Today in the MHSAA: 3/8/16

March 8, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The upsets were few, but the late-game heroics aplenty Monday during the first night of the MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament.

Boys Basketball

After falling twice to its rival during the regular season, Traverse City West opened a 13-1 lead and downed Traverse City Central 55-52 in Class A – Traverse City Record-Eagle

South Lyon’s 3-pointer with fewer than two seconds to play gave it a 40-37 win over Brighton in Class A – Livingston Daily

Also in Class A, Bloomfield Hills took over in double overtime to get past Auburn Hills Avondale 65-56 – Oakland Press

Warren Woods-Tower emerged from a close matchup with St. Clair Shores Lake shore, 46-42, dropping Lakeshore’s final record to 17-4 – Macomb Daily

Noah Ingram made 10-pointers and scored 44 points total as Mount Pleasant downed Midland Dow 81-70 in Class A – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

In arguably the biggest matchup of opening night, reigning Class B champion Wyoming Godwin Heights downed Wayland 65-62 in a matchup of teams with a combined record of 34-5 – Grand Rapids Press

Freeland won a crossover of top Class B teams in the Tri-Valley Conference, 45-42 over Bridgeport – Saginaw News

Also in Class B, Marshall survived a last-second basket that forced overtime to get past Battle Creek Pennfield – 89-81 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Trey Newsham made 4 of 4 free-throw attempts during the final 14 seconds and went over 1,000 points for his career in Essexville Garber’s 60-59 Class B win over Bay City John Glenn – Bay City Times

Flint Beecher eliminated rival Flint Hamady in Class C for the 10th straight season, 68-62, in a matchup of teams that were a combined 34-4 – Flint Journal

In a Class C matchup of teams with a combined 32-10 record, Traverse City St. Francis got past Johannesburg-Lewiston 79-65 – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Also in Class C, Hartford’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds left pushed the team past Kalamazoo Christian 46-45 in an upset of the formerly 17-2 Comets – Kalamazoo Gazette

Good Read

Last summer, the Kronemeyer family of Holland was forced to mourn the death of 18-year-old daughter Marissa, who had died in a car crash. But community and eventually Holland Calvary basketball have assisted as the family continues to cope – Holland Sentinel

Today in the MHSAA: 2/27/19

February 27, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Hockey Regionals and a few Boys Basketball Districts continued Tuesday, but the evening was dominated by some of the final big-time girls basketball matchups of the regular season – including a rematch of last season’s Class A Final that this time came down to the final seconds.

1. Girls Basketball: In a rematch of last season’s Class A championship game, Saginaw Heritage came back to come out on top again, 55-53 over East Lansing – Saginaw News

2. Hockey: No. 4 Warren DeLaSalle got past No. 10 Grosse Pointe South 3-1 in a Regional matchup of ranked Division 3 teams – Macomb Daily

3. Girls Basketball: Wayne Memorial downed Brighton 61-48 to claim the Kensington Lakes Activities Association Tournament championship – Observer & Eccentric

4. Girls Basketball: Centreville downed Bloomingdale 51-34 to clinch the Southwest 10 Conference championship – Sturgis Journal

5. Girls Basketball: Gaylord St. Mary clinched a third straight Ski Valley Conference title with a 60-29 win over Johannesburg-Lewiston – Gaylord Herald Times

6. Girls Basketball: Stanton Central Montcalm pulled within one more win of a second-straight perfect regular season with a 48-42 victory over Kent City – FOX 17

7. Hockey: No. 8 Plymouth came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat South Lyon 5-4 in a Division 2 Regional – Observer & Eccentric

8. Boys Basketball: Jimmy Benoit’s putback gave Sault Ste. Marie a last-second Division 2 District win over Cheboygan – WPBN

9. Hockey: No. 9 Alpena avenged last season’s Division 3 Regional loss to Sault Ste. Marie with a 4-0 victory – Alpena News

10. Hockey: Howell moved on in the Division 2 bracket with a 6-2 win over Canton – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Also of note …

Volleyball: Longtime Michigan State University coach Chuck Erbe is taking over at Ada Forest Hills Eastern – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Basketball: Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s Juliana Paoletti went over 1,000 career points during a win over Clinton – Monroe News