Muskegon Makes Return to Semis Count
March 21, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Muskegon High School has waited a long time for this.
And after waiting one more year than they'd hoped, the Big Reds finally have earned the opportunity to play for their first MHSAA boys basketball title since 1937.
Senior Deshaun Thrower said he and his teammates thought last year might’ve been theirs – but fell by three points to Grand Rapids Christian in a Quarterfinal.
Playing Friday in its first Semifinal since 1947, Muskegon earned that title chance with a 63-47 win over Mount Pleasant at the Breslin Center.
“Last year we were 32 minutes away from here, and we felt we could’ve won it. We beat ourselves,” Thrower said. “That feeling never left us. It’s something we’ve prepared for and something we go off of every game and every practice.”
The top-ranked and undefeated Big Reds (27-0) will finish this season facing either Detroit U-D Jesuit or Bloomfield Hills at noon Saturday.
And despite discussions about Mount Pleasant possibly pulling off the biggest comeback in MHSAA Semifinals history – the record is 18 points – the result never felt completely up for grabs after the end of the first quarter.
Muskgon led by as many as 23 points, nearly halfway through the third quarter before the Oilers were able to wither the advantage to nine twice during the fourth quarter. But they could get no closer.
“When you dig yourself a hole the way we dug it, you’ve got to press so hard to try to make a comeback because you’ve got to start giving up things on the defensive end," Mount Pleasant coach Dan Schell said. "And when you don’t capitalize when you do have opportunities, it’s huge because possessions are so limited and important at that point in time.
“You can go down the stretch when we had a chance, but the first 8 to 14 minutes is what cost us the game.”
All five Muskegon starters scored between nine and 14 points and grabbed 4-6 rebounds. Combined, the starters shot 50 percent from the floor and scored all but five of their team’s points.
Senior William Roberson, Jr., and junior Joeviair Kennedy led with 14 points, while senior guard Jordan Waire added 11 and junior center Deyonta Davis had 10 points, six rebounds and six blocked shots.
Thrower – this season’s Mr. Basketball Award winner – scored only nine points, but grabbed six rebounds to go with five assists. Kennedy had 13 of his points during the first quarter as Muskegon jumped to an 18-9 lead.
“It’s the flow of the game. Because I think in that starting lineup, we’ve got five guys who can put it in the basket,” Muskegon coach Keith Guy said. “(Kennedy) got it going early and it didn’t do anything but help us. Hopefully he can do the same thing (Saturday).
Mount Pleasant, itself ending a long Semifinals absence by playing in this round for the first time since 1981, finished 22-5 to double its win total from 2012-13.
The Oilers started five seniors, with center Jaleel Hogan leading with 14 points and 10 rebounds and guard Aaron Leasher adding six points, eight rebounds and five assists.
“People around the state who know basketball know how hard it is to get through our Regional because you have to go through Saginaw or Saginaw Arthur Hill every year, or a good Flint team,” said Schell, an Oilers player during the early 1990s. “So just to get out of the Regional, we were happy but not content.
“We sure wanted to bring a state championship back. Hopefully we’ll get another special group some day and we’ll find a way to get back here.”
Click for the full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon's Jordan Waire works to get past Mount Pleasant's T.J. Johnson on Friday. (Middle) The Big Reds' Deshaun Thrower drives to the basket.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Mount Pleasant got a 14-point, nine -ebound effort in the Class A Semifinal against Muskegon from Jaleel Hogan. Here he takes a feed from Aaron Leasher and scores to give his team a 4-2 lead. (2) Off the long miss, Muskegon's Deyonta Davis scores on the putback for two of his 14 points. He was one of four players in double figures for the Big Reds.
Warren De La Salle Follows 'Big Mike' to 1st Final Since 1982
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
March 25, 2022
EAST LANSING – The guy his teammates know affectionately as “Big Mike,” came up huge for Warren De La Salle Collegiate in Friday’s first Division 1 Semifinal.
Michael Sulaka, a 6-foot-8 junior, scored a game-high 20 points, with eight rebounds and four blocked shots to power the Pilots past Grand Rapids Northview 59-45 and into their first boys basketball championship game in 40 years.
“I wasn’t getting boxed out, so I was able to grab the rebounds, read the dude in front of me and put it back up,” explained Sulaka, who managed to post big numbers despite playing just 21 minutes due to foul trouble.
The Pilots (19-7) were the more aggressive team and dominated the interior, holding a commanding 35-20 rebounding edge and even more impressive 20-1 edge in second-chance points. Tamario Adley, an athletic 6-3 senior, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
De La Salle, which won the Division 2 title in football this fall, will vie for its first boys basketball championship at 12:15 p.m. Saturday against Grand Blanc.
“We will enjoy this win for another half hour or 40 minutes and then get ready for one more,” said second-year De La Salle coach Gjon Djokaj, whose team reached the Finals after completing the regular season 13-7 and fourth place in the Detroit Catholic League Central. “I have the utmost confidence in these kids.
“I was telling people this summer that you can go 13-7 and finish fourth in our league and still have a chance to go to the Breslin. Well, guess what? We finished 13-7 and fourth in our league and now we’re in the state championship game.”
Djokaj is hoping his team starts Saturday like it did Friday, spotting Northview a 5-0 lead before ripping off a 16-2 run to take control.
The Pilots set the tone with defense, as their constant 2-2-1 full-court pressure and aggressive zone defense rattled the Wildcats. Northview started cold, making just 2-of-9 shots in the first quarter and finishing at 34 percent for the game, with Sulaka altering many shots from his middle spot of the Pilots’ 2-3 zone defense.
“I’m 6-8 and I put my hands up, and it’s hard for dudes to shoot over me,” Sulaka explained, matter-of-factly.
While Sulaka was dominating the action inside, the Pilots’ point guard duo of junior Nino Smith and senior Caleb Reese controlled the pace of the game. Smith scored 16 points, while Reese had just four, but contributed a game-high six assists.
“The strength of our team is our guard play,” said Djokaj, who returned four starters off last year’s team which lost in the Semifinals. “Our guards were making the right choices early and, in many cases, Big Mike was the beneficiary of that.”
Northview (25-2) fought back from its early 16-7 deficit in the second quarter behind the play of 6-6 senior Jalen Charity, a Grand Valley State commit. Charity scored seven points in the second quarter as the Wildcats trimmed the lead to just six points by halftime, 30-24.
However, Charity picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and was forced to the bench. He scored just two points in the second half, finishing with nine and a team-high six rebounds.
The lead was still six points entering the fourth quarter, 43-37, as 6-4 senior Kyler Vanderjagt tried to spark a rally. Vanderjagt, a Belmont (Tenn.) recruit and the runner-up in the state’s Mr. Basketball voting, finished with a team-high 19 points, but the Wildcats were unable to cut into De La Salle’s lead.
“We didn’t get some of those rebounds we really needed,” said third-year Northview coach David Chana. “That’s basketball. Some nights it just doesn’t work out for you. All in all, it’s been a great ride. We’ll be back.”
Tyran Thomas added nine points for the Wildcats, including three dunks.
Northview, the champion of the Ottawa-Kent Conference White, reached the Semifinals for the first time since 1990 and seemed to have its entire community packed into the Breslin.
De La Salle, meanwhile, gets the chance to win its first boys basketball title. The Pilots lost to Okemos in the Class B Final in 1982.
PHOTOS (Top) Warren De La Salle Collegiate’s Nino Smith (0) works to get up the baseline as Northview’s Cam Martin (24) defends. (Middle) The Pilots cheer on their teammates during the first Friday Semifinal. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)