the margin to 34-33 with 52 seconds remaining. But the Rams' Jake Bascom broke away with a clutch dunk with 50 seconds to go, and Avondale missed a potential game-winning layup with two seconds left. Josh Bascom sealed the win with two free throws.
The Yellowjackets' last lead was 23-22 with 2:21 left in the third quarter, although they did tie the game 27-27 during the first minute of the last quarter.
The win upped Rockford's record in games decided by eight points or fewer to 10-2, an impressive number for a team that starts two sophomores and a freshman. Clough said much of the credit goes to the Rams' two senior starters – Bascom, who had 13 points, and guard Dylan Gross, who had 12.
"Dylan and Jake are both three-year starters, so that's a lot of comfort," Clough said. "We won a couple games early, and that helped build our confidence."
Sophomore forward Josh Bascom said experience isn't the only factor in success.
"We're built for the now," he said. "There have been a lot of games where it's been a five-point game and we know what we have to do to win. We trust our teammates to make the right plays."
Jake Bascom said he and Gross have thrived in the role of senior leaders.
"I think they look to us to get through a tough year," he said. "We've had some great games, some battles this year, and we know what we have to do to win."
Jaidon Bourgeois led Avondale with 12 points.
Yellowjackets first-year coach Aaron Fox said it wasn't as much poor shooting by either club that led to the low point totals as it was strong defense. Avondale made only 1 of 14 3-point attempts while Rockford shot just 40 percent (14 of 35) from the floor.
"It was a hard-fought game. We made a couple mistakes at the end, and it kind of took us out of it," Fox said. "Rockford is a very disciplined team, and that's always a struggle for us. We've worked on it and we did some good things, but there were some things we'd like back.
"I thought we executed well, we just missed (a shot) at the end. Against a team like Rockford, little things are magnified. It's all about doing the little things against a high-caliber team like Rockford."
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford’s Jace Opoku-Agyeman lines up to take a shot while defended by Avondale’s Maxwell Muhl on Friday. (Middle) Avondale’s Qualaeb Ross (3) gets up a shot in the lane. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Clarkston's Loyer Leaves All-Time Legacy with 25 Record Book Listings
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 22, 2023
Foster Loyer’s four-season career at Clarkston from 2014-15 through 2017-18 certainly must be considered among the most accomplished in state history as he led the Wolves to back-to-back Class A championships in 2017 and 2018 and is listed in the record book 25 times.
Among Loyer’s most notable entries were 2,325 career points (12th most), 272 career 3-pointers (tied for ninth), records of 119 consecutive free throws and 634 career free throws, a .921 free-throw percentage as a junior (tied for fourth) and .900 career percentage (second), 589 career assists (sixth), 278 career steals (15th) and 102 games played (tied for sixth).
Loyer went on to play at Michigan State and then Davidson.
See below for more recent record book entries for boys basketball.
Boys Basketball
Four Onaway standouts were added for single-season and/or career records. Jager Mix, who graduated in 2022, was added for 92 steals last season and 225 over his four-season career. Kevin Pearson, a 2021 grad, was added for 81 steals as a senior and 247 over his career. Joe Sigsby, a 2016 grad, was added for 127 steals, and Jadin Mix was added for 124 in 2021-22. Their totals rank ninth and tied for 10th, respectively, on that all-time list. Jager Mix also was added for 967 career rebounds, and Onaway as a team was added for tying the record for most points in a quarter with 49 during the first quarter of a win over Fife Lake Forest Area on Feb. 3, 2022. Jager Mix is playing at Alpena Community College, and Jadin Mix is a senior this school year.
Uchenna Amene was added for 11 steals in a March 7, 2022, game against West Bloomfield Frankel Jewish Academy and for 97 steals total over 25 games. He was a sophomore at Southfield Christian that season and now is a senior at Detroit Catholic Central.
Owen Franklin graduated from Oscoda in 2021 as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and nearly 44 percent of those 1,477 points came on 3-pointers. Franklin made the state career 3-pointers list with 216 over four seasons. He’s playing baseball at Northwood.
Traverse City Christian sophomore Reece Broderick became one of the state’s most accomplished long-distance shooters in just his second year of high school this past winter, drilling 104 3-pointers – good for third-most for one season all-time – over 23 games. He connected on 42 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.
A pair of Rudyard four-year varsity standouts entered the record book after their graduations in 2022. Tate Besteman made the career rebounds list with 762 over 89 games, and EJ Suggitt made the career 3-pointers list with 215 over the same 89 contests. Besteman played this past season for Mid Michigan College, and Suggitt is playing baseball at Spring Arbor.
Success from 3-point range played a significant role in Mesick finishing 21-1 in 2021-22, as the team made 195 of its 578 attempts – with game highs of 15 twice in wins over Baldwin and Pentwater.
Then-senior Tristan McFolley earned the first listing under single-game rebounds since 2013 with 30 in Detroit Cesar Chavez Academy’s game with Hope of Detroit Academy on Dec. 8, 2022.
Tawas found its groove from long range Jan. 10 against Oscoda, drilling 22 3-pointers in an 86-31 win. The total tied for fifth-most in one game.
Although Norway felt just short, 40-37, in its District loss to Crystal Falls Forest Park on March 8, Alex Ortman kept the Knights close scoring 20 of his team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to make the single-quarter scoring list. He’s now a senior.
Kobe Clark has listings in two MHSAA record books, with three for boys basketball joining those he earned for football during his Schoolcraft career. He was added in hoops for 531 career assists and 290 career steals over 94 games from 2016-17 through 2019-20, and also for 82 steals as a senior. Tyler DeGroote also was added to the record book, for scoring 20 points during the first quarter against Delton Kellogg during Schoolcraft’s Jan. 11, 2022, victory. Clark began at Saginaw Valley State for football and now plays basketball and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and DeGroote is continuing at Rockhurst (Mo.).
Past Detroit Cooley star Larry Fogle has added a seventh record book listing a half-century later. Fogle grabbed 33 rebounds on Jan. 18, 1972, during a win over Detroit Mackenzie. He went on to play at Louisiana and Canisius, and then briefly with the New York Knicks.
Trevon Gunter scored 42 points in Kalamazoo Central’s 84-56 win over Richland Gull Lake on Jan. 17, 2020, including 31 during the third quarter – second-most and just one shy of the record for points during one period. A senior that season, Gunter plays currently at Grand Valley State.
Mark Wittbrodt held the record for consecutive free throws at 70 until 2008, and that entry in the record book has been joined by several others from the Bay City Western star. He was added for his 192 3-pointers, 436 free throws, .842 free-throw percentage and 266 career steals over three seasons from 1991-93, as well as for six single-season accomplishments. He went on to play at Michigan Tech.
Ellsworth’s Jacob Jenuwine tied for 12th on the single-game 3-pointers list when he connected on 11 as part of scoring 39 points total in his team’s Feb. 14 win over Alanson. Jenuwine graduated this spring.
Bellevue senior Dawson Wing capped his three-season varsity career last winter with three entries in the record. He was added for 12 blocked shots in a 2021-22 game against Colon, 107 for the season last winter and 203 blocks over his career. Teammate Caleb Betz, a senior this fall, was added for 12 steals in a game against Athens.
Logan Mansfield capped his Morenci career in a big way last winter. The senior drilled 90 3-pointers over 24 games to earn his school’s first individual record book entry in boys hoops since the 1987-88 season, when John Craig had 132 blocked shots that would have been the second-most recorded at that time. They currently rank 13th.
New Haven earned a pair of record book entries during its March 10 win over Memphis. The Rockets bested their previous single-quarter school record with 41 points during the opening period, and they also made the statewide single-game 3-pointers list with 16.
Whitehall’s Camden Thompson, a junior this fall, earned his first record book entry last winter – and the first for his school in boys basketball. He grabbed 303 rebounds over 21 games.
Grand Rapids Wellspring Prep junior Zeekeal Jackson earned his school's first boys basketball record book entry this past season as well. He made the single-season steals list with 106, over 22 games, and just missed the single-game list with a high of 10.
Jonesville’s Brady Wright was among his team’s leading scorers during his three varsity seasons ending this past winter, but he also was a major contributor defensively. He made the records with a season-high 101 steals over 25 games as a senior, and made the career list with 232 steals over 61 games.
Sophomore Christopher McLavish Jr. made a memorable impact last season with a pair of record book entries. He made the single-quarter points list with 20 in a Feb. 21 game against Flint Powers Catholic, but even more memorable were his 97 3-pointers over 25 games for the season – tying him for 11th all-time on that list.
PHOTO Foster Loyer directs Clarkston's offense during its 2018 Class A Semifinal.