Highlight Reel: Class B Semifinals

March 27, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director 

Wyoming Godwin Heights and Detroit Henry Ford advanced to the MHSAA Class B Boys Basketball Final with Semifinal wins Friday at the Breslin Center. 

Click below for highlights from all four teams that took the court.

Wyoming Godwin Heights 70, Milan 64 

Perkins Blocks & Dunks - Nick Perkins starts this sequence for Milan with a block and then runs the court to take a pass for a dunk to put the Big Reds back in the lead. Wyoming Godwin Heights, however, prevailed 70-64.

Williams’ Lucky 13's - Michael Williams had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Wyoming Godwin Heights against Milan. Here he scores on a put-back late in the first half. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Detroit Henry Ford 64, Cadillac 38 

Going To Towns - James Towns paced Detroit Henry Ford with 24 points against Cadillac in a Class B Semifinal. Here he converts the old-fashioned three-point play.

Myers All The Way - Ethan Myers makes a nice play for Cadillac in the fourth quarter against Detroit Henry Ford, taking a rebound all the way for a basket. He had 13 points for the Vikings.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here

PHOTO: Godwin Heights’ Karon Patrick tries to get a shot around the outstretched hand of Milan’s Latin Davis.

River Rouge Star Wilburn Remembered

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

October 19, 2016

One of the captains from the legendary boys basketball teams of the early 1960s at River Rouge passed away earlier this month.

Ken Wilburn, 72, a forward on the 1961 and 1962 teams that were part of a since-unequaled streak in Michigan high school basketball – five consecutive MHSAA championships – accomplished what was thought to be the first triple-double in Finals history in the 1962 Class B championship game against East Grand Rapids.

Wilburn scored 26 points – 13 in the third period – to go with 15 rebounds and 11 steals in a 69-39 win, a game Coach Lofton Greene said “was his best ever.”

Wilburn would go on to lead Central State University (Ohio) to a 30-0 record and the NAIA national championship in 1965, when he was named the title game’s Most Valuable Player. He earned All-America honors and finished his career as the school’s scoring leader.

During a 13-year journeyman professional career, Wilburn played in the NBA, the ABA and in the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League/Eastern Basketball Association.  He played on three championship teams in the EPBL/EBA and was a league MVP on two occasions.

PHOTOS: (Top) Ken Wilburn (25) poses with his teammates after the 1962 Class B championship game victory. (Middle) Wilburn works to gather a loose ball from an East Grand Rapids player.