Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 5
January 14, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
After slightly more than a quarter of the regular season for most Michigan high school boys basketball teams, nearly 10 percent remain undefeated. Many others have fallen just once with midseason approaching.
Some of that could change this weekend, which could be one of the most exciting of the winter with multiple big-time showcases featuring some of the state's top teams.
Check out some of the matchups that especially pop off the page below, but also see the full schedule on the MHSAA Score Center.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid and based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com. Send corrections or missing scores to [email protected].
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Hudsonville Unity Christian 50, Holland West Ottawa 48 The reigning Division 2 champion won twice last week by a combined five points, Tuesday handing West Ottawa its only loss and then edging Holland Christian by three Friday.
2. Ann Arbor Huron 47, North Farmington 41 – The River Rats remained unbeaten with another solid win, sending North Farmington to 7-2.
3. Detroit Edison 60, Ferndale 55 – A qualifier for Breslin the last three seasons, the Division 3 Pioneers added another impressive win to a growing list this winter against Division 2 notable Ferndale.
4. Waterford Mott 60, Grand Blanc 57 – Add Mott to Division 1 teams to keep an eye on after this impressive victory at the Oakland County Tip-Off Classic.
5. Escanaba 63, Marquette 56 – The Eskymos sit just 4-4 overall, but 3-0 and first in the Great Northern Conference after this win over the reigning league champion.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (5-2) Just a season after finishing last in the Detroit Catholic League Central with a 0-8 conference record, the Warriors quickly are tied atop the standings after breaking that streak with the weekend’s 79-67 win over Warren De La Salle Collegiate. Brother Rice ended last winter 11-13 overall, but did show a spark winning a District title. The Warriors lost to solid opponents Southfield Christian and Macomb Dakota during the second half of this past December, but otherwise have five double-digit wins.
Wyoming (6-0) The Wolves are looking at a big jump in 2019-20 after last year’s 10-12 finish. They opened the Ottawa-Kent Conference Gold schedule Friday with an 80-72 win over Grand Rapids South Christian, and Wyoming also owns solid early double-digit wins over Grand Rapids Northview and Byron Center. Wyoming was 16-6 and won the Gold only two seasons ago, so a bounce-back shouldn’t stun many.
DIVISION 2
Cadillac (5-0) With wins already over both 2018-19 Big North Conference co-champions Petoskey and Traverse City Central, Cadillac sits atop the standings while seeking its first BNC title since sharing it in 2012-13. Before defeating Petoskey 46-37 on Thursday, Cadillac opened last week with another solid victory 48-42 over nonleague Big Rapids. The nonleague schedule includes unbeaten Mount Pleasant and McBain as well during the final weeks before District play, great prep for a possible postseason run.
Clio (7-0) Make way for the Mustangs. After flipping their 2017-18 finish of 5-15 to go 15-5 last winter, they’ve flown out of the gate. Clio already has avenged a last-season loss to Flushing – 54-50 last week and their only win so far by fewer than 10 points. And after finishing second last season in the formerly one-division Flint Metro League, the Mustangs sit tied for first in the first-year Stars division with also-undefeated Goodrich.
DIVISION 3
Fennville (5-1) The Blackhawks bounced back from their lone loss last week to nonleague Niles Brandywine with a 42-38 win Friday over Gobles that put Fennville first alone atop the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore. Fennville also has handed reigning champion Coloma its only league loss. The Blackhawks are coming off a third-place Lakeshore finish and 10-11 overall run last winter.
Munising (8-0) The Mustangs won their league and a Division 4 District title last season, but at least for the playoffs will face a different path playing now in Division 3. The start has been similar, if not much better, however. Munising has avenged last season’s early losses to Gwinn and Rapid River and extended its perfect start Monday with an overtime win over Manistique.
DIVISION 4
Frankfort (5-0) The Panthers have picked right back up after last year’s 21-6 run and Division 4 runner-up finish. They’ve already avenged last season’s loss to Onekama with a 51-46 win Dec. 19, and they join Maple City Glen Lake as the two teams undefeated in Northwest Conference play – with Glen Lake coming to Frankfort tonight. Glen Lake defeated Frankfort twice last winter.
Pellston (5-0) Featuring one of the state’s leading scorers in Blake Cassidy, the Hornets are one of two teams unbeaten early in Ski Valley Conference play after winning the league and making the Division 4 Quarterfinals a year ago. They’ve won comfortably but also shown the ability to win close, with a three-point victory over Harbor Springs and one-pointer versus Fife Lake Forest Area – which both sit currently at 4-2.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Maple City Glen Lake (5-1) at Frankfort (5-0) – These are the main contenders in the Northwest Conference, and Frankfort is looking to avenge multiple losses from last season to the reigning champion Lakers.
Friday – Detroit Douglass (7-1) at Detroit Martin Luther King (7-2) – This is likely to decide the champion in the Detroit Public School League East; King won last year’s meeting by 19.
Saturday – Benton Harbor (7-1) vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central (5-1) at Ottawa Hills – This rematch of the 2018 Class B championship game highlights the annual Floyd Mayweather Classic.
Saturday – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (6-0) vs. Flint Beecher (6-1) at Ferndale – These contenders in Divisions 1 and 3, respectively, face off in one of the top matchups at the Freedom Classic.
Saturday – Muskegon (3-1) at Ferndale (3-2) – This Freedom Classic matchup features two highly-regarded teams that could break out as January continues to roll along.
Second Half’s weekly “Breslin Bound” reports are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO: Muskegon fell Jan. 4 to Chicago Curie, its only defeat this season. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)
Taratuta Tops Hillman's Leaderboard, Striving to Take Tigers on Title Pursuit
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
January 5, 2024
A lot of has been written about Hillman senior point guard Trenton Taratuta.
And Taratuta has re-written pretty much every basketball record in the Hillman history book as well.
He would trade everything, though, for a shot at the Breslin Center and playing in the Division 4 Boys Basketball Final.
Taratuta entered this season with 1,612 career points, leaving him only 68 away from the school scoring record.
“First things first, I am just a competitor – I want to win,” Taratuta said of his Breslin goal. “The personal accolades come along with it, but winning is everything.”
Eric Muszynski, the Tigers’ boys basketball coach for the past 19 years, guarantees his four-year starter and most decorated player in Hillman history would give up every one of his records for the chance to win at Breslin.
“The beauty of Trenton is I know he would sacrifice these individual accolades to get down to the Breslin Center,” Muszynski said. “It’s a real treat to coach him.
“You tell kids, ‘If you put the time in and hard work in, results happen,’” Muszynski continued. “It has been awesome to be able to use him as an example to a lot of our youth basketball players and some of our current players that have seen the work he’s put in and the results he is getting.”
Taratuta is the only starter returning from last year’s team that lost a 59-57 heart-breaker to Frankfort in the Quarterfinals. He did become the highest scorer in Hillman’s history during a 57-56 overtime win over Oscoda on Dec. 7. He set the mark within his team’s first bucket of the game and then won it with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that allowed him to again tie the school record for the most points in a single game with 41.
The 6-foot-4 guard, who has scored 41 three times during his career, wants to ride the community support the entire 200-plus miles in March to Breslin. Last year’s run remains bigger to Taratuta than all his current individual records.
“My favorite memory so far is our postseason run last year,” he said. “The support we got from our community was overwhelming.
“It was fun to see everyone come support us and the crowds we got,” he continued. “It was a great atmosphere for all the playoff games.”
Hillman is off to a 6-2 start after winning its North Star League Little Dipper opener Thursday night over Posen, 72-51, as Taratuta led with 30 points. The Tigers’ only losses this winter have been to Division 2 schools, Gaylord and Ogemaw Heights.
Taratuta now has 1,858 points for his career and set his sights on reaching 2,000. His coach thinks it is highly likely he’ll be able to do that and then climb toward the total accrued by the leading scorer in Michigan high school history, Jay Smith, from 1975-76 through 1978-79.
That said, Taratuta, who is averaging more than 30 points per game this season, is unlikely to challenge Smith’s 2,841 career points – but both Taratuta and his coach also look to the record with pride as Mio is less than 40 miles down the road from Hillman.
Only 45 others in MHSAA boys hoops history have reached 2,000 career points.
“The 2,000-point mark would be pretty special,” Taratuta acknowledged. “It would be pretty cool.”
Hillman, which will host the District tournament this year, expects to ride Taratuta’s success a long way this postseason. Atlanta, Fairview, Hale, Mio and Posen are the Tigers’ potential District opponents.
“There is a lot of season left and a lot of work to be done,” Taratuta said. “I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
“I’m focused on the team’s overall success, not thinking about the points,” he continued. “Coming into this year, there were a lot of doubters and the guys have stepped up well.”
Senior center Blake Kennard is averaging 11.1 points per game and chipping in more than seven rebounds and almost three blocks. Junior 3-point specialist Brenden Rouleau is also averaging double-digit scoring.
Taratuta – who is from a family of high-scoring Hillman graduates – had his sights set on the career points record for quite a while. He was at the game in 2015 when Mason VanPamel broke Paul Bennett’s longstanding scoring record set in 1986.
“He comes from a pretty good pedigree of athletes,” Muszynski said. “His uncles Greg, Jeff and Tim Jones are all thousand-point scorers in our school, and they’re in our Hall of Fame.
Taratuta also just may be a one-of-a-kind, talented, hard-working team player, his veteran coach noted.
“Not only can he score it, he is top-five in our school’s history in every major statistical category going into his senior year,” Muszynski continued. “He is one of those guys where you’re not sure if you’re going to see somebody of that caliber again in your career.
“I was pretty fortunate to have a couple of other guys that were pretty solid, and it’s built the tradition of our basketball program to where Trenton is at.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Hillman’s Trenton Taratuta (22) gets to the basket as the crowd anticipates two points. (Middle) Taratuta considers his next move during a game against Mio. (Photos courtesy of Jonny Zawacki.)