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.
Beecher Earns Opportunity to 'Complete the Task' with Semifinal Win
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 23, 2023
EAST LANSING — Flint Beecher and Ecorse entered their Division 3 Semifinal on Thursday with at least one common thread of motivation.
Both lost in last year’s Semifinals, so both the Buccaneers and Raiders were looking to leave Breslin Center with some vindication.
Ultimately, Beecher was the team that did so, earning a 64-54 win over Ecorse and advancing to its seventh championship game since 2012.
Senior guard Robert Lee and senior forward Kevin Tiggs both scored 17 points to lead the way for Beecher (23-4).
“We’re not satisfied with this,” Beecher head coach Marquise Gray said. “This is just one part of completing the task.”
The difference in the game turned out to be that Beecher simply had more depth, which eventually wore down Ecorse.
Beecher featured an eight-player rotation, while Ecorse, with the exception of one substitution late in the third quarter, played its starters throughout until the game got away late.
“We figured we would wear them down,” Gray said. “Looking at their bench, we saw that they didn’t have a deep bench. But the focus, energy and effort was on us, and us executing defensively and offensively.”
A big reason why Ecorse was short-handed was because one of its best players, senior Kenneth Morrast, was out after suffering a broken wrist in a Regional Final.
Ecorse head coach Gerrod Abram said he believes his team would have won this weekend’s championship if his squad was at full strength, but also heaped praise on Beecher and its playmakers.
Abram said before Morrast’s injury, his squad didn’t play any zone all year. But after he was injured, Abram said his team had to adjust on the fly and start playing a zone defense that he didn’t want to employ, but had to in order to keep players out of foul trouble.
Senior Malik Olafioye scored 22 points, and sophomore point guard Darrien Reddick scored 14 to lead Ecorse (20-5).
“Extremely proud of the effort we put out,” Abram said. “We knew it was going to be a big task with the way they play. We gave everything that we had. We just ran out of gas at the end.”
Beecher took a 40-34 lead into the fourth quarter, but Ecorse scored the first five points of the fourth to cut Beecher’s lead to one with 6:10 remaining in the game.
The Buccaneers answered, going on a 9-0 run to grab a 49-39 lead with 4:30 left.
Ecorse closed to within seven at 51-44 with 3:37 remaining following a 3-pointer by Reddick, but Beecher responded with four straight points to take a 55-44 lead with 2:42 remaining.
Beecher ultimately punctuated the win on a flying dunk by Lee with 1:09 remaining. Lee was also fouled on the dunk, and he made the free throw for a three-point play to give Beecher a 60-48 lead.
“What I really focused on was just trying to get my teammates involved,” Lee said. “Not try to force shots. Just let the game come to me.”
Now, Beecher will turn its focus to reclaiming its status as the best in the state.
“That’s something we have talked about, remembering the feeling that we had last year when we didn’t complete the job,” Gray said. “Guys have been taking it to heart. It’s not a rite. You have to earn your way here. It’s not a given.”
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Beecher’s Robert Lee Jr. (22) sends a pass into the post during Thursday’s Semifinal win over Ecorse. (Middle) The Bucs’ Kevin Tiggs Jr. (1) pulls in a rebound while Ecorse’s Deontae Jude (11) also grabs for the ball.