Class B Preview: Can't-Miss Matchups
March 21, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Class B could feature the most entertaining matchups of this weekend’s Boys Basketball Finals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
From one side of the bracket will emerge a longtime power – Benton Harbor, seeking its first title in more than a half century, or 14-time winner River Rouge.
On the other side, reigning champion New Haven is coming off its first MHSAA title and looking to repeat led by star junior Romeo Weems – who will surely get some time facing Grand Rapids Catholic Central standout Marcus Bingham, Jr., as the latter works to lead his team to its first Finals championship in this sport.
Class B Semifinals – Friday
Benton Harbor (25-1) vs. River Rouge (23-1), 5:30 p.m.
New Haven (26-0) vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central (23-2), 7:30 p.m.
Class B Final – Saturday, 6:45 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 per pair of Semifinals and $10 per two-game Finals session (Class C and Class B). All Semifinals will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv and viewable on a pay-per-view basis. The Class D, A and C championship games will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit, while the Class B Final will be shown on Fox Sports Detroit on a delayed basis at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. All four championship games will be streamed live on FoxSportsDetroit.com and the FOX Sports Go! app. Free radio broadcasts of all weekend games will be available on MHSAANetwork.com.
Below is a glance at all four semifinalists. Click on the name of the school to see that team’s full schedule and results from this season. (Statistics are through teams' Regional Finals.)
BENTON HARBOR
Record/rank: 25-1, No. 3
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Corey Sterling, sixth season (112-37)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 1965), seven runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 71-51 over No. 8 Williamston in Quarterfinal, 67-52 over honorable mention Hudsonville Unity Christian in Regional Semifinal, 77-49 (District Semifinal) and 55-46 over honorable mention Coloma.
Players to watch: Carlos Johnson, 6-6 soph. F (18.3 ppg, 13.1 rpg, 5.2 apg, 3.1 bpg); Shawn Hopkins, 6-4 sr. F (15.7 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 3.1 apg).
Outlook: Benton Harbor was Class B runner-up in 2014 and made the Semifinals a year ago, and Johnson and Hopkins starred for last season’s team as well. Senior guard Elijah Baxter (9.7 ppg, 6.7 apg) also started last season. Senior guards Dennie Brown and Devan Nichols both average just above 10 ppg as well, and total six players this winter average at least 8.8. The only loss was to Class A Hazel Park, which finished 18-3.
GRAND RAPIDS CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 23-2, No. 7
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue
Coach: T.J. Meerman, fifth season (73-43)
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 63-52 (Regional Semifinal), 80-39 and 59-40 over honorable mention Spring Lake, 73-49 over Grand Rapids Christian, 90-84 over Detroit Country Day.
Players to watch: Marcus Bingham, Jr., 6-11 sr. F (16.8 ppg, 10 rpg, 3.7 bpg); Jacob Polakovich, 6-8 sr. F (14.2 ppg, 10.5 ppg).
Outlook: GRCC has won at least 20 games for the second straight season and upped its win total the last four under Meerman on the way to its first Semifinal since 1992. Bingham was a Mr. Basketball Award finalist and is plenty to handle – but he has lots of help as well. In addition to Polakovich in the post, junior guard Darrell Belcher is putting up 14 points per game, and junior guard Austin Braun is averaging 7.8 points and 7.5 assists per game.
NEW HAVEN
Record/rank: 26-0, No. 1
League finish: First in Macomb Area Conference Blue
Coach: Tedaro France II, 10th season (185-57)
Championship history: Class B champion 2017.
Best wins: 78-72 over No. 5 Bridgeport in Quarterfinal, 92-74 over Detroit Country Day in Regional Final, 81-70 over Class C honorable mention Flint Beecher, 82-62 over Warren DeLaSalle, 74-57 over St. Clair Shores South Lake.
Players to watch: Romeo Weems, 6-7 jr. G/F (23.5 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 5.7 apg, 5.1 spg, 2.5 bpg), Tavares Oliver, Jr., 6-0 sr. G (16.8 ppg, 3.2 apg, 65 3-pointers).
Outlook: New Haven is in the Semifinals for the second straight season and second time ever – and has won 52 straight games. Weems nearly had a quintuple-double this season and will be one of the most anticipated players for fans this weekend. Senior forward Ashton Sherrell (15.7 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and junior guard Ronald Jeffery III (12 ppg, 3.1 apg) round out the majority of an offense outscoring opponents by 32 points per game.
RIVER ROUGE
Record/rank: 23-1, No. 4
League finish: First in Michigan Metro Athletic Conference Blue
Coach: Mark White, second season (47-3)
Championship history: 14 MHSAA titles (most recent 1999), five runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 50-43 over honorable mention Detroit Old Redford in Regional Final, 59-44 over Dearborn Divine Child in Quarterfinal, 75-32 over St. Clair Shores South Lake in Regional Semifinal, 48-42, 56-45 and 77-45 over Harper Woods. Players to watch: Jayvien Torrance-Jackson, 6-1 sr. G; Bralin Toney, 5-10 jr. G. (Statistics not submitted.).
Outlook: River Rouge is back at the Semifinals for the second straight season and after a one-point overtime last time loss kept it from a first championship game berth since 1999. Torrance-Jackson not only is the only starter back from that team, but also the only senior on this one. Toney also saw time off the bench in last season’s Semifinal and joins him in the backcourt, while the frontcourt includes two 6-6 post players. The lone loss this winter was to Class D semifinalist Southfield Christian.
PHOTO: New Haven’s Romeo Weems puts up a block as Bridgeport’s Charles Garrett drives during Tuesday’s Quarterfinal. (Photo by Terry Lyons.)
Muxlow Family Has New All-Time Leading Scorer; Brown City May Soon As Well
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 8, 2023
When Gaden Muxlow talked to his sister Kendal after passing her career point total, he received a congratulatory response – with a caveat.
“She gave me the speech about how she had to miss so many games because of her ACL injuries,” Gaden said with a laugh.
Passing a family member in the Muxlow house – regardless of how many games that family member had to miss – is quite an accomplishment, as the family is all over the Brown City basketball record books. Kendal is the all-time leading scorer in the girls program, with 1,419 points. Mom, Shari, isn’t far behind at 1,363, and dad, Doug, had 1,327.
Gaden sits at 1,481, atop his family ranks and 22 behind the school’s all-time leading scorer Justin McPhail.
With the postseason starting tonight for Brown City, it’s not a guarantee Muxlow will catch McPhail – but it’s a pretty comfortable expectation.
He’s scored at least 22 points in 18 of the Green Devils’ 22 games this season, averaging 27.6 points per game on his way to a school-record 607. The person he had to pass to break that record? Dad.
“Ever since I was a kid, basketball has always been a big focus in our family,” Gaden Muxlow said. “I remember watching my sister in AAU tournaments as a kid, it’s always on the TV. Since I was a kid, I always had goals to beat my siblings. It always gave me a little bit of fire, and I started getting a little more into the season, and as I got closer, we started talking about it a little more in my family. (Passing Kendal) actually felt really good, because my sister was pretty talented, and I grew up watching her play.”
It’s not just family records that Muxlow has been breaking, as he and his teammates enjoyed a 21-1 regular season, which included a Greater Thumb Conference East title.
Muxlow scored a school-record 45 points in a game against Ubly. He has hit 187 of his 222 free throws, smashing the previous mark of 127. He’s also made 62 3-pointers on the season, 13 behind the school record, but not out of reach if the Green Devils make a run.
“He’s a great player,” Brown City coach Bob Hatten said. “He elevates the players around him. He does a good job of staying unselfish, but he also knows in key moments when to take over.”
Muxlow has signed to play at Rochester University, making him the fourth player in his family who will play college basketball.
Kendal is currently at Purdue University-Fort Wayne, Shari played at Dayton and Doug played at Cornerstone.
Gaden’s older brother, Caleb, played football at Concordia.
“I guess it wasn’t as much pressure as it was a lot of people were telling me they were expecting big things from me, and they were excited to watch me play,” Gaden said. “I guess it was a little bit of pressure, and a bit of excitement, as well. I wanted to do as well as I could to live up to the hype or the name, or whatever.”
He’s certainly done that. And when opposing teams were throwing every exotic defense they could think of at him this season, it wasn’t because of his name. It was because of his track record.
“Early in the season, we saw everything,” Hatten said. “Box and one, triangle and two where both guys were on Gaden. We saw teams full court deny him with two guys. We trailed in the second half in seven of our first nine games, and we had to find a way to win some close ones. It was probably midseason when a lot of our guys started falling more in line with their roles and started being more comfortable.”
Thanks to those players fulfilling their roles, and playing well around Muxlow, the Green Devils have thrived, and teams can be punished for focusing too much attention on him.
Fellow senior captains Clint Ford and Callen Hagey have excelled in leadership roles, while also providing some scoring cover for Muxlow. Senior Brandon Kohler has been a threat from the outside, keeping teams honest.
As a team, the Green Devils are holding the opposition to just 39.3 points per game. They’re also executing in areas that win big games, shooting 72.5 percent from the free throw line and turning the ball over fewer than 10 times per game.
The cohesiveness and success make sense when you realize most of these players have been playing with one another since elementary school.
“I think that’s probably the biggest piece to our success; we never have to worry about any drama,” Muxlow said. “Everybody gets along, everybody’s goal is the same thing – just to win. Everybody is buying into their roles. I don’t really feel like I’m doing this in a ball hog way, it’s just a piece to the puzzle that we’ve built along the way. Everybody bought into their role, and everybody knows what they’re doing. I know my role is to put the ball in the bucket, and I do whatever I can to help us win.
“It feels more special that it’s helping and leading to wins.”
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) Brown City’s Gaden Muxlow, right, brings the ball upcourt during a win over Burton Atherton this season. (Middle) The Muxlows celebrate Gaden’s signing with Rochester University. (Photos courtesy of the Muxlow family.)