Lincoln Beats Buzzer for 1st Basketball Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2019
EAST LANSING – All eyes were on Ypsilanti Lincoln freshman Emoni Bates on Saturday as the seconds ticked away in the Division 1 Boys Basketball Final.
None were on Lincoln senior Jalen Fisher. But that all changed when the buzzer sounded.
Fisher’s rebound and jumper as time expired gave the Railsplitters their first MHSAA boys hoops title with a 64-62 victory over U-D Jesuit at the Breslin Center.
"At the beginning of this game, I just told (Fisher) to be patient, your time is coming man, be patient,” Lincoln coach Jesse Davis said. “During the timeouts I said, ‘Jalen be patient, your time is coming.’ I didn’t know it was going to come like that, but I’m glad it happened to him, because I believed in him the whole time.”
The last-second shot was the first to win a championship game featuring the state’s largest schools – formerly Class A, now Division 1 – since Lansing Sexton defeated Hamtramck in overtime in Class A in 1959.
Fisher’s shot ended a dramatic final quarter, which saw Lincoln (23-4) rally from a nine-point deficit. The Railsplitters took possession of the ball in a tie game with 1 minute, 20 seconds remaining, and drained the clock to set up a final shot.
That shot was supposed to be for Bates – considered the top freshman in the country – who gathered the ball in the backcourt but was immediately doubled as he came across half court.
“We trapped him, trying to get the ball out of his hands,” U-D Jesuit coach Pat Donnelly said. “I thought they got a decent, a clean look up top, but it was forced way out. That was what we talked about going in, that we were going to double (Bates) if he caught the ball.”
Bates passed out of the double team to senior teammate Amari Frye, who launched a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. He thought it was good – he remarked he thinks every shot he takes is good – and so did Fisher, but it hit the side of the iron and caromed to a wide open Fisher who capitalized with the game-winner.
“I thought it was good, but it hit the top of the rim and came in my hands, so I just shot it and it was good,” Fisher said. “I just shot it, and when it went in, I just saw black. Then I saw people on top of me. It was a good feeling though.”
Fisher, who played all 32 minutes and finished with 16 points, fell immediately to his back after hitting the shot and was mobbed by his teammates near the Lincoln bench.
“I talk to my kids about living in the moment, and this was a moment that nobody saw coming but us,” Davis said. “I just think it’s great to have some kids you can take and you start with them when they’re freshman – Amari, Tahj (Chatman), Jalen came when he was a junior – but I’ve been instilling a championship mentality in Tahj and Amari for four years. Then we add somebody like Jalen with exceptional speed, toughness and a will to win, then you add somebody like Emoni Bates who can carry us through tough games and make big shots, and do everything the other guys couldn’t do. It just came out so beautiful, man.”
The Cubs (25-3) led for most of the game and nearly all of the second half after taking an 11-point lead into halftime. Daniel Friday scored 19 points, while Julian Dozier added 18 and six assists to put their team in control and up 60-51 with five minutes to play.
But Lincoln fought back and went on an 11-0 run, taking a 62-60 lead on a Frye layup with 1:38 remaining. Dozier responded immediately with a layup of his own to tie the game, but the Cubs wouldn’t see the ball again in the final 1:20.
“We’re the same kind of team as them; we score points in bunches,” Davis said. “We can get on a run and score. We’re capable of making runs just like them, so I keep telling my team, ‘Hey, keep doing what we do, keep applying pressure on both ends, and some shots will go down for us.’”
Bates scored in spurts himself, finishing with a game-high 23 points despite not having his best shooting night (7-of-22 from the floor and 1-of-7 from 3-point range). He was 8-of-8 from the free-throw line, however.
The Cubs played Friday on Bates for much of the game. Friday was giving up five inches to the 6-foot-9 Bates, but had a 45-pound weight advantage. Jordan Montgomery, who was giving up more than a foot in height, also countered with strength.
“(The U-D Jesuit defense) was good, but I just wasn’t making shots today,” Bates said. “I was getting to my spots, but my shot just wasn’t falling.”
Bates also had six rebounds and three blocks for the Railsplitters, while Frye finished with 15 points.
Montgomery added nine points, all on 3-pointers, for the Cubs, while University of Massachusetts-bound senior Jalen Thomas had six points and seven rebounds.
“I want to congratulate Ypsilanti Lincoln on a tremendously hard-fought victory – they're a good team,” Donnelly said. “Coming into this game we heard all this stuff about, ‘You have to stop Emoni, stop Emoni,’ but we were a lot more concerned with more than Emoni. They have some good players out there.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Ypsilanti Lincoln celebrates its first MHSAA boys basketball championship Saturday at the Breslin Center. (Middle) Jalen Fisher launches the game-winning shot as the final seconds tick off the clock in the Division 1 Final.
Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 9
February 6, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A record-setting boys basketball season enjoyed another highlight last week when Beaverton’s Roy Johnston set the MHSAA record for career coaching victories with his 729th, a 61-24 win over Farwell.
With some pretty significant highlights now in the history books, the state’s hoops scene will turn it’s attention to the final three weeks of the regular season – and lining things up for what should be another exciting March. This week’s top matchups are a highlight of our latest Breslin Bound report – powered by MI Student Aid.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Detroit Martin Luther King 66, Detroit East English 60 – In avenging an earlier 14-point loss to East English, King solidified itself as the team to beat in the Detroit Public School League tournament.
2. Cornerstone Health & Technology 55, River Rouge 50 – The Class C Wolves are an intriguing contender in that class and handed the Class B Panthers their only loss.
3. Walled Lake Northern 42, Walled Lake Western 23 – After falling by seven to Western in overtime in their first meeting, Northern moved into a first-place tie with its rival in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association North after another neighbor, Walled Lake Central, followed by handing Western a second loss in a row.
4. Portage Central 70, Benton Harbor 64 (OT) – The Mustangs bounced back from a painful 24-point loss to Kalamazoo Central to hand Benton Harbor also its first loss of this season.
5. Grand Rapids Covenant Christian 80, Lansing Christian 67 – The Chargers got to 10 wins by handing only the third loss this season to the Pilgrims, who were ranked No. 1 in Class D earlier this winter.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (11-3) – After a brief slowdown midseason, the Cougars are moving again with five straight wins to solidify their spot atop the Oakland Activities Association Blue at the midpoint in the league schedule. Another title would be Stoney Creek’s second straight.
Westland John Glenn (12-1) – Coach Rod Watts, who previously turned around Lansing Eastern’s program, has John Glenn back in the mix after a couple of middling seasons. The Rockets have equaled last winter’s 12 wins and avenged the lone loss, to Canton, with a 57-51 win last week to pull into a tie for first place in the KLAA South.
CLASS B
Detroit Collegiate Prep (12-2) – The Colts will enter this week’s Detroit PSL tournament as the undefeated champion of the league’s West Division 2 after also winning the division and a District title a year ago. They won all 10 league games this winter by double digits.
Sanford Meridian Early College (12-1) – The Mustangs, who finished second to Beaverton in the Jack Pine Conference a year ago, put an end to the Beavers’ celebration last week with a triple-overtime win in the next game after Johnston set the coaching record. Both have one loss in the league after splitting this season.
CLASS C
New Buffalo (9-4) – After finishing two wins behind champion Cassopolis last season, New Buffalo is tied for first after handing the Rangers their only Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Blue loss on Jan. 27. They meet again Feb. 18 in a make-up of what was supposed to be the first matchup this season.
Schoolcraft (12-1) – An 11-point loss to undefeated Kalamazoo Hackett on Jan. 10 is all that has kept Schoolcraft from being the team with the perfect record and first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley. They meet again Feb. 21; Schoolcraft has won all of its last five games by at least 40 points and should provide quite a challenge.
CLASS D
Gaylord St. Mary (10-4) – The Snowbirds will have a tough time catching Bellaire in the Ski Valley Conference – they have three league losses and Bellaire has none. But this season is a giant success so far after St. Mary went 8-13 a year ago, and it does get a shot at Bellaire again Feb. 15 after losing their first meeting by 11.
Holland Calvary (9-3) – The Crusaders have won three straight and six of their last seven, including 61-51 last week over Holland Black River to move into first place alone in the Alliance League. Calvary is going for its sixth straight league title – the last handful came with the conference split into divisions, but all eight schools are in one again this winter – and needs only two more wins to equal last season’s overall total.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Friday – Frankenmuth (11-1) at Bridgeport (13-0) – The Eagles’ only loss was 69-59 to the Bearcats on Dec. 13, and this rematch should end up sealing if the teams share the Tri-Valley Conference East title or Bridgeport wins outright.
Friday – Detroit Catholic Central (9-4) at Detroit U-D Jesuit (10-3) – The Shamrocks stunned Jesuit 52-51 only two weeks ago and have an outside chance of sharing the Detroit Catholic League Central title with another win.
Friday – Norway (13-0) at Iron Mountain (12-2) – A loss to Ishpeming on Friday hurt Iron Mountain’s title chances, but the Mountaineers could still shake up the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference a bit by handing leader Norway a first loss.
Friday – Westland John Glenn (12-1) at Wayne Memorial (11-2) – John Glenn won the first meeting Jan. 20, 69-65, and both are 7-1 in KLAA South play with two games left.
Saturday – Muskegon (13-0) at Ypsilanti Community (10-3) – These are stacking up as two of the contenders in Class A, and this could be one of the last telling nonleague games of this regular season.
PHOTO: Bridgeport takes on Frankenmuth on Friday in one of the most notable games in the Saginaw area and statewide in Class B. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)