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: 6/7/16
June 7, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Action was light as the second-to-last week of 2015-16 began Monday. But that allowed us the opportunity to catch up on some of the incredible District title streaks extended or ended over the weekend, including one stretching three decades.
Baseball
Holt continued to ride its wave after beating rival Grand Ledge in their Division 1 District by beating Mason in a Capital Area Diamond Classic semifinal to earn a championship game matchup with the Comets on Wednesday – Lansing State Journal
From Saturday, Rudyard clinched its seventh straight District title with a 7-1 win over St. Ignace in Division 4 – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
Girls Soccer
From Saturday, Pinconning won its first District title, downing Roscommon 2-1 in Division 3 – Bay City Times
From Saturday, Montrose, in Division 4, won its first District title since 2001 and in doing so ended Saginaw Nouvel’s 18-year run of District championships – Saginaw News
Softball
From Friday, Custer Mason County Eastern nearly saw a 30-season District streak end while trailing Brethren in the seventh inning of the championship game, but won 5-4 in eight innings to extend the streak to 31 – Ludington Daily News
Gladstone extended its streak of District titles to 14 with a win over Ishpeming Westwood in their championship game – Escanaba Daily Press
Good Read
It’s hard to tell what’s most intriguing about Monroe baseball standout Naruki Okamoto; that’s he’s moved back and forth between Japan and the U.S. three times, that he’ll graduate this week as a junior because he has that many credits, or that he almost didn’t make the team but has hit .343 as the starting second baseman – Monroe Evening News