Highlight Reel: Boys Basketball Finals
March 26, 2016
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
The winter sports season concluded Saturday at the Breslin Center with four title games in the 2016 MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament, presented by Sparrow Health System.
Below are links to video highlights from Saturday’s games. Click on the final score to watch s game in its entirety and purchase DVDs.
Class A
Detroit U-D Jesuit 69, North Farmington 49
Thomas Takes It - Billy Thomas led North Farmington in the Class A Final against Detroit U-D Jesuit with 23 points – two of them coming on this third quarter steal.
The Cassius Collection - Cassius Winston had 31 points and nine rebounds for Detroit U-D Jesuit in the Class A Final against North Farmington. Here's a montage of plays from the FOX Sports Detroit broadcast.
Class B
Detroit Henry Ford 61, Stevensville Lakeshore 47
Steal & Sprint To The Hoop - Detroit Henry Ford had a big run to finish the first half against Stevensville Lakeshore in the Class B Final. Jeremy Crawley makes the steal here and streaks down the court for two of his 18 points.
Cutting Into The Lead - Here's a sequence from the fourth quarter of the Class B Final where Stevensville Lakeshore makes a run.
Class C
Flint Beecher 63, Grandville Calvin Christian 61
Block You Very Much - Midway through the fourth quarter of the Class C Final, Levane Blake of Flint Beecher comes up with a monster block against Grandville Calvin Christian.
Squires Take The Lead - Grandville Calvin Christian took its last lead at 61-60 with 1:14 remaining when Tony DeWitte got an old-fashioned three-point play.
Class D
Powers North Central 59, Waterford Our Lady 48
Jets Defense - Powers North Central makes its living off defense - here's a steal by Dawson Bilski converted into a layup by Bobby Kleiman.
Lakes Rising - Waterford Our Lady mounted a second half rally against Powers North Central. Here's a nice feed from Andrew Kline to Devin Senerius during that run.
The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTO: Flint Beecher's Jordan Roland (3) drives past a pair of Calvin Christian defenders during the Class C Final.
Second-Half Surge Sends Tri-unity Christian to 3rd-Straight Final
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 23, 2023
EAST LANSING — The Defenders will once again have a chance to do just that.
In what has become a usual rite of March during longtime head coach Mark Keeler’s 36-year tenure, the Wyoming Tri-unity Christian Defenders are once again headed for the Division 4 boys basketball championship game following a 54-37 win over Frankfort in a Semifinal on Thursday.
Making its third-straight appearance in a Final and 11th in school history, Tri-unity Christian will attempt to repeat as champion when it faces Munising in the 10 a.m. title game Saturday.
Junior Owen Rosendall scored 13 points and senior Roy Fogg added 11 on Thursday to lead Tri-unity Christian (22-6), which will go for its sixth Finals win.
“At the beginning of the year, we had some ups and downs in the season,” Rosendall said. “But we stuck to it and kept working.”
Tri-unity Christian got it done mainly by dominating the board, collecting a 41-22 rebounding advantage.
“I think our quickness on the boards outdid their size,” Keeler said. “I was really happy with how explosive we were on the boards.”
The discrepancy even surprised Frankfort head coach Dan Loney, who said rebounding has been a strength of his team all year.
“Going into the game, I would not have guessed they would have outrebounded us like that,” Loney said. “It’s one thing we’ve done well all year. I think honestly a lot of that came from their guard play. When their guards got to the rim (and) our bigs stepped over to help, their bigs were there to get their missed layups.”
Sophomore Carter Kerby led all scorers with 21 points to pace Frankfort (18-9).
“It was a fun season for sure. We look forward to the future,” Loney said.
Tri-unity Christian separated itself in the third quarter after Frankfort cut the lead to 29-26 with 4:40 to go in the period.
From there, Tri-unity Christian ended the third on an 11-1 run to take a 40-27 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We have a little more depth, and it helped,” Keeler said. “We were really trying to push the ball, and we were really trying to pressure them on defense. I think we wore them down a little bit.”
The Defenders continued to grow the lead in the fourth, taking a 48-32 advantage with 4:17 remaining after a 3-pointer by Rosendall and a basket by Akais Giplaye.
Tri-Unity Christian forced Frankfort into 12 turnovers and 38.9-percent shooting from the field while committing only six turnovers itself.
“We played great defense,” Keeler said. “That is what I was really happy about. We made them work for everything they had.”
Tri-unity Christian got off to a good start, taking a 16-8 lead after the first quarter before Frankfort settled in during the second.
Frankfort outscored Tri-unity Christian 13-9 in the second quarter to cut its deficit to 25-21 by halftime.
PHOTOS (Top) Tri-unity’s Jordan VanKlompenberg (3) puts up a shot over the outstretched arm of Frankfort’s Xander Sauer on Thursday. (Middle) Emmerson Farmer (0) gets a hand up high as Owen Rosendall puts up a jumper.