Next Generation Chargers Make C Final
March 23, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Carson Meulenberg and Trenton Koole had never played a game of this magnitude before taking the Breslin Center floor Thursday.
But their dads had, and perhaps indirectly that provided them a little experience. At least it seemed like it.
Covenant Christian didn’t seem bothered by any of the usual anxieties teams face when they play during the final weekend for the first time. The Chargers – in an MHSAA Semifinal for the first time since winning Class D in 1994 – got ahead early and never slowed in downing Manton 62-35 to earn a spot in Saturday’s Class C championship game.
Koole’s dad Scott played on that 1994 team that beat Eben Junction Superior Central 79-70 in the championship game. Scott Koole also played with Dave Meulenberg on the 1993 team that beat Muskegon Western Michigan Christian 53-42 to win the Class D title that season as well.
“To just stay calm, keep your composure, play your best,” Carson Meulenberg recalled of the advice his father gave him before Thursday. “Don’t worry about a lot of things. A lot of it is worrying about nothing, so just go play your game.”
And Covenant Christian’s game this season frequently has focused on defense, which was lockdown against the Rangers and will be especially key in Saturday's 4:30 p.m. Final against Flint Beecher.
Koole blocked Manton’s first shot of the game, and Covenant Christian had three blocks during the first five minutes. The Rangers still hung in to trail only 11-7 at the end of the first quarter, but the Chargers (21-5) scored the first 19 points of the second and never led again by fewer than 20.
They held usually sharp-shooting Manton (21-5) to 22 percent success from the floor, including 16 percent from 3-point range.
“Finally,” Calvin Christian coach Tyler Schimmel said. “To be honest, since the first District game, we haven’t played that well. I told the guys before (this) game, you’re due for one, especially defensively.
“This year, we actually have (had games like this). That’s why I kept telling my guys they’re a good team. They’re capable of doing those types of things.”
Koole led Covenant Christian with a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds, and Meulenberg and junior forward Zach Kaptein both had 10 points. Senior guard Benji Kuiper had six points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals, and junior Tyler Cammenga had nine points and seven rebounds.
Manton’s top three scorers this season were juniors and sophomores; junior Jayden Perry led again with 13 points, and junior Hunter Ruell had eight points.
“On film, we knew they were going to be athletic just by watching them,” Manton coach Ryan Hiller said. “Once they started getting offensive boards, and the transition game, and I don’t know how many shots they blocked that first half … through the first five minutes, we saw a trend there, and we had to adapt the things we normally do, and we struggled there.”
Manton was playing in its first Semifinal since 1996. The Rangers had been eliminated in the District Finals the last three seasons, losing those games by a combined seven points.
Covenant Christian is riding a streak of 14 wins in 15 games, and now has some bragging rights at home in addition to Saturday’s opportunity.
“He talks about it all the time to me, brags and says he made it this far,” Koole said of his dad's Finals memories. “Now I can go back to him and tell him I did the same thing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Covenant Christian’s Benji Kuiper (12) works to get around Manton’s Jayden Perry during Thursday’s Semifinal. (Middle) The Rangers’ Wyatt Baker gets up a shot with the Chargers’ Carson Meulenberg (24) defending.
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.