Ford Arrives in 1st MHSAA Title Game
March 27, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Kenneth Flowers has been reminded more than a few times this week what he stepped into when he took over the Detroit Henry Ford boys basketball program eight seasons ago.
Congratulatory e-mails. Phone calls. Contacts from Henry Ford alumni dating back to the class of 1971.
“The community is huge over there,” Flowers said. “It’s amazing how basketball brings a community together like this.”
Imagine if he leads the Trojans to their first MHSAA championship Saturday.
They earned that opportunity, winning the first Semifinal in program history Friday, 64-38 over Cadillac at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
Prior to this season, Henry Ford had played in a Quarterfinal only once before, in 1984. But it will take on Wyoming Godwin Heights at 6:30 Saturday night to decide this season’s Class B champion.
“Our school, it’s the first time in history coming into the Breslin. And making this deep run, I just want to keep it going,” Ford senior guard Joshua Davis said. “Especially this being my last year, I’m very excited, very anxious, ready to make history.”
Flowers played his high school basketball at Detroit Redford and later led the junior varsity under coach Derrick McDowell – who has Detroit Western International playing for its first MHSAA championship as well, in the Class A Final.
Flowers took over for McDowell at Redford for the 2005-06 season and stayed until the school closed during the summer of 2007. Flowers started at Ford that fall.
The Trojans have posted winning records six of eight seasons under him – with the two sub-.500 records coming the last two seasons. But they rebounded this winter and finished second in the Detroit Public School League West Division 1 behind only Western.
Ford seemed to play with the jitters many first-time visitors to Breslin Center experience. It fell behind by five halfway through the first quarter to Cadillac, which played in a Semifinal for the third straight season.
But the Trojans (21-5) got the score back to even at 11-11 by the end of the quarter – and put the game nearly out of reach over the next eight minutes with a 23-6 run.
Junior point guard James Towns got comfortable quickly on the collegiate floor, making 9 of 12 shots and all six of his free-throw attempts for 24 points to go with four assists and three steals. Davis added 17 points and senior guard Antaun Carter added 10 and four steals.
Senior guard Andrew Emington led Cadillac with 14 points, and senior forward Ethan Myers had 13. To its credit, their team came back from a 5-6 start this winter and despite graduating its leading scorer from a year ago. The Vikings finished 18-9 and went a combined 58-21 over the three-season run.
“I told our guys in the locker room that were getting emotional, you can cry for the finality of the season, but don’t cry for the outcome of the game,” Cadillac coach Ryan Benzenberg said. “Because all we ever wanted, when this thing ended, was to lose to a team better than us. And I have no shame saying that Henry Ford is a better basketball team than we were tonight.”
Click for the full box score and video from the postgame press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Henry Ford players including freshman Da’Mon Gilmore (15) celebrate their first Semifinal win as they leave the floor Friday night. (Middle) Ford’s Joshua Davis finishes a dunk.
North Central Powers to D Title Game
March 26, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Powers North Central can play too fast. That’s what happened the last time the Jets came to Breslin Center, at the end of 2012-13.
But few teams have been able to slow them down when their clicking like they did during Thursday’s final Class D Semifinal.
North Central’s high-octane offense burned from the start en route to earning the team’s first MHSAA championship game berth since 1984 with a 71-46 win over Fulton.
The top-ranked Jets, averaging nearly 72 points per game entering the weekend, nearly hit that mark after opening on a 29-4 run that stretched more than two minutes into the second quarter. They scored only 36 points total in their last trip to Breslin, a Semifinal loss to Wyoming Tri-unity Christian two seasons ago.
“Me personally, I just learned last time we played here that we played too fast, and we were kinda nervous,” said senior Rob Granquist, also a starter as a sophomore and the team’s leading scorer in that loss. “We didn’t get our shots we wanted. But tonight we just played our game that we’ve played all year, and it worked out great for us.”
North Central (26-0) will take on Morenci in the 10 a.m. Class D Final on Saturday, seeking the second MHSAA title in program history.
Coach Adam Mercier listed off Thursday a handful of lessons he learned during that 2013 trip downstate. He wanted to get more players on the floor this time – and 11 saw minutes. And he wanted his team to come out aggressively – and they fired 17 shots in the first quarter, making nine.
“Two years ago we came down here and we were a little awestruck, and we played pretty tentatively,” Mercier said. “What we talked about Thursday is being the aggressor, not coming out soft. We wanted to take some shots and see what happens.
“We felt whoever could throw the first punch early would have a slight advantage. … We were able to get that first punch, and it was a big punch.”
Shooting has been the strength of a Fulton team with more than 200 3-pointers this winter. But North Central – with three starters 6-foot-4 or taller – had a few inches on most of Fulton’s top players and pushed the Pirates to take some deeper shots than they likely wanted.
Fulton (21-5) made only 29 percent of their shots from the floor and just five of 24 tries from 3-point range. North Central’s size also played to a 45-35 rebounding advantage and a 40-18 edge in points scored in the paint.
“We started settling for shots early, and it just kinda snowballed as they hit some shots. And then it felt like we had to hit some 3s,” Fulton coach Todd Walden said. “That’s tough against a team that’s that good when they’re going to get a good look every possession, and when they happen to miss they’re going to battle on the boards.”
Junior guard Colton Antes was a bright spot for Fultonfrom the perimeter, making 5 of 11 shots and three 3-pointers for 15 points.
Granquist had 14 points and seven rebounds and junior center Morgan Cox came off the bench for 12 and six, respectively, for the Jets. But the most impressive performance of the day’s four Semifinals arguably came from sophomore guard Jason Whitens, who had 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in only 23 minutes.
Mercier mentioned how Whitens' dad is a fan of Magic Johnson, and how the 6-4 forward has patterned his game on a player he’s seen only on replay. Jason Whitens averaged 16.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game entering this week.
“That’s what we expect out of him. It’s hard to say as a sophomore. (But) more importantly, that’s what he expects out of himself,” Mercier said. “He’s a very confident player, but at the same time he’s very humble. He could put up 20 shots a game and I’m sure score mid-20s if he wanted to, but he’s the type of player that makes other players around him better by his ability to pass it, defend and rebound.
“We expect the same thing out of him Saturday. No pressure.”
Click for the full box score and video from the postgame press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Powers North Central’s Rob Granquist breaks past a defender during Thursday’s Class D Semifinal. (Middle) Fulton’s Kaleb Brunner (33) works to drive past North Central’s Marcus Krachinski.