Ford's Drive Ends With School's 1st Title
March 26, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – The final celebration of the 2015-16 Michigan high school basketball season started during the final seconds when a Detroit Henry Ford assistant coach slapped hands of everyone sitting on the bench.
After the buzzer, the crowd moved to the south end of the Breslin Center floor, before players and coaches arm in arm made their way upcourt to the opposite baseline and into position to receive the first MHSAA championship trophy in school history.
Saturday night’s Class B Final was guaranteed to produce a first-time winner in boys basketball. It ended up being the team that fell just one victory short the season before – from a school that had never won a title in any sport in Finals competition.
Henry Ford, runner-up in 2015, is champion in 2016 thanks to a 61-47 win over Stevensville Lakeshore, which like the Trojans entered the postseason unranked but more than topped that expectation.
“Ever since the loss, we’ve been preparing in the gym to get back here, and not just to get here but to win it,” Henry Ford senior guard James Towns said. “It took a lot of work to get back here. It’s almost like losing everything when you get back here and lose.
“This year they doubted us; nobody had us winning. We were the bottom of Class B, and we came up here and proved them wrong.”
Henry Ford became the 13th school from the prestigious Detroit Public School League to win an MHSAA boys basketball title, giving the league two in two seasons after Detroit Western International also won its first boys hoops championship in 2015, in Class A.
The Trojans (20-6) fell in last season’s Class B Final 85-68 to Wyoming Godwin Heights, another first-time champion at the time.
This trip, Henry Ford was faced with multiple styles, first charged with shutting down guard-driven Williamston in the Semifinal (which it did 70-48) and then matched against a Lakeshore team boasting 6-foot-11 senior Braden Burke and 6-7 junior Max Gaishin. The tallest players in Ford’s regular rotation were 6-4.
Burke and Gaishin both had four points as Lakeshore stayed within a point during the first quarter, trailing 11-10 at the break. But they were unable to have an effect during a second quarter that saw the Lancers make only 1 of 7 shots from the floor and turn the ball over five times as Ford went on a 16-3 run to open up a 14-point advantage by halftime.
Burke and Gaishin would still lead a Lakeshore run. Burke had seven points and Gaishin four during the third quarter as their team cut into Ford’s lead substantially. The Trojans led 34-28 with a quarter to play. Another Burke bucket made the margin six again at 36-30 with 7:17 left on the clock.
“It’s a shame we got ourselves down in the first half. I’m not sure we reacted as well as we needed to the physicality of the ballgame in the first half,” Lakeshore coach Sean Schroeder said. “The second half, I think we did. We were one or two plays from really getting ourselves back in it.
“We had the momentum. If we get a stop, cut it to four, maybe it gets more interesting.”
Instead, Ford hustled to create its breakaway moment after Lakeshore did just about everything possible to prevent it.
After Burke's basket, a 3-pointer by sophomore Deonta Ulmer pushed the Trojans’ lead back to nine. Towns stole the ball on Lakeshore’s ensuing possession and pushed it into the post, where Burke and Gaishin blocked consecutive shots.
But 6-3 junior Malik Harris came up with the ball after the second block and moved it to Towns, who found senior Jeremy Crawley in the corner for a back-breaking 3-pointer that pushed Ford’s advantage to 42-30.
“We gave up so much size all season. You can’t question the size of our hearts though,” Ford coach Kenneth Flowers said. “These guys play with so much passion, so much desire, and understand that the game is really won in the trenches. These guys always battle, always played against bigger guys, but they knew how to be tough down there.”
Burke, who scored a game-high 19 points, continued to battle and got the deficit back to seven with 1:48 to play. But nine of the game’s final 11 shots were made Trojans free throws.
Crawley scored 18 points, and Towns closed his high school career with 15 points and three assists. Senior forward Alston Hunter, who with Towns started on last year’s team, had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Ford outrebounded Lakeshore 30-19 and had 17 second-chance points.
Senior guard Logan Steffes added 10 points for Lakeshore, and Gaishin finished with nine points, five rebounds and two blocks.
The Lancers were playing in their second MHSAA Final and also finished Class B runner-up in 2012. They will graduate seven including four starters.
“When this class was growing up, we knew we had Braden and we knew we had Logan coming through,” Schroeder said. “But to see the development of some of these other kids, we had a tremendous senior class, a tremendous amount of leadership.
“A kid like Logan Steffes, who has put so much time and energy into this program. You saw at the end, he was trying to will us to win the game. He steals it, misses the shot, gets the ball back, misses. He wanted badly to win that game.”
The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Henry Ford players celebrate their first MHSAA championship in any sport Saturday. (Middle) The Trojans' James Towns soars as he prepares to launch.
With Lee in Lead, Beecher Seizes Day Again with 2nd Title in 3 Seasons
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 25, 2023
EAST LANSING – Robert Lee Jr. didn’t mind shouldering the scoring load in Saturday’s Division 3 Final.
Especially with a championship at stake.
The Flint Beecher senior guard scored a game-high 29 points to lead Flint Beecher past Traverse City St. Francis 64-50 at Breslin Center.
“Before the game I got up some shots at a high school, and usually when I do that I feel good,” Lee Jr. said. “I felt like I had to step up for my team. I did my part, and my teammates did their part. We won it together.”
It was Beecher’s second Finals title in three years and sixth since 2012. The Bucs lost in the Semifinals last year and were eager to return and reclaim the championship.
“Last year I brought my team up here and it was tears of hurt and disappointment, and that's something we talked about not just tonight, but all season long,” Beecher coach Marquise Gray said. “I constantly reminded the guys of that feeling and I think it drove us, and we are fortunate and blessed to come away with a title tonight.”
The 6-foot-2 Lee Jr. scored 18 of his 29 in the second half. He was 12 of 19 from the field and also grabbed 11 rebounds.
“I couldn’t score that many points without my teammates,” said Lee Jr., who also was part of a Division 3 title team as a sophomore. “It feels good … and spring break is going to feel a lot better, and food is going to taste better.”
Beecher (24-4) blitzed St. Francis early and led 8-0 after the first three minutes. The opening run included a pair of layups and an emphatic dunk by Lee Jr.
However, the Gladiators fought back and ended the quarter on a 7-0 run. Senior Wyatt Nausadis drilled a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give St. Francis a 17-15 lead.
The Gladiators carried the momentum into the second quarter and built a 28-21 lead. But defense helped bring Beecher closer as it scored the last four points of the half and trailed 30-27.
Lee Jr. helped Beecher reclaim the lead (35-32) with back-to-back buckets. He then had a three-point play and mid-range jumper to make it 42-34 – and a steal and layup to push the lead to 10. A 3-pointer from Wasir James in the final minute of the quarter gave Beecher its biggest lead (47-35) of the game.
Lee Jr. then added 13 points in the third quarter as Beecher outscored the Gladiators 20-7.
“Both of my calves started cramping up (at the end of the third quarter),” Lee Jr. said. “I tried to do whatever I could to prevent it, but I had to fight through it. When we got the win, I knew it was going to feel good.”
In the fourth quarter, St. Francis got to within five (47-42), but a Lee Jr. 3-pointer ignited a 7-0 surge that put the game out of reach.
Lee Jr. was the only Beecher player in double figures. Senior Jaylen Townsend had nine points and five rebounds, while senior Kevin Tiggs Jr. had eight points.
The Bucs shot 50 percent (26-52) from the field and recorded nine steals.
“We talked all year about seizing the moment, and tonight I think we did a great job of that,” Gray said. “Our road wasn't easy, but we continued to believe.”
St. Francis (24-4) was seeking its first Finals championship. Its best finish was Class C runner-up in 2012.
“That’s a good team, and we battled well,” Gladiators coach Sean Finnegan said. “We had a good first half and put ourselves in position, but they made a couple runs in the second half and we struggled to finish a little bit at times.
“But I can’t say how proud I am of the boys and the fact that we’re here and had the opportunity we had.”
Nausadis finished with a team-high 20 points, while senior center John Hagelstein added 12 points and seven rebounds. Senior Drew Breimayer had nine points.
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Beecher celebrates its Division 3 championship Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Bucs’ Keyonta Menifield (2) finds his way to the basket with Drew Breimayer (3) and John Hagelstein (23) defending. (Below) Kevin Tiggs Jr. elevates for a shot as Hagelstein and Joey Donahue (13) look to block it.