New Reality has Roseville Dreaming Big
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
January 30, 2019
ROSEVILLE – Something happened last February that produced a dramatic effect on the Roseville boys basketball team.
It’s difficult for Roseville coach Hassan Nizam to put into words – but he’s certain that his team’s trip to Ann Arbor to play Pioneer and, more importantly, their visit to the Crisler Center to watch a University of Michigan practice had a positive impact on last year’s team and the program as a whole.
“(The U-M staff) gave us a tour,” Nizam said. “It was eye-opening. There was something about it. I can’t even explain it. We’ve lost twice since. Maybe it turned them into dreamers.”
Roseville won seven straight after losing that game to Pioneer before a 44-39 defeat to Macomb Dakota in a Class A Regional Semifinal ended the Panthers’ season.
They’ve stormed back this winter and sit 13-1 entering the final month of the regular season, with their only loss coming at Dakota, 55-52, in the fifth game. Roseville avenged that loss with a 63-56 victory at home Jan. 15 and is ranked No. 3 in Division 1 in the latest Associated Press poll.
The Panthers are 8-1 in the Macomb Area Conference Red and have clinched a share of the title. They can win it outright with a victory at Sterling Heights Stevenson on Monday.
After that and over the next two months, Roseville is shaping up as a possibility to not only make school history, but carry its entire area into an elite scenario for the first time.
Teams from Macomb County have rarely been relevant come tournament time. Not only has a Macomb County team never won a Class A (now Division 1) title, the county has never been represented in a Class A Final in boys basketball. Warren DeLaSalle made the Class B Final in 1982 and has come close to breaking that county barrier, reaching Class A Semifinals in 1986, 2007 and last season. Dakota also lost in the Class A Semifinals in 2016.
Enter Roseville. The program has had limited success in the MHSAA Tournament – last season the Panthers finished 16-7 and won just the fourth District title in program history. They’ve never won a Regional.
Talent has come through in the past, but didn’t always guarantee a postseason run. Sir’Dominic Pointer (known as Dominick Pointer while attending Roseville) played two seasons at Roseville before transferring to a prep school in North Carolina, then played collegiately at St. John’s and was selected as the 53rd pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by Cleveland. He is currently playing professionally in Israel. Still, Roseville was not able to get past the District round in either of his seasons.
But on the positive side, this team is coming off that District title and has plenty of experience to go with ability. Four starters are back including seniors Darien Banks, Lazell Judge and John Ukomadu. The other returning start is junior point guard Martell Turner who, if he isn’t the team’s best, is likely the team’s most important player. The fifth starter is senior Deshaun Wright.
At 24, Nizam is one of the state’s youngest head coaches and his upbeat coaching style has had a rippling effect. This attitude impressed those who were responsible for hiring him, notably school principal Pat Adams.
“Our search for a new coach was centered on someone who loved kids and was passionate about the game,” Adams said. “In Coach Niz, we struck gold on both accounts. A big part of changing the culture in a building is to have the kids believe in themselves, feel pride in who they represent, and respect the leaders who spend time with them. We believe Coach Niz has demonstrated that he's a very important part of that formula and will continue to be as the program evolves.”
A 2012 graduate of Dearborn Fordson, Nizam spent three seasons as the junior varsity and varsity assistant at Fordson before becoming an assistant at U-M Dearborn for the 2016-17 season. Nizam said one of his first objectives when he was hired at Roseville in May of 2017 was to build consistency.
“I was just an assistant coach looking for an opportunity,” he said. “As far as the program here, I knew they had had some success. The transition was pretty smooth, and the kids bought in. (Sir’)Dominic stops by every now and then, and the kids appreciate that. The guys have to understand that individual success comes from team success.”
Last season was one of the most successful in school history. As a member of the MAC White, Roseville competed in the MAC Red/White division playoffs and defeated Clinton Township Chippewa Valley for the title. Two weeks later, Roseville won the District title by defeating St. Clair Shores Lake Shore 80-77.
Roseville opted to move up to the MAC Red this season, and one result is a more competitive schedule. In addition to the increase in competition the Red affords, the Panthers defeated DeLaSalle to open the winter, then defeated Division 2 contender New Haven at New Haven and slipped past Cincinnati Withrow (Ohio), 42-39, at the Motor City Roundball Classic.
“We kind of have the approach that we want to get better each game,” Nizam said. “We’ve got a chance to win the MAC Red, the MAC title, a District title and a Regional. It’s that day-to-day thing we like to emphasize.”
What makes this team better than last season’s is Roseville’s play on the defensive end. The players are communicating better, switching assignments when teams run a motion offense and playing help defense.
In Roseville’s 65-60 victory over New Haven, the Panthers held Romeo Weems – New Haven’s best player and a likely candidate for the Mr. Basketball Award – to 20 points. As a team, Roseville has allowed 45 points per game. And just one team, New Haven, has scored in the 60s.
“That New Haven game was big for us,” Nizam said. “They hadn’t lost a game at home in like six years. We weren’t going to let Weems beat us. Our kids believed in each other that game. After that, their confidence went way up. It showed we can be a problem for any team.”
Offensively, Roseville likes to score in transition, but its half-court sets have improved since last season as well. Banks is an accurate 3-point shooter and leads the team in scoring at 21 points per game. Turner is the table-setter who averages seven assists. Ukomadu is a 6-foot-7 post player who jumps well, and Judge is a 6-1 lefty who plays the wing.
Wright is a 6-3 power forward who possesses a good mid-range jump shot. And he’s one example of why the program has shown promise and is on the rise. Wright never played high school basketball before this season. He played basketball in middle school before concentrating on football his first three years of high school.
Wright saw the success the team had last season and, in the end, it was Nizam’s coaching style that won him over.
“I caught a few games at the end of last year,” Wright said. “I liked (Nizam’s) enthusiasm. He wants to win as much as we do. He wants it just as bad as we do. My mom (Ruth Wright) told me, to be a two-sport athlete coming out of high school would help me in college. I would love to play either one in college.”
Wright has yet to decide on which school he will attend next fall, and he is expected to take a visit to Urbana University in Ohio before making his decision.
In the meantime, Wright’s focus is on his teammates and continuing what they together have started.
“Once we step on the floor, we’re connected,” he said. “Our goal is to get better every game.
“Sharpen the ax. And we are getting better every day. I know by the way we compete against each other in practice.”
Tom Markowski is a correspondent for the State Champs! Sports Network and previously directed its web coverage. He also covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Roseville’s John Ukomadu throws down a dunk during a scrimmage. (Middle) Panthers players huddle with coach Hassan Nizam. (Photos by Brian Sevald Photo.)
Accomplished Official Also at Home in Huddle Guiding Vandercook Lake Comeback
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 11, 2022
JACKSON – Cory Ray is right where he is supposed to be.
The second-year Vandercook Lake boys basketball coach has the Jayhawks off to their best start in years, setting up a key Cascades Conference battle for tonight against another undefeated team, Napoleon.
After spending a decade as a basketball referee in southeast Michigan, Ray has thrown his passion into coaching. It’s been an interesting transition, but one he is thoroughly enjoying.
“I never thought I would switch over to being a coach,” Ray said. “It’s been crazy, but I’m enjoying it.”
Ray is a 2003 Vandercook Lake graduate. He played basketball for the Jayhawks but soon found his calling as an umpire in baseball and basketball official. He has climbed the ladder as an umpire; he worked the MHSAA Finals a few years ago, moved up to NAIA and Division III and now regularly is called for Division I college games.
His basketball career took a turn when Vandercook Lake needed a junior high coach.
“I started talking to them about it,” Ray recalls. “I started doing that, and coaching just grew on me.”
When the Jayhawks varsity position opened in 2017, he applied, but didn’t get the job. He wasn’t discouraged.
“I didn’t get it because of a lack of experience,” he said.
He kept coaching at the junior high level. Before the pandemic, he finally got his chance.
“I don’t want a varsity job anywhere but Vandercook Lake. I always figured if I am going to put that kind of investment and time into a head coaching position, I want it here, where I went to school, where my kids go to school,” he said. “If I’m going to do it, I want to do it in the place where I am from.”
Ray, 37, lives in the district and his wife Sarah is the Jayhawks cheer coach. One of their daughters is in the eighth grade.
He’s thrown himself into the job and helped the Jayhawks taste success after a couple of down years. The 2017-18 team won only two games, and the 2019-20 team just four.
Last year Vandercook Lake went 9-9 in the shortened season, encouraging Ray about this winter. The seniors last year, he said, helped bring along the younger players.
“I had a great relationship with them,” he said. “They really set the foundation for this year’s team.”
The 6-0 start, however, is more than even Ray could have imagined. The 12-player varsity roster includes 11 seniors.
“I knew we could be good,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how good.”
One of the reasons Ray was confident about this season was the return of 6-foot senior Demarion Smith. “It’s always a good starting point when you have someone who averaged 21 points a game come back,” Ray said.
Smith’s presence gives opposing defenses plenty to think about. But he’s far from being the only scoring threat on the roster.
“We have shooters everywhere,” Ray said.
Anthony Jimenez has had some big games already. Jermaine Buckner is the true point guard who runs the show. Tyrell Showers and Avery Pierce are on the verge of breakout seasons.
Against Manchester last week, Buckner nearly recorded a triple-double with 26 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and five steals. An earlier game, he hit four triples in the first half to keep the team close before the others got hot.
“Doing what he does really opens up the floor for Smith and Jimenez,” Ray said.
Since Ray knew he had an offense to count on, he spent the summer and preseason focusing on defense.
“We knew our focus had to be on the defensive end. We knew that had to be good. Plus, we do a nice job of crashing the boards,” he said. “If we can hold teams in the 30s and 40s, it’s going to be hard to lose. We have a couple kids on the verge of being big-time players for us. I see a lot of growth on the floor.”
The community has bought into the team, too, supporting the Jayhawks at every turn, from being in the stands to helping the team give back.
“The thing that I’m most happy and impressed with is how the community has responded and supported,” he said.
The transition from referee to coach gives Ray a different perspective.
“Being a high school basketball coach has made me a better umpire,” he said. “Being on both sides, you can see the investment the coaches put in and why they care so much. It definitely gives you a different perspective. You start to see both sides of it. You get why the coaches are so intense, so into the games.”
It’s still early in the season, but tonight’s matchup between the Jayhawks (6-0) and Napoleon (6-0) has the makings of a beauty. It could be viewed as a possible changing of the guard in the conference, lately dominated by Hanover-Horton, which has won or shared league titles seven of the past eight seasons but is off to just a 2-4 start.
Vandercook Lake last won Cascades Conference titles in 2011 and 2012. Napoleon hasn’t won one since 2008-09.
“You love to see someone from your area, your conference, do well. But, at the same time, you like to see someone else give it a run,” Ray said. “We just have to continue to play with the same identity we’ve been playing.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Vandercook Lake coach Cory Ray huddles with his team during a timeout this season. (Middle) Ray and two of the community’s youth players show off championship hardware. (Below) Jayhawks fill a grocery cart during a Christmas shopping trip to benefit a local family. (Photos courtesy of the Vandercook Lake boys basketball program.)