Class C: Reaching Higher
March 22, 2012
EAST LANSING – After falling in the first week of the MHSAA tournament last season, there was no way Traverse City St. Francis was going to look ahead to the end of March this winter.
But riding the bus to Breslin Center on Thursday, the reality of this weekend hit senior Sean Sheldon.
The Gladiators were 32 minutes from reaching their first MHSAA boys basketball Final. And now, they’re only 32 more from winning their first championship.
St. Francis earned that opportunity with 63-54 win over No. 8 Shelby in the second Class C Semifinal. The Gladiators will face Flint Beecher in the noon championship game Saturday.
“Last year, we got out of tournament pretty early. It was a big disappointment for us,” Sheldon said. “We looked ahead a little bit, kinda at what we could do. … Now we’re in the Finals, and now 32 minutes from holding up the first ever state title for our school.”
This was St. Francis’ third Semifinal appearance. The Gladiators (25-2) had never before advanced, losing in their last appearance, in 2006, by 29 points to Saginaw Buena Vista.
St. Francis had high hopes last season. But Elk Rapids ended those abruptly in the District Final.
This time, the Gladiators beat all three of their District opponents by at least 31 points, and two more after that by at least 11 before coming up against Shelby – which was making its first Semifinal appearance since 1972, when Tigers’ longtime coach Rick Zoulek was in middle school.
“In the back of my mind, I was always thinking that was a goal of mine,” said Shelby’s David Beckman, Jr., who with Jeremiah James was a four-year varsity player. “It just happened to be the 50-year anniversary, and we actually made that happen. We had 13 guys make that happen.”
And they nearly advanced to their first Final since that same season.
No matter how much St. Francis surged, Shelby hung around – and took a 45-44 lead with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. The Gladiators held just a one-point lead with 5:58 to play.
“You could feel the momentum coming back our way, and we had a few breaks go against us. A couple mistakes. We missed a couple of shots, a turnover here and there,” Zoulek said. “It was really close. It makes you realize how close you really are to being in that final game. Just a couple of plays.”
Some of them came from Sheldon, who scored six of his 16 points over the final six minutes. The Tigers also made just 4 of 11 shots during that time and had three turnovers. They did well breaking St. Francis’ fullcourt press, but struggled to finish at the other end.
Beckman finished with 17 points and James had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Shelby (24-3).
Three others scored in double figures for St. Francis – senior guard Devin Sheehy led with 18 points (and seven assists), while senior center Michael Jenkins added 14 points and sophomore guard Byron Bullough had 11. Sheldon, who has signed with William & Mary, grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
While the basketball championship game is new ground for St. Francis, winning at this level is not—the Gladiators have won six MHSAA football championships over the last 21 seasons.
It’s definitely a football school by reputation. And that success was a big reason basketball coach Keith Haske took the hoops job before 2010-11 after leading multiple Charlevoix teams to Breslin.
“One of the reasons I was excited about going there was because of football. The kids have the mentality they can be state champions,” Haske said. “When I walked in the first day of practice, I had a group of kids who said that because of football, we can be state champs here. That’s a huge factor, and I don’t think people realize that. Because not only do that believe that, but they put the work into it.”
Click for box score or to watch the game and press conferences at MHSAA.tv.
PHOTO: Traverse City St. Francis' Sean Sheldon had 16 points and 12 rebounds in Thursday's Semifinal win. (Photo courtesy of Terry McNamara Photography.
U-D Jesuit Continues Tourney Dominance
March 15, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Only three Detroit U-D Jesuit players have seen action in all 27 of their team’s games this winter.
Friday was further evidence of what the Cubs had been missing for parts of this season.
Now together and in game shape after injuries and illnesses, Jesuit has won its seven tournament games by an average of 28 points, adding a 63-25 Division 1 Semifinal win over Okemos to earn its second championship game appearance in four seasons.
The Cubs’ closest postseason win over the last three weeks was by 11 over league rival Warren DeLaSalle in the Regional Semifinal.
Total, Jesuit has won 19 straight games since its last defeat.
“It’s great being on the floor when we’re playing well like this,” Jesuit senior guard Daniel Friday said. “Everybody’s clicking and playing for each other and playing together. It’s really been a pleasure being with these guys on the floor. It’s been translating to blowouts; hopefully we keep that up.”
Jesuit (25-2) will take on Ypsilanti Lincoln in Saturday’s 12:15 p.m. Final at the Breslin Center, seeking its second championship to go with the Class A title won in 2016. Okemos finished 23-3.
Of course, it took only a few minutes into Friday’s press conference for the first questions to come about defending Lincoln’s freshman sensation Emoni Bates. Defense has been the Cubs’ strength as it’s worked through this season’s player absences, adding to the intrigue of Saturday’s matchup.
Jesuit has kept teams to 50 or fewer points 13 times this winter, including four times during the postseason. The Cubs held a usually strong-shooting Okemos team to 21 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Chiefs 34-24 including 28-7 on Jesuit’s side of the court.
The Cubs scored the game’s first seven points and led by double digits for good by 1:35 to go in the first quarter. They made 55 percent of their shots from the floor for the game, including 7-of-8 during a second quarter that saw them extend the lead from 13 to 21 points.
“They’re a really deep team. They have a lot of threats outside and inside, and we never really played a team that big before,” said Okemos senior forward Evan Thomas, who led the Chiefs with 13 points and six rebounds. “It was definitely a big challenge to stop them inside, then they’d start hitting outside shots too and it just piled on. I think we worked hard and did what we could.”
Eleven players scored for Jesuit, with senior guard Jordan Montgomery leading with 17 points. Senior center Jalen Thomas added 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 11 rebounds, and senior guard Daniel Friday made 5-of-6 shots for 10 points.
Five Cubs had at least three assists.
“It’s been a very interesting year in terms of starting lineups and who we’ve had available off the bench,” Jesuit coach Pat Donnelly said. “This stretch … we’ve had that opportunity to build chemistry, and that’s what I like. I remember looking down at the stat sheet in the first half and we had 15 field goals on 10 assists. These guys are unselfish. They play the right way.
They move the basketball. They don’t care who’s scoring.”
PHOTOS: (Top) U-D Jesuit’s Julian Dozier defends Okemos’ Evan Thomas during Friday’s second Division 1 Semifinal. (Middle) The Cubs’ Jordan Montgomery (3) and Chiefs’ Mason Kaczmarek go after a loose ball.