Senior-Dominated Falcons Finish Freeland Careers in Best Way Imaginable
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 14, 2026
EAST LANSING – Not many teams had a sense of urgency to win it all as big as Freeland’s this season.
And Saturday night, they capped off a run to a title that went well beyond just this year.
Led by its 12 seniors – and two senior student managers – Freeland claimed its first Boys Basketball Finals title, defeating Hudsonville Unity Christian 42-32 in the Division 2 championship game at the Breslin Center.
“To go back home with this big thing (trophy) and do something that no Freeland boys team has ever done, win a state championship, is pretty special,” senior guard Wilson Huckeby said. “Not just for me, but for all these guys, I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Everyone that saw the floor for the Falcons in the Final will graduate, and they’ll go out in the best way they could imagine.
The game started slowly, as the Crusaders led 6-4 after the first quarter with the teams going a combined 4-of-19 from the field.
Some space opened up during the second quarter, but not much, as Unity Christian held a 17-15 lead at the half.
It was Freeland, though, that started to find a groove toward the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, going ahead by 13 with under three minutes to play.
“In the locker room, you walked in and it was just poised and composed,” Freeland coach John Fattal said. “Everyone knew in that locker room what the second half was going to look like. Everyone knew in our locker room what the belief looked like. Everyone understood that these guys were going to handle pressure, were going to make free throws, they were going to handle everything that Unity Christian threw at them, everything the environment threw at them, and they were just poised and composed the whole second half.”
The run was highlighted by 3-pointers from Tristan Comer and Connor Lasceski on back-to-back possessions, stretching a three-point lead to nine.
“Obviously I’m extremely confident in the shot,” said Comer, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound center who will play offensive line at Michigan State next year. “But I gotta give it to my teammates for setting me up with the perfect pass. I’ve only been able to develop a shot like that because of Coach Fattal and how he runs his practices and how he teaches when to take those shots.”
Comer finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Falcons (26-3), while Huckeby had 12 points, six rebounds and four steals. Senior Cooper Wagner had five points and six assists, and Lasceski had six points.
“Every shot (Huckeby) made was contested,” Unity Christian coach Scott Soodsma said. “We kind of screwed up a little right before half. We went to a zone and all of the sudden I think we forgot and left that kid open. He’s a great player. If you would have told me that Huckeby and Comer had 24 total, one of those could score 24 on their own. So, yeah, it was just one of those nights where I thought our defense didn’t let us down and it was right there. I thought we just weren’t able to put the basketball in the basket.”
Jack Kamminga led Unity Christian (25-4) with 14 points and five rebounds.
Unity Christian lost senior guard Brogan Sherd early in the third quarter to a leg injury. He was carried back to the locker room and returned on crutches to watch the end of the game. Owen VanderWaal was also limited because of an injury.
“We were down a little horsepower and we had a hard time scoring, that was the issue,” Soodsma said. “Those are our top two leading scorers and both of them are down on the bench. I thought Jack really stepped up and made a couple key baskets. (Kyler) Berghuis did a great job on Huckeby fighting over all those screens. But we couldn’t score. If you would have told me we were going to hold them to 42 points, I’m thinking we win that ball game by 10. I thought we’d get to 55, probably. But, tonight, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
PHOTOS (Top) Freeland’s Wilson Huckeby attempts to cut between a pair of Unity Christian defenders during the Division 2 Final on Saturday. (Middle) Unity’s Kyler Berghuis (3) dribbles into an opening just inside the arc. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
P-W Power Trio Combines for 56 Points to Send Pirates to Saturday
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2026
EAST LANSING — Pewamo-Westphalia head coach Dominic Schneider knows his team is dangerous enough when seniors Grady Eklund and Trent Piggott are playing well at the same time.
But add sophomore Logan Farmer to that mix? It’s a three-headed monster that Schneider said takes his team to another level.
“He’s a great counterpart for Trent and Grady,” Schneider said of Farmer. “It’s hard to guard us when we have all three guys cooking like they were.”
That certainly was on display in Thursday’s Division 3 Semifinal against Flint Elite, where Eklund, Farmer and Piggott combined for 56 points in a 63-37 Pirates win.
P-W (26-2) advanced to the Division 3 championship game for the first time since winning it all in 2019. The Pirates will meet Pontiac Arts & Technology at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
As has often been the case this year, Eklund led the way, scoring 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.
Farmer finished 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the field, while the 6-foot-5 Piggott, the team’s best interior presence, provided 10 points and 14 rebounds.
It was a little bit of vindication for Pewamo-Westphalia, which lost in the Semifinals last year to eventual champion Riverview Gabriel Richard.
“I wouldn’t say a lot felt different,” Eklund said. “Same place, same time of year, different opponent though. We liked our odds going into this game, and we finished it.”
Making its first appearance in a Semifinal, Flint Elite finished 21-5. Sophomore A.J. Smith scored 17 points to lead the way for the Warriors.
Coming off an emotional overtime win over Onsted on Tuesday, Flint Elite head coach Greg McMath said that game might have emptied his team’s tank a bit.
“I thought we came out weird,” McMath said. “We played a great game in the Quarterfinals the other night. Went to overtime. I don’t think we were able to come out with the energy we have been playing with. I don’t think we really had the legs. But we have to credit our opponent. I think they took that away. They took away a lot of our first options, and we didn’t ever get to our second option on offense.”
Trailing 26-14 at halftime, Flint Elite started the third quarter off strong, scoring six straight to cut the Pewamo-Westphalia lead to 26-20.
But the momentum was short-lived, as Pewamo-Westphalia countered with a 14-2 spurt to take a 40-22 lead with 1:20 to go in the third.
The Pirates ended up taking a 44-31 lead into the fourth quarter and kept it growing from there. Eklund hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Pirates a 50-31 lead with 6:25 left, and then a layup with 4:23 remaining to put Pewamo-Westphalia up 55-33.
“They were on a mission, Schneider said of his players. “It didn’t matter that this was a Semifinal game on the Breslin Center floor. They were going to get the job done.”
Leading 15-10 after the first quarter, Pewamo-Westphalia went on a 9-0 run to start the second, taking a 24-10 lead with 2:30 remaining until halftime.
Flint Elite didn’t score in the second quarter until there was 1:57 remaining until the half.
PHOTOS (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Grady Eklund (10) drives to the basket while defended by multiple Flint Elite players Thursday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Elite’s Kaydin Banks (20) elevates to defend P-Ws Trent Piggott near the basket. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)