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: 10/26/15

October 26, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

There was much more than football playoff pairings to discuss this weekend – most notably, MHSAA Boys Soccer Districts and the Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals.

Cross Country

All three Upper Peninsula girls team champions repeated, and Marquette standout senior Lindsey Rudden capped her career with a first individual title – Second Half

Two Upper Peninsula boys team champions repeated, but Negaunee stole the show with its first title since 1983 – Second Half

Boys Soccer

Tecumseh won its first District title since 2010 with a Division 2 shootout victory over Milan, improving to 10-1-3 over its last 14 games – Adrian Daily Telegram

Reigning Division 2 Final champion East Lansing, ranked No. 5, won its fourth straight District title, this time 3-2 over Haslett – Lansing State Journal

Eighth-ranked Mason finished a shutout of its Division 2 District, downing Chelsea 3-0 to win its three games by a combined 13-0 – Lansing State Journal

Gladwin, No. 10 in Division 3, won its first District title with a 1-0 victory over West Branch Ogemaw Heights – Midland Daily News

Grand Haven, No. 19 in Division 1, won its fifth straight District title with a 1-0 victory over Grandville – Grand Haven Tribune

Bloomfield Hills scored its only goal on a penalty kick in downing Birmingham Seaholm in Division 1 for its third straight District title – Oakland Press

Volleyball

Buchanan, an honorable mention in Class B, won the St. Joseph Invitational with a three-set victory over Class A honorable mention Niles in the final – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium