Cass Tech Continuing Rise to Hoops Elite
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
January 4, 2018
DETROIT – When you think of Detroit Cass Tech, one would probably think of its football program.
Why not? The program coach Thomas Wilcher has built there has been arguably the best in the state the past dozen years.
That fact doesn’t bother Steve Hall, the head coach of the Technicians’ boys basketball team. On the contrary, Hall, a 1988 Cass Tech graduate and co-athletic director (along with Wilcher), takes pride in it.
It also serves as motivation.
Hall is in his third season at Cass Tech, and when the next rankings are released his Technicians will be ranked No. 1 in Class A by at least one news service, State Champs Network, and likely others.
Cass Tech is 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Detroit Public School League. The Technicians are currently on winter break and scheduled to play next against Detroit Henry Ford on Jan. 12.
That a PSL team is ranked No. 1 is common. Teams like Detroit Cooley, Detroit Pershing, Detroit Renaissance, Detroit Southwestern and, most recently, Detroit Western, all have been ranked No. 1 over the past many years.
But for Cass Tech, it is unusual. In fact, it is believed that a top ranking for a Cass Tech boys basketball team would be the program’s first.
Hall is careful not to boast or gloat. After all, it’s early in the season and nobody awards MHSAA championship trophies in January.
“It’s hard to feel great about being No. 1,” Hall said. “The last thing you want to do is exhale.”
The program has achieved success in the past but, truthfully, it’s been awhile. Before Hall took over, Cass Tech most recently had won two PSL titles under coach Robert Shannon, the last coming in 1998. During the late 1980s, when Hall was one of the state’s top players, Cass Tech reached the 1988 Class A Quarterfinals before losing to the eventual champion, Cooley. Cass Tech had defeated Cooley that season in the PSL quarterfinals. The 1993 team that won the PSL title made it all the way to a Class A Semifinals.
During the 1950s Cass Tech was a powerhouse in the city winning three PSL titles over the decade. As one might surmise, Cass Tech has never won a state title. And just once has it reached an MHSAA Final, as the Technicians lost to Birmingham Brother Rice, 60-56 in overtime, in the 1974 Class A championship game.
Since 1998, Cass Tech had reached a PSL final just once (2013). That is, before Hall came aboard.
Last season Cass Tech defeated Detroit Martin Luther King, 59-47, to capture the school’s eighth PSL title. The Technicians won a District title for the first time since 2014 and finished 20-5, a vast improvement from the 11-10 record they posted in Hall’s first season.
As good as last season was for the program, it was just one step forward. Hall has set loftier goals.
His three-year plan included becoming regarded at the state level and nationally. That plan is on schedule.
“There were some dynamics that first year,” Hall said. “I was hired late and I didn’t have the kids during the summer. We beat (Detroit) Western, Benton Harbor and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s that season. It’s a tough league. The stable programs had upperclassmen leading them. It was a year of growth. I wouldn’t have the same appreciation (for the success) if we had won that first year. ”
Though Hall is in just his third season at Cass Tech, he’s built a strong resume as a coach, within the PSL and at the collegiate level. High school basketball fans will remember the great Detroit Rogers teams in the early 2000s that won three consecutive Class D titles (2003-05) with Hall as head coach. When that school closed in 2005, Hall went to Detroit Northwestern and guided the Colts to the PSL title in 2008, Northwestern’s first league championship in 30 years. That season Northwestern reached a Class A Regional Final before losing to Pershing.
Hall then left Michigan and became an assistant coach at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania. He stayed there four seasons before he was hired by Youngstown State in Ohio as an assistant. Hall remained there for four seasons before returning to Detroit.
This team has talent, but is void of any one superstar. None of the four seniors are Division I recruits. Hall returned six players who started at least one game last season and the top senior is Randy Gilbert, a 6-foot-6 forward who signed with Ferris State.
There are Division I recruits coming up, however, including 6-3 sophomore Tyson Acuff and 6-5 juniors Kalil Whitehead and Tyland Tate.
Gilbert, who alternates between forward and center, is in his fourth season as a starter. He may not have made the varsity so early or with such an immediate impact playing at one of the city’s established basketball powers.
“Even going into my sophomore year people started to say things like I should transfer somewhere else,” Gilbert said. “I didn’t think about that at all. I thought we had potential.
“Coach Hall has been great to us players. He’s opened up a lot of doors. He takes us to a lot of team camps during the summer to different level of schools like Division I, Division II and NAIA so everybody gets a shot and to see where they can play (in college).
“I don’t look at Cass Tech being a football school now. We changed that.”
In the long run, that’s been one of Hall’s goals. Hall is a basketball coach, but he’s also a fan of all sports, in particular those at Cass Tech. He wants to see all of the athletic programs enjoy success, not just his team.
“When you’re a coach, it’s a way of life,” Hall said. “When I went to Cass our girls (basketball team) won the Class A title. I’ve been to Ford Field to watch the football team. I’ve been to their practices. I grew up around the school. My father (Ferd Hall) was an assistant principal here when I was growing up in the mid-70s. Cass Tech has always meant so much to me.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Cass Tech boys basketball team including head coach Steve Hall (far right) stands together at a game this season. (Middle) Randy Gilbert prepares to throw down a dunk. (Photos courtesy of the Cass Tech boys basketball program.
As Jamison Leads PHN's Win Chase, Stats Follow at Record-Setting Pace
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 12, 2022
There were plenty of factors surrounding Tyler Jamison’s recent record-breaking performance that made it special.
The Port Huron Northern junior scored 47 points against Troy Athens on Dec. 30, breaking the school’s single-game record, previously held by Northern legend and Jamison family friend Joel Whymer. The game was part of the annual St. Clair County Community College Holiday Showcase, which Whymer’s late father, Jim, played a crucial role in starting.
And all 47 points were absolutely necessary, as they came during a 60-57 win.
“It’s amazing,” Jamison said. “The Whymer family, they’re awesome, top to bottom. I love them all. Mr. Whymer passing away (in September of 2020) was difficult for all of us. To do it like that in a close game that we won, and in that atmosphere at SC4, it was awesome.”
As Jamison nears the midpoint of his junior season, he’s on pace to break more records at Northern and further cement his status as one of the program’s all-time greats. He’s averaging 30.7 points per game in leading the Huskies to a 4-3 start, which puts him on pace to break Whymer’s single-season points record of 623. Through Tuesday night’s win against Utica, Jamison has scored 834 career points, putting him on pace to surpass Whymer’s career total of 1,193, set in 2003.
Collecting records isn’t Jamison’s focus, however.
“I’ve watched his highlights, and he was ridiculous,” Jamison said of Whymer. “I haven’t really thought about it like, ‘Oh, I gotta get this number.’ My goal is to go out and do what it takes to win. Obviously, everyone wants to hold a record, but I’m not going to be out there taking extra shots in garbage time. If it’s going to happen, I want it to happen naturally, because that’s what Joel was doing. He wasn’t chasing points, he was chasing wins.”
Jamison was a varsity starter as a freshman, but he was surrounded by a veteran core that allowed him to ease into his role with the team.
“More than the basketball aspect, those guys were just awesome,” he said. “Every freshman on varsity is going to have ups and downs, and after games, those guys were just awesome to me. It was kind of like a big brother thing. They still text me and ask me how the games are going. And from the basketball aspect of it, I always had guys to lean on.”
In each of the past two seasons, Jamison’s role has grown. The 6-foot-5 guard became the team’s dominant ball-handler as a sophomore, and he’s proven he can do much more than score. He averaged 11.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game a year ago, and he’s once again pulling down nearly 10 rebounds per game this season.
“The mindset is always to be the best basketball player that I can be,” Jamison said. “I don’t think about, ‘Well, my role is this.’ I was just kind of working to be the best basketball player that I can be -- getting shots up, lifting. I’ve been fortunate that I have a lot of good players around me.”
His ability and production have caught the eyes of college scouts, and both Grand Valley State University and Saginaw Valley State University have offered him scholarships.
“It’s been a dream of mine to play college basketball my entire life,” Jamison said. “I’ve been very grateful for all the coaches that have recruited me. It means a lot to me. But I still have a long way to go.”
As Jamison climbs through the Northern record books, he’ll also put himself ahead of his uncles, Matt and Scott, who are among the program’s top all-time scorers. His father, Brian, has been the Northern coach for more than 20 years, and played on the 1990-91 Northern team that advanced to the Class A Quarterfinals – one of two teams in program history to do so.
“I’ve been in this program since, I believe, 1987, and I know so many of the guys that have come through, and (Tyler’s) in that room,” Brian Jamison said. “There have been so many good players here, so many accomplished people. He fits that mold of a great player and a great kid, and that means a lot. It’s been great to see him come through.”
Tyler said making his mark on the program he grew up with has been a dream come true.
“Ever since I’ve been I don’t know how old, I’ve been sitting on the bench, dribbling around and getting everyone waters,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘I can’t wait until I’m out there. I can’t wait until I’m in the blue and gold.’ It’s something that I really wanted to do, and it’s been great to be able to play with my friends. A lot of the guys on the team, they live in our neighborhood.”
His senior season could include playing with someone who grew up even closer – his younger brother Alex, who is in the eighth grade.
“I think it would be fun,” Tyler said. “I love Alex, and he’s a really good player. I think if I get the opportunity to play with him next year, we’ll make the most of it.”
While Brian Jamison stressed that Alex would have to earn the opportunity to play varsity as a freshman, he is on a path very similar to that of his older brother. Earlier this season, Alex set the Fort Gratiot Middle School record for points in a game at 53, edging his older brother by one. But Tyler is quick to point out one important difference in those games.
“But my team won, and his lost,” Tyler said. “I still say that I have the important record because of that.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Port Huron Northern’s Tyler Jamison (32) makes a move toward the basket against Troy Athens on Dec. 30. (Middle) Jamison pulls up for a jumper over a pair of defenders. (Below) The Northern junior dunks for two of his 47 points. (Photos by John Bowns.)