Calling All Hoops: Schedules & Scores
November 28, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Basketball is back, and we’re again providing an opportunity to follow the schedules and scores of all 1,400+ girls and boys high school varsity teams in Michigan this winter.
Of course, to make this a 100-percent success, we would love your help.
The first games of this 2017-18 season were played Monday, and we’re aiming to again include full schedules and all scores for every MHSAA member girls and boys varsity team on our website at MHSAA.com. The task of inputting all of this data is massive – but if you’re an athletic director, coach, player or just an interested fan, a few minutes of your double checking greatly will help us out.
Check out your team’s schedule, scores and up-to-date league standings by going to the “Schools” page on MHSAA.com, searching for yours, then clicking either the “Girls” or “Boys” button in the menu to the left side of the page next to “Basketball.”
It would help us greatly if you can keep an eye out for the following:
• Incomplete schedules. Almost all of our teams have scheduled 20 games for this winter. But we have some schedules incorrectly showing fewer.
• Inaccurate schedule information. With more than 15,000 games to input, of course we will make mistakes. Let me know if you find one.
• Missing scores. While we do our best to collect what’s reported to the media, posted on Twitter and sent directly to us, there are always scores that do not get reported in any of these ways. We want to fill all of them in.
Email me directly at [email protected], and we'll make the changes as soon as possible.
Entering scores is easy as well: Log in with a previously-created account, or click the "Register" link on the top right-hand corner of MHSAA.com, and create a new account in less than a minute. You will be able to then enter scores either on a team’s schedule page or on the Score Center page that shows all events each day.
Thanks in advance. Your help will contribute to a valuable resource for thousands of players, coaches and fans and media all over our state and beyond.
Grand Blanc Locks Down on D, Locks Up Historic Win
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
April 10, 2021
EAST LANSING – The Grand Blanc boys basketball team spends 45 minutes each practice focusing on defense.
In the end, it was extra time well spent.
A strong defensive effort helped propel the Bobcats to a 45-36 win over Ann Arbor Huron in Saturday’s Division 1 Final at the Breslin Center.
It was the first Finals championship in school history for Grand Blanc, which ended the River Rats’ bid for a perfect season and their first championship.
“They hate it, but that’s what happens when you spend that much time on defense,” said Grand Blanc coach Mike Thomas, who guided Kalamazoo Central to Class A crowns in 2010 and 2011.
“We do it every day for games like this because our shots are not going to fall all the time, so we have to be able to rely on our defense to stay in games – and it happened for us today.”
The Bobcats (15-2), who were Class B runners-up in 1952 the only other time they played in a championship game, averaged nearly 80 points per game this season, but struggled to knock down shots Saturday. They shot less than 30 percent from the field and beyond the 3-point line.
Despite their shooting woes, Grand Blanc’s defense shined and allowed only 12 second-half points in holding Ann Arbor Huron to its lowest scoring output of the season.
“We had to make sure we were locked in, and I thought our guys did a really good job of not giving up lay-ups and not making mistakes defensively,” Thomas said. “We didn’t do a good job of limiting them to one shot in the first half, but we made the correction and really focused on rebounding at the half.”
Sophomore RJ Taylor was the catalyst on offense in the first half and finished with 15 points, while Timonte Boyd came off the bench to add 12 points and seven rebounds.
“It’s one game at a time for us and we didn’t treat today like a championship game,” Taylor said. “We treated it like just another game, and I’m proud of how we overcame adversity and all obstacles this season.”
Junior Ty Rodgers played 31 minutes and contributed nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
He said he was thrilled to help bring home a Finals title for the three departing seniors.
“It hasn't sunk in that we won a state championship and just all the hours we put in and the hard work,” Rodgers said. “I'm really proud of our seniors. There were 15 guys when they were freshmen and only three left. They stuck through the storm, and this is the outcome. We’re super excited to bring something like this to the community.”
One of those seniors, Josh Rechsteiner, knocked down a key 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter to give the Bobcats a 35-34 lead and ignite a 10-2 run to close the game.
“He’s struggled the last couple games, but I kept telling him to be ready,” Thomas said. “That was a big shot, and it’s a prime example of being ready when your number is called.”
The River Rats’ struggles included making only 3 of 21 3-point attempts and missing 10 free throws. They also committed 14 turnovers.
“This is a great group of seniors who are winners, and it would’ve been nice to see them go out the right way,” Ann Arbor Huron coach Waleed Samaha said. “We’re disappointed, obviously, in the outcome, but we know that we gave it everything we had out there and it was a great effort all the way through.
“We struggled with execution at times and struggled staying out of foul trouble. I think that threw us off a little bit most of the game.”
Senior Devin Womack paced Ann Arbor Huron (20-1) with 18 points, while senior Kingsley Perkins had six points and 14 rebounds.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ty Rodgers dunks for two of his nine points for Grand Blanc during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Ann Arbor Huron’s Brandon Rawls (23) keeps the pressure on Jacob Carlson. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)