Munising Makes History with Semifinal Win, Earns Chance to Write More
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 23, 2023
EAST LANSING — Before Thursday’s Division 4 Semifinal, the Munising boys basketball team already had matched school history.
By the time the game was over, these Mustangs had made their own.
For the first time, Munising will play for a state championship in basketball following a 55-44 win over Marine City Cardinal Mooney.
Munising was making its first trip to the Semifinals since 1954, when the team was led by Chuck Nebel, the grandfather of this season’s Mustangs leading scorer – senior guard Kane Nebel.
Needless to say, it’s been a run that has the Munising community buzzing.
“I think somebody told the last person that left to turn off the lights,” Munising head coach Terry Kienitz joked about the amount of fans that made the trip to Breslin Center from the town of about 2,000 residents.
Nebel was the biggest reason why his squad will go a step farther than his grandfather’s.
He finished with a game-high 21 points, and more importantly, took charge at a time when Munising was staggering.
The Mustangs (26-1) held a 27-13 lead at halftime, but saw Cardinal Mooney come out inspired in the second half, cutting the lead to 33-31 with 1:29 left in the third.
That’s when Nebel took over.
Over the final 1:29 of the third and the first 4:30 of the fourth quarter, Nebel scored 12 consecutive points for his team, helping the Mustangs push their lead back to 45-35 with 3:30 remaining in the game.
Nebel had two runners in the lane, back-to-back 3-pointers and made a pair of three throws to comprise his run.
“That’s the goal, is to be a three-level scorer if you can,” Nebel said. “Getting to the bucket and getting down range is what makes people toughest to guard.”
Cardinal Mooney head coach Mike McAndrews acknowledged that seemed to be a turning point.
“We certainly thought the momentum in the basketball game had shifted to our favor,” McAndrews said. “We made a run, cut it to two, made some plays and we were digging in defensively. Credit to their kids. They made some really tough baskets in order to sustain our run. We could never get back to that two, three, four-point mark again.”
From there, Munising took care of the ball well enough and made free throws to prevent any sort of a rally down the stretch from Cardinal Mooney.
“It is so great to give back to the community and bring that home,” Kienitz said of the Semifinal win. “Now, we are in uncharted territory.”
Sophomore Carson Kienitz scored 12 points, and sophomore Trevor Nolan added 11 for Munising.
Senior Trent Rice scored 19 points to lead Cardinal Mooney (16-12), which made quite a run in the tournament after going 11-11 during the regular season.
“I’m certainly proud of my group of guys,” McAndrews said. “Apparently midnight struck on Cinderella.”
Munising held a 15-11 lead after the first quarter and controlled the second quarter, opening on a 10-0 run to take a 25-11 lead with 2:12 until halftime.
PHOTOS (Top) Munising’s Trevor Nolan (5) protects the ball while Cardinal Mooney’s Dominic Cattivera defends. (Middle) The Mustangs’ Cully Trzeciak (14) works to get up a shot over Ryan Trombley.
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.