Unity Adds Hoops to 2018-19 Trophy Run
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2019
EAST LANSING – Noah Wiswary answered quickly when asked Saturday night if he had planned on winning multiple MHSAA championships during his senior season.
“No,” the Hudsonville Unity Christian guard said shaking his head. “Not at all. When we started football, we were like, ‘Let’s get a winning record.’ When we started basketball, it was like, ‘Let’s win Districts again.’ Then we won Regionals, and it was like, ‘All right, let’s do this again.’”
Wiswary – who also played on the Crusaders’ Division 5 champion football team – scored 17 points to lead Unity Christian to a 58-55 win against River Rouge in the Division 2 Boys Basketball Final.
He’s one of seven players on the Crusaders roster who played on an MHSAA championship team in the fall, as the Crusaders also won the Division 3 soccer title. So while Saturday’s win gave the Crusaders their first basketball title, being in championship games was nothing new to many of the players.
“Being in the football one, we knew we just had to come out and play hard right away, and that’s what we did tonight,” Unity Christian senior T.J. VanKoevering said. “We came out and we played hard right away. That’s what we did in both, so I think that’s a big key to it.”
Unity Christian had to play hard from the beginning against a River Rouge program making its 20th Finals appearance – the most in MHSAA history – and seeking its first title since 1999.
The Panthers’ high-pressure defense forced Unity Christian into an uncharacteristic 23 turnovers.
“We do not turn the ball over, so I’m going to give River Rouge a lot of credit – we just don’t,” Unity Christian coach Scott Soodsma said. “We are averaging probably 10.5 to 12 all year long, and ball security is something we preach. But with the intensity of that game and the way they were coming at us, I give them a lot of credit. We did make a few mistakes that we probably typically don’t do.”
River Rouge had possession of the ball down just three with 12.4 seconds remaining. The Panthers were able to get two looks at a 3-pointer, but neither fell. Their final attempt to tie the game came on a ¾-court heave by senior Nigel Colvin, which was off the mark.
“I feel like (the first 3-point attempt) had a chance,” Colvin said. “But after I let it go, obviously I saw that it was off.”
River Rouge had trailed by as many as 13 points late in the third quarter, as Unity Christian started to heat up and looked to be putting the game away. Wiswary was big during the quarter, scoring 11 of his game-high 17 points.
“I just think my teammates got me open,” Wiswary said. “I got in the lane a little bit, and they were open on the three and I just got a lot of floaters, then Ryan Takens hit a big 3 there, so that was big.”
River Rouge was able to claw back with its pressure defense, however, and force the dramatic ending sequence. It was too little, too late, however, in River Rouge coach LaMonta Stone’s eyes.
“Our defense creates our offense, and defensively we were bad the whole game,” Stone said. “They were getting too many easy looks. They were getting in the lane, and that’s just not the way we’ve been playing defensive basketball to this point.”
VanKoevering had 13 points for Unity Christian, while Takens had 10, and Zac Velthouse had eight points and eight rebounds. Among the Unity Christian starting five – which also includes Chandler Collins, who added seven points – only Velthouse returns.
“I couldn’t be prouder of these two guys,” Soodsma said, gesturing to Wiswary and VanKoevering. “They’ve been leaders all year long, on and off the floor. They’ve put in all kinds of work and effort, and those are the two guys we look to all the time. They have been a little bit special – it's going to be hard to say goodbye to them.”
River Rouge, meanwhile, started five seniors – Colvin, who led the team with 15 points, Micah Parrish who added 13, Donavan Freeman, Bralin Toney and Dan Few. The group helped bring River Rouge back near the top, as the Panthers had advanced to the Semifinals in 2017 and 2018. It was a great ride, but at River Rouge, championships are the goal.
“We’ve talked all week and talked all year, River Rouge basketball is based on state championships,” Stone said. “There’s banners in our gymnasium – there's 14 state championship banners. (Former coach Lofton Greene) has a number of runner-up places, but he didn’t place those banners in the gymnasium, so I’m not going to place it. That’s my mentor, that’s the guy I played for. Everything I know about basketball is based on Coach Greene. If he’s not satisfied with runner-ups, neither can I be.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Hudsonville Unity Christian raises its Division 2 championship trophy Saturday night at the Breslin Center. (Middle) Unity’s Chandler Collins gets a hand on a River Rouge shot.
Youngest Salenbien Sibling Making Name as Family's Latest 1,000-Point Scorer
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 28, 2025
When Jaxon Salenbien was getting close to reaching the 1,000-point milestone for his career, he had some pretty good people to turn to for advice.
Salenbien is the third member of his family to reach 1,000 points. Both of sisters scored more than 1,000 points while also playing for Adrian Lenawee Christian and his father, Jamie Salenbien, is a state-championship winning coach.
“My dad has coached ever since I can remember,” said Jaxon, a junior. “My sisters were always playing. I just kind of flowed right into it. I’ve just always been around it. I’ve watched a ton of basketball. I think that’s helped.”
The talent certainly runs deep in the family.
Jamie Salenbien played high school basketball for Hudson and set the school’s single-game scoring record. His wife, Deborah, played in college.
Jaxon’s older sisters Dani and Bree both were all-state players at Lenawee Christian and led the team to back-to-back Class D/Division 4 championships. Dani scored more than 1,000 points before playing at Hillsdale College. Bree scored more than 2,000 points, won four straight Associated Press Class D/Division 4 Player of the Year honors and is now playing at Gonzaga. Jaxon’s older brother Tyler was all-state in football.
“I used to watch them; now they are watching me and cheering me on,” Jaxon said. “We always have supported one another. It’s harder for Bree since she’s so far away, but when she’s home, she comes to my games.”
Salenbien was an instant starter on the LCS varsity team as a freshman, scoring nearly 450 points. He had a knack for getting to the free throw line and was a dangerous 3-point shooter.
Last year he teamed with senior Brandon Summer – a 1,000-point scorer himself – to light up the scoreboard but was also a top-notch playmaker, dishing out more than six assists a game.
This winter, as a junior, Salenbien has been even more assertive with the basketball, shooting from the outside more often and driving with authority. He’s twice scored more than 30 points in a game, including 37 in an overtime win over Springport. It was during that game that he surpassed the 1,000-point milestone.
"Jaxon is not only super talented but also one the most dedicated gym rats I've ever coached,” Cougars coach Matt Summer said. “He is a great leader and a phenomenal teammate. His passion for the game is second to none. I'm super happy for him to hit this scoring milestone in his career."
That Springport win also was his first back in the lineup after an ankle injury forced him to miss two games.
“(The milestone point) had a weird timing to it because the game was so close,” he said. “They never said it over the PA system or anything because the game ended up going into overtime. I didn’t know exactly when I got it, but my coach told me.
“It’s a cool milestone to get as a high school player,” he added. “It was on my radar, but we just want to win as a team.”
Salenbien said there has been no magic formula to being more assertive on the basketball floor – he’s just playing the role on the team that an upperclassman should.
“Being an upperclassman, that’s what you are always going to do,” he said. “Taking control down the stretch is important for the junior and senior guards.”
The Cougars are off to a 12-2 start with a key stretch of Tri-County Conference games coming up. They lost their first TCC game recently to Petersburg Summerfield, which is 13-0.
The Cougars have excelled at 3-point shooting – averaging nearly 10 made triples a game.
“It’s so much fun,” Salenbien said. “Teams can’t key on one person. If they do, we have shooters everywhere.”
Jaxon is the youngest of the Salenbiens, who are all two years apart. He was in third grade when Dani started on the varsity. In fifth grade, his dad – who won 104 games in five seasons as the LCS girls varsity coach – coached him. Since then, his dad has been an assistant coach on several of his teams, including this year.
“When I was younger, he coached me in maybe fifth grade, but he’s never been my head coach, but always an assistant,” Jaxon said. “He’s always coaching me even if he’s not my coach.”
His sisters were definite basketball role models.
“Watching them has helped and just conversations we get to have,” he said. “Dani comes to pretty much every game now. Right before I reached 1,000 points, Bree and I had an hour-long conversation about things I need to work on and being coachable. It’s helpful to have those two to look up to on and off the court.”
Bree’s advice: Be coachable, be a leader and never think you can win a game by yourself.
His mom, who keeps the scorebook for LCS, offers her own advice – sometimes during games when he reaches the scorer’s table and checks in.
“We always say she’s the emotional support, and my dad is the basketball support,” Jaxon said. “She keeps me in line. She tells me to not complain to the referee and keep my head.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Adrian Lenawee Christian’s Jaxon Salenbien (24) pushes the pace bringing the ball upcourt against Blissfield. (Middle) Salenbien elevates to get a hand on a loose ball. (Photos by Michelle Sullivan.)