Facing Rare Deficit, Grand Blanc Finds Way to Finish
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
April 8, 2021
EAST LANSING — Sixteen games into the season, on the state’s biggest stage, and Grand Blanc head coach Mike Thomas is still learning things about his basketball team.
The Bobcats had surrendered the lead to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern after building a 12-point cushion just minutes earlier. They hadn’t come back from a second-half deficit this season. The games they had trailed in, they lost. So it was all new to Thomas.
“I didn’t know that,” said Thomas, speaking to whether his players had it in them to bounce back after facing adversity. “This is the first time we’ve been down, other than in our losses. Truthfully I didn’t know.”
Well now he does. Grand Blanc battled back and found a way to get it done against the Huskies, pulling out a 68-58 victory in a Division 1 Semifinal on Thursday at the Breslin Center. The Bobcats led the entire first half and stretched the lead to 42-30 after senior RJ Taylor found junior Ty Rodgers inside for a dunk with 6:59 to play.
But what seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the Huskies proved to be a wake-up call.
Northern would score the game’s next 15 points. Senior Ethan Erickson got things going with a short jump shot in the paint. Less than a minute later, senior Gavin Fisher hit a 3-pointer, and followed it up with a layup on the break and another 3-pointer to cut the lead to two points. Grand Blanc would turn the ball over on its next two possessions, with Northern senior Trinidad Chambliss scoring on a layup and senior Cole Rynbrandt hitting a 3-pointer to give his team its first lead, 45-42.
“We had a great run in the third quarter to take the lead,” Northern head coach Joe Soules said. “We were in control of that game. And we’re sitting there going, ‘We’re going to be just fine.’ We’ve talked about it all year, ‘Be in the moment.’ The guys battled back just the way they were supposed to.”
But the Huskies couldn’t maintain that momentum. Grand Blanc stopped the bleeding with a pair of Rodgers free throws, and proceeded to close the quarter with a 9-5 run to take a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Bobcats then scored the first seven points of the fourth to pull away from the Huskies. Sophomore Timonte Boyd opened the run with a layup — off a pass from Taylor — and sophomore Amont’e Allen-Johnson extended the lead to six with his 3-pointer. Rodgers capped it off by collecting a defensive rebound and sprinting down the court and finishing with a layup to make it a 58-50 game.
“It’s just heart,” Rodgers said of his team’s comeback. “Every day in practice, we work on situations, like us only being up by two with such and such many seconds left. We have a lot of heart, and our guys trust in me and RJ as leaders and we push each other. When someone’s not making their shots, we lift each other up.”
Rodgers finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while dishing out six assists. He set the tone early, with a hard drive to the basket for the game’s first score. Grand Blanc jumped out to a commanding 10-0 lead in the first 2:15 of the game.
“We don’t have anyone who quite matches up with (Rodgers), Soules said. “Not many teams in the state do. He’s a wonderful player, a great athlete. He got to the rim and exploded a couple of times. We just couldn’t contain that. Cole (Rynbrandt) and Ethan Morello did a phenomenal job of staying in front of him. He gets to the rim, almost at will, against high school competition with his frame.”
Taylor finished with 16 points and seven assists, and Boyd added 15 points for Grand Blanc (14-2).
“Our guys fought and clawed, they overcame some adversity today,” Thomas said. “But they hung in there and stayed together. We talked about if things don’t go well, ‘You guys better get together and push each other up because you’re going to need it.’ They didn’t fold when they could have. They clawed back into the game and put things together to accomplish their goals.”
The Bobcats will take on Ann Arbor Huron (20-0) in Saturday’s Division 1 Final, set to tip off at 12:30 p.m.
Erickson led Northern with 19 points, while Fisher and Chambliss added 16 and 13, respectively. The Huskies finished the season 17-2.
“This was the greatest four-year stretch in Forest Hills Northern history,” Soules said. “We won three straight conference championships, multiple Districts and it’s only the second time we’ve ever been to the Breslin. It’s been so fun watching these young men mature, especially over the last 18 months. These seniors have been tremendous ambassadors, not only for Forest Hills Northern but for the game of basketball.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Blanc's Ty Rodgers (23) goes in for a dunk during Thursday's Division 1 Semifinal. (Middle) Forest Hills Northern's Trinidad Chambliss gets to the rim. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
After Successful 'Sequel,' Suttons Bay's Hursey Embarking on Next Chapter
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
July 30, 2024
Thomas Hursey’s story is a Hollywood writer’s dream. He really is the stuff of sequels.
He could star in a remake of “Hoosiers” – titled in the singular as just “The Hoosier” – or maybe “Against All Odds II” is more fitting.
Hursey is a 2018 graduate of Suttons Bay High School. He was in a class of just 30 students. He grew up where there is snow on the ground, many argue, for six months of the year. He never played an Amateur Junior Golf Association tournament. And, he had zero scholarship offers from Division I colleges.
To top it off, basketball was his favorite sport in high school. It still is today.
Hursey, who admits he pretty much hated golf, switched his focus from the basketball court to the links midway through high school. He gave up on playing college basketball despite scoring 1,200 points during his career and achieving all-state status.
As a high school freshman, he helped a team comprised of only senior teammates win the Lower Peninsula Division 4 golf championship. He earned all-state in golf too and did receive a scholarship offer from Division II Ferris State University. He took it and excelled there.
So maybe his movie would be titled “The Bulldog.” Again, as a freshman at FSU, he had only senior teammates – and he was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
Hursey went on to pick up individual titles and conference player of the year awards as he led the Bulldogs to GLIAC championships and trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Today, many say Hursey could make a run at the PGA Tour – and they may wonder why he doesn’t. Instead, he is about to join a Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company and put his science and business background to work.
He has a biology degree from Ferris and a master’s in business from Indiana University. He has no interest in playing an individual sport after his stellar high school team sports career at Suttons Bay. His preference is to work hard with teammates and relish a leadership role similar to the one he had playing for the Norsemen in golf, basketball and tennis and while running cross country.
“I am much more of a team-sport guy,” Hursey explained. “I can’t really get the same motivation when it’s just an individual tournament – I need to be surrounded by team.”
Unlike most Big Ten golfers, professional golf was never really on Hursey‘s mind. Veteran IU golf coach Mike Mayer believes Hursey is capable of continuing his golf career, but respects his decision to take another path.
“Thomas was a gift to us,” Mayer said. “Very truthfully, Thomas Hursey might very well be at the top of the list as a great athlete, and great golfer, but more importantly a great person.
“I have had a lot of great student-athletes and you don’t rank them, but at the same time you know which ones stand out,” Mayer continued. “And Thomas Hursey simply stands out.”
Hursey’s parents are former college athletes, retired teachers and longtime high school sports coaches. His father Todd was his high school coach and is now the golf coach at Traverse City West. His mother Nicki was the Suttons Bay softball coach and coached siblings Laura and Jane on the softball field, where they became all-staters as well. Jane, a 2015 Suttons Bay graduate, was also an all-state basketball player. Laura, a 2020 grad, also starred in volleyball.
Thomas Hursey had a reputation as a nice competitor, and his parents treasure that even more than the success he found in high school and college sports.
“I always, and so did Todd, looked out more and hounded him be humble more than anything,” Nicki said. “He had talent and God-given gifts, but what made me so proud was just the way he acted on the course and the number of parents that come up to me and say what a wonderful son you have.”
Mayer, too, proudly recalls Thomas’ politeness and humility.
“As a coach, that’s at least as equally, if not more than rewarding than winning,” he said.
Mayer admits he secretly wishes Hursey would try pursuing professional golf, but respects his decision to end his golf career while it was still a team sport.
“Thomas Hursey has the athletic ability to play professional golf,” Mayer confirmed. “I fully understand his decision – he is going to be successful in whatever he chooses to do.”
Hursey had four top-20 and two top-10 outings for IU during his last season, including an 18th place finish at the Big Ten Championship. During his career at IU, Hursey was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, a Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree and to the academic all-Big Ten team.
Hursey’s first love was basketball. He’s a fan of the Indiana Hoosiers program and became quite familiar over the years with Michigan State University coach Tom Izzo and his son, Steven.
The Izzo connection started when Michigan State was recruiting Dwaun Anderson, a Suttons Bay graduate and the Mr. Basketball Award winner in 2011.
Hursey recalls all the hardest practices in basketball as he hoped to someday play at the college level. He had a tremendous work ethic on the court, and it helped his transition to golf.
Even though golf is the most difficult sport he’s taken on, Hursey mastered it more easily because of his desire to get better and not let anything get in the way of success.
“The chip on my shoulder – the grit I had – I think that helped me get to the next level in golf,” Hursey noted. “I really never felt I was as good as I was – I still don’t think I am.
“People tell me I’m good at golf, and I just don’t believe that because I just have this hunger to get better,” Hursey continued. “I am my biggest critic.”
Hursey quickly added he benefitted from two other critics – his sisters. He’s admitted he believes they possess more athleticism than he does.
“They always pushed me to get better, and they always pushed me to work harder,” he said. “They are kind of no-nonsense people.
“Growing up I never got more encouragement from them as much as I did critiquing,” he continued. “That was huge in terms of molding me.”
Hursey’s accomplishments are not at the top of the minds of his parents and former athletic director.
“I always say I am excited about the things he accomplished, but I am proud of the way he is as a person,” Todd Hursey said. “I am proud of how he is and how he handled himself.”
Retired Suttons Bay athletics director, Doug Periard agrees. He watched Hursey’s work ethic develop early and found him regularly at open gyms. Periard also singled out Hursey’s sportsmanship.
“I cannot think of a discouraging word the young man ever said to a teammate or opponent,” Periard said. “He was able to demonstrate both sportsmanship and leadership in defeat, and also in victory.”
2024 Made In Michigan
July 24: East Kentwood Run Part of Memorable Start on Knuble's Way to NHL, Olympics - Read
July 22: Monroe High Memories Remain Rich for Michigan's 1987 Mr. Baseball - Read
July 17: Record-Setting Viney Gained Lifelong Confidence at Marine City - Read
July 11: High School 'Hoop Squad' Close to Heart as Hughes Continues Coaching Climb - Read
July 10: Nightingale Embarking on 1st Season as College Football Head Coach - Read
June 28: E-TC's Witt Bulldozing Path from Small Town to Football's Biggest Stage - Read
PHOTOS (Top) At left, Suttons Bay's Thomas Hursey prepares to shoot a free throw during his senior season, and at right Hursey remains at home on the golf course. (Middle) Hursey grabs a quick snack during a round while golfing for Indiana. (Below) Hursey, recently, with his parents Nicki and Todd. (Recent photos by Tom Spencer; Indiana and Suttons Bay photos courtesy of the Hursey family.)