EAST LANSING — One year ago, Luke Westerdale sat in the locker room at the Breslin Center and repeated “I can’t believe this” over and over.

His Riverview Gabriel Richard boys basketball team had just lost in the MHSAA Semifinals on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

On Saturday, he was repeating the same phrase in the locker room – but for a far different reason.

Westerdale and the Pioneers made history by defeating Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac 79-63 to claim the school’s first basketball state championship.

“I’m so happy, this is so awesome,” Westerdale said. “I used to think in my room late at night what it would feel like to win a state championship, and this is better than I ever could have imagined.”

The Pioneers (25-2) used a balanced attack with five players in double figures, led by Charles Kage and Bryce White with 18 points apiece. Westerdale followed with 17, Drew Everingham 16 and Nick Sobush finished with 10.

“Unselfish basketball wins championships,” Westerdale said.

All five scorers for the Pioneers are seniors and ended their high school careers with a title.

“I don’t know what to think right now,” Gabriel Richard coach Kris Daiek said. “I don’t think people understand what it takes to win. It takes a lot of people to win. I thought defensively we played very good. I’m ecstatic for these guys.”

Gabriel Richard led 12-11 after the first quarter before an 18-4 scoring burst in the second provided breathing room and a double-digit lead it would never relinquish.

The Lions hurt themselves by missing several close-range shots.

“We were just missing shots,” ATAP coach Orlando Lovejoy said. “We had a bunch of missed layups early on in the game. We counted four missed layups in the first quarter.”

Case in point came late in the first half with the Pioneers ahead 32-20. ATAP missed successive layups inside of 30 seconds to play, and instead of pulling within 10, the Lions gave up a late layup to Kage to trail 34-20 at the half.

ATAP finished the first half shooting 6-of-29 from the field, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range, and were outscored 22-9 in the second quarter.

The Pioneers stretched the lead to 23 in the third quarter before the Lions carved it to 11 points on a Lewis Lovejoy jumper with less than six minutes to play in the game. That’s when the turning point happened, according to coach Lovejoy. An ATAP player was called for a foul and tossed the ball in the air, which drew a technical foul.

White and Sobush both made two free throws, and on the ensuing possession, Sobush was fouled and made the free throws. The six-point possession proved costly.

“It kind of killed the momentum of the game,” Orlando Lovejoy said. “We tried to fight back after that, but they just closed the game out after that.”

What followed was a foul-fest as ATAP tried to come back. But the Pioneers made 24 of 29 free throws to keep the Lions at bay. An alley-oop from White to Everingham with a minute to go put an exclamation point on the game.

The Pioneers enjoyed an experience and size advantage. The Lions were 8-7 a year ago and 3-12 the year before, but freshman Lewis Lovejoy and seniors Teyshaun and Terrance Hicks proved a difficult trio to beat. Lovejoy finished the game with 21 points, and the Hickses had 10 apiece.

Kage had a few inches on just about every Lions player, as he and Everingham each had 11 rebounds.

“I knew I had the size advantage over them, so I knew I had to use that to my advantage,” Kage said. “For my last game of my high school career, I had to go out with a bang, and when I got the ball in the paint, I knew it was over from there when I touched it.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Riverview Gabriel Richard’s Drew Everingham dunks during his team’s Division 3 championship win Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Pioneers’ Charles Kage (5) puts up a shot with ATAP’s Carter George defending. (Below) The Lions’ Lewis Lovejoy (0) shoots a jumper as Bryce White attempts to block it. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)