D3 Preview: Repeat Faces Roadblocks
March 13, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
After making is first MHSAA championship game in boys basketball a year ago – and winning it – Detroit Edison is back at the Breslin Center seeking a repeat this weekend.
But the field lined up to halt the Pioneers is full of potential obstacles. Iron Mountain and Pewamo-Westphalia have not lost this season, and rarely been challenged. Erie Mason is having its best season ever and features one of the most productive scorers who will take the court at Michigan State University over the next three days.
Division 3 Semifinals – Thursday
Iron Mountain (26-0) vs. Detroit Edison (19-7), Noon
Erie-Mason (23-2) vs. Pewamo-Westphalia (26-0), 2 p.m.
Division 3 Final – Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 per pair of Semifinals and $10 per two-game Finals session (Divisions 3 and 2). All Semifinals will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv and viewable on a pay-per-view basis. The Divisions 2, 3 and 4 championship games will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit’s primary channel, while the Division 1 Final will be shown live on Fox Sports Detroit PLUS. All four championship games will be streamed live on FoxSportsDetroit.com and the FOX Sports 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.)
DETROIT EDISON
Record/rank: 18-8, unranked
League finish: Does not play in a conference.
Coach: Brandon Neely, sixth season (92-48)
Championship history: Class C champion 2018.
Best wins: 76-69 over No. 1 Flint Beecher in Quarterfinal, 77-68 over Division 2 No. 1 Benton Harbor, 69-66 over Division 1 No. 3 Canton.
Players to watch: Brian Taylor, 6-5 sr. F (16.6 ppg); Vincent Cooley, 6-2 jr. G (Statistics not submitted).
Outlook: Edison filled its regular-season schedule with larger and elite opponents, and its seven in-state losses all came to Division 1 or 2 teams, including four that made it to this week and two to this weekend (Detroit U-D Jesuit and Harper Woods Chandler Park). Taylor is the lone returning starter from last season’s championship game win, although current starters Cooley and junior forward Raynard Williams were among those on the bench. Taylor also is the only senior on the roster.
ERIE-MASON
Record/rank: 23-2, honorable mention
League finish: First in Lenawee County Athletic Association
Coach: Kevin Skaggs, eighth season (99-75)
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 55-48 over No. 4 Hanover-Horton in Quarterfinal, 56-46 (District Final) and 64-44 over honorable mention Petersburg-Summerfield, 59-51 over Detroit Loyola in Regional Final.
Players to watch: Joe Liedel, 5-10 jr. G (28 ppg, 81 3-pointers, 5.1 apg, 3.1 spg); John Sweeney, 6-7 sr. C (11.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.3 bpg, 42 3-pointers).
Outlook: Erie-Mason will make its first Semifinal appearance after winning its first Regional title since 1973, and hasn’t lost since Dec. 11. Liedel has been one of the state’s most prolific scorers and went over 700 points for this season with 40 more Tuesday; he earned an all-state honorable mention a year ago. The Eagles beat another league champion, Riverview Gabriel Richard, in the Regional Semifinal. Senior Jake Trainor adds 12.5 ppg.
IRON MOUNTAIN
Record/rank: 26-0, No. 3
League finish: First in Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Iron and Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference
Coach: Harvey Johnson Jr., 19th season (275-151)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 1939).
Best wins: 61-56 over No. 7 Sanford Meridian in Quarterfinal, 66-52 over Traverse City St. Francis in Regional Final, 71-41 (District Final) and 78-71 (OT) over Calumet.
Players to watch: Marcus Johnson, 5-10 jr. G (23.3 ppg, 94 3-pointers, 4.6 apg); Foster Wonders, 6-5 soph. G (23.9 ppg, 55 3-pointers, 7.0 rpg).
Outlook: Iron Mountain advanced to the Quarterfinals for the second straight season and has moved on to its first Semifinal since 1994. Johnson – an all-state first-team selection last year – and Wonders make up what should be one of the most entertaining backcourts of the weekend. Both are hitting about 38 percent of their 3-point tries to lead a team that hadn’t played a single-digit game from Dec. 7 until Tuesday’s win over Meridian.
PEWAMO-WESTPHALIA
Record/rank: 26-0, No. 2
League finish: First in Central Michigan Athletic Conference
Coach: Luke Pohl, 22nd season (415-96)
Championship history: Class C runner-up 2014 and 1993.
Best wins: 70-50 over Cassopolis in Quarterfinal, 32-14 over Carson City-Crystal in District final, 50-32 over Morley Stanwood in District Semifinal, 57-54 (OT) over honorable mention Wyoming Potter’s House Christian, 52-35 over Division 4 No. 5 Wyoming Tri-unity Christian.
Players to watch: Andre Smith, 6-7 sr. C (14.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg); Hunter Hengesbach, 6-3 sr. G (8.5 ppg, 2.7 apg).
Outlook: P-W emerged from a league that produced two more District title winners to claim its fifth straight and return to the final week and weekend for the first time since finishing Class C runner-up in 2014. Four seniors anchor the starting lineup for a team with seven players averaging at least four points per game and three averaging at least a pair of assists. Only three wins were by fewer than 10 points, and all have been by double digits since Jan. 24.
PHOTO: Iron Mountain's Charlie Gerhard puts up a shot during his team's win over Ishpeming on Feb. 1. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)
Beecher Earns Opportunity to 'Complete the Task' with Semifinal Win
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 23, 2023
EAST LANSING — Flint Beecher and Ecorse entered their Division 3 Semifinal on Thursday with at least one common thread of motivation.
Both lost in last year’s Semifinals, so both the Buccaneers and Raiders were looking to leave Breslin Center with some vindication.
Ultimately, Beecher was the team that did so, earning a 64-54 win over Ecorse and advancing to its seventh championship game since 2012.
Senior guard Robert Lee and senior forward Kevin Tiggs both scored 17 points to lead the way for Beecher (23-4).
“We’re not satisfied with this,” Beecher head coach Marquise Gray said. “This is just one part of completing the task.”
The difference in the game turned out to be that Beecher simply had more depth, which eventually wore down Ecorse.
Beecher featured an eight-player rotation, while Ecorse, with the exception of one substitution late in the third quarter, played its starters throughout until the game got away late.
“We figured we would wear them down,” Gray said. “Looking at their bench, we saw that they didn’t have a deep bench. But the focus, energy and effort was on us, and us executing defensively and offensively.”
A big reason why Ecorse was short-handed was because one of its best players, senior Kenneth Morrast, was out after suffering a broken wrist in a Regional Final.
Ecorse head coach Gerrod Abram said he believes his team would have won this weekend’s championship if his squad was at full strength, but also heaped praise on Beecher and its playmakers.
Abram said before Morrast’s injury, his squad didn’t play any zone all year. But after he was injured, Abram said his team had to adjust on the fly and start playing a zone defense that he didn’t want to employ, but had to in order to keep players out of foul trouble.
Senior Malik Olafioye scored 22 points, and sophomore point guard Darrien Reddick scored 14 to lead Ecorse (20-5).
“Extremely proud of the effort we put out,” Abram said. “We knew it was going to be a big task with the way they play. We gave everything that we had. We just ran out of gas at the end.”
Beecher took a 40-34 lead into the fourth quarter, but Ecorse scored the first five points of the fourth to cut Beecher’s lead to one with 6:10 remaining in the game.
The Buccaneers answered, going on a 9-0 run to grab a 49-39 lead with 4:30 left.
Ecorse closed to within seven at 51-44 with 3:37 remaining following a 3-pointer by Reddick, but Beecher responded with four straight points to take a 55-44 lead with 2:42 remaining.
Beecher ultimately punctuated the win on a flying dunk by Lee with 1:09 remaining. Lee was also fouled on the dunk, and he made the free throw for a three-point play to give Beecher a 60-48 lead.
“What I really focused on was just trying to get my teammates involved,” Lee said. “Not try to force shots. Just let the game come to me.”
Now, Beecher will turn its focus to reclaiming its status as the best in the state.
“That’s something we have talked about, remembering the feeling that we had last year when we didn’t complete the job,” Gray said. “Guys have been taking it to heart. It’s not a rite. You have to earn your way here. It’s not a given.”
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Beecher’s Robert Lee Jr. (22) sends a pass into the post during Thursday’s Semifinal win over Ecorse. (Middle) The Bucs’ Kevin Tiggs Jr. (1) pulls in a rebound while Ecorse’s Deontae Jude (11) also grabs for the ball.