Performance: Big Rapids' Demetri Martin
December 15, 2016
Demetri Martin
Big Rapids senior – Basketball
To finish last season, Martin led unranked Big Rapids to its first MHSAA Semifinals and within a basket of playing for the Class B championship. He began his senior campaign with another, more individual highlight; the 6-foot-4 guard scored his 1,000th point in a 65-50 win over Grant on Friday to earn the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.” Martin, a four-year starter, finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds against Grant and added 24 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday’s 63-43 win over Lakeview.
Martin also was the team’s leading scorer last season, averaging 19.5 points per game along with 8.8 rebounds before scoring a team-high 22 in a 61-60 Class B Semifinal loss to Stevensville Lakeshore. After, he was named Central State Activities Association Gold Player of the Year for the second time and made the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan all-state team. This winter, Martin is teaming with senior Christian Hector, junior Braeden Childress and others including sophomore brother and starting point guard Dorian Martin with hopes of returning to the championship mix. Demetri Martin entered this season needing 21 points to reach 1,000 for his career, and nearly pulled off the feat in the first quarter of that first game. He worked this summer on adding a longer pull-up jumper, and he went over 1,000 swishing a pull-up 3-pointer from NBA range.
Just as impressive over his four years of high school has been Martin’s climb academically. In his words, Martin entered high school with all Ds and was barely academically eligible to play basketball as a freshman, frequently skipping school before and after that season. But he’s now pulling As and Bs and plans to study for a career either in education or sports medicine. He'll surely play college basketball at some level – most of his interest has come from Division II schools but he's also had contact from one in Division I.
Coach Kent Ingles said: “He’s obviously the best player in (our) area, and the best player we’ve had in a while … and he’s following a couple pretty good kids into the mix. He’s a multi-position player; he’s actually pretty unselfish. He’d rather pass the ball than shoot it. He’s been with me four years, and we’ve won three conference championships and been to the Quarter(finals) two times. … I told him we’ll be a good team when our best player is our hardest worker, and he’s done that too. He is a real success story. He’s a neat kid. He’s bubbly, he’s fun to talk to, he’s kinda hyper and can’t sit still. But he’s grown up a lot as a young man and as a basketball player, and we’re happy to see the total development with him."
Performance Point: “Not many people can score 1,000 points, so for me to get that, it just means a lot to me,” Martin said, “that all the hard work I put in is starting to show. I thought about (the 1,000th point) for a couple of months once I found out how far (away) I was, and I was thinking I can get this in the first quarter if I actually try. I ended up with 17 (points in the first quarter), but I was just taking it slow. If I would’ve kept that scoring streak going, I probably could’ve gotten it in the first quarter.
Breslin dreams come true: “Half the state (last season) probably didn’t even know where Big Rapids is. We weren’t ranked. We’re not in the Grand Rapids area. So it’s, where is this team from? And then we show up, and everyone probably expected a blowout. (But) in the beginning of the season, before we even started practicing, I was talking to some of my old teammates and I said, ‘We’ll probably make it to Breslin this year, you know that?’ We did. We made it. We were a lot better than what we played. … Since this is my last year, I know what we have to do to get there again, and I want to try my best to get there.”
Preparing the future: “My freshman year, I was just a rebounder. I picked up the leadership stuff from (2014 graduates) Quinn Tyson, Jake Hayes, Austin Hayes; they passed me the torch, so sophomore year I would lead but not like last year when I was leading the team and obviously one of the go-to guys. (This season) I’m trying to tell (my teammates) what to do and what not to do, how the game should be played so they can score 1,000 points in their careers too, so they can lead other future Big Rapids teams. I don’t want to go out as just a scorer who didn’t really teach the kids anything.”
Football’s a hit: “I played football for the first time (this fall). It was pretty fun. I wasn’t the go-to player, so it was different. But blocking was probably the best – you get to slam people. Tryouts had already passed, but the night before two-a-days I had a dream, and I was like man, I’m going to go out and try out for football, and I knew coach wanted me to play. … I’m glad that I played, and I got physically stronger too.”
Continuing to make a difference: “I want to become a teacher … because my coach (assistant Blake) Thomas, when I came here and then I was struggling a little bit in classes, he’d invite me over and we’d study on this, and that brought my grades up a lot. To help someone out like that, and not even know them, I think that’s something some kids need and I want to do that. Sports medicine, I injure myself a lot, so if there is someone who has these problems like me, I would help them out.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
Dec. 1: Rodney Hall, Detroit Cass Tech football – Read
Nov. 24: Ally Cummings, Novi volleyball – Read
Nov. 17: Chloe Idoni, Fenton volleyball – Read
Nov. 10: Adelyn Ackley, Hart cross country – Read
Nov. 3: Casey Kirkbride, Mattawan soccer – Read
Oct. 27: Colton Yesney, Negaunee cross country – Read
Oct. 20: Varun Shanker, Midland Dow tennis – Read
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Demetri Martin glides around a defender during last week’s win against Grant. (Middle) Martin drives to the hoop as Big Rapids went on to a 65-50 victory. (Photos courtesy of the Big Rapids athletic department.)
Harbor Light Building on Rock-Solid Foundation in Bringing Success to New Home
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2024
A review of Harbor Light Christian’s boys basketball rosters over the last couple of decades would show a lot of familiar names.
That would be especially true of the coaching slots.
Or are the players now coaches?
The coaches’ names are extremely familiar, and nothing much has changed – except some of the former players are now coaches, and the head coaches have returned to assist the program.
Today, the head coach is Jason Roussin. He’s in his 12th season at the helm of the Swordsmen. Jeff Jakeway, who was the head coach during Roussin’s junior and senior seasons at Harbor Light, is back on the Swordsmen’s staff as an assistant coach. Roussin is also assisted by long-time coach William Henagan and previous head coach Clark Hewitt.
Hewitt also serves as the Harbor Light junior varsity coach. The JV squad went 19-1 this season and 18-2 the year before.
“In 38 years, really there’s been three consistent coaches and then Pat Collins who had done one year when the program started, and now we’re all back on the sidelines working together,” Roussin said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
The facilities Collins, Hewitt and Jakeway coached in are nothing like the Swordsmen have today – the newly-built Solid Rock Center in Harbor Springs. In fact, they used to play on a cement floor. A year ago, the Swordsmen played their first game in their new home.
A walk around the facility, five years in the making, provides the feeling of more like a small college program’s setup. Along with the new gym, the Solid Rock Center was equipped with a cafe and concession area, locker rooms, a film lounge and hangout area for the players, an upper-level full track around the gym, and three classrooms for art, music, science and more.
Jakeway served as project manager on the building — fully funded and debt-free through community support. He was the head coach of the Harbor Light girls basketball team when the facility opened.
Harbor Light’s boys suffered a 76-74 loss to hot-shooting Pellston in the facility’s first game Jan. 20, 2023, but haven’t been doing much losing since. The Swordsmen started this season 2-2, and after a heart-breaking loss to Traverse City Christian on Dec. 8 went on to share the Northern Lights Conference title with Alanson and have built that record to 20-4 heading into tonight’s District Final against St. Ignace.
The title game will be played at the Solid Rock Center. Another Jakeway, Jeff Jakeway’s son and freshman point guard Landon, will be getting his second chance to lead the Swordsmen to a District championship. He was the point guard as a seventh grader when Harbor Light won the District title two years ago. (Small schools like Harbor Light may request, for most sports, an MHSAA Executive Committee waiver to play eighth-grade students if the school’s enrollment is less than 125 and seventh-graders if the enrollment is less than 75. Harbor Light’s enrollment count for this school year is 61.)
Landon Jakeway is the team’s leading scorer, contributing 15 points per game. He scored 25 to lead the Swordsmen to a 67-31 win over Mackinaw City in Wednesday’s District Semifinal. That was Harbor Light’s third win this season over its league rival, allowing the Swordsmen to keep the Mack Light Ball, which goes to the winning team’s school after each victory in the rivalry. Wins over Mackinaw have been hard to come by in previous seasons.
David Chamberlin, at 13 points per game, and Corin Palus, scoring nine per contest, are the other leading scorers. Jakeway adds seven assists and four steals per game. Chamberlin kicks in seven rebounds per game, and Jackson Mesner and Kirk Rose contribute eight and five rebounds, respectively.
Chamberlin, Paulis, Mesner and Rose are all seniors.
“The team goal was really to ‘put the team before me’ mentality,” Roussin said. “We were going to work as a team, be loyal, be committed to one another and battle together.”
The Swordsmen also entered the season with their eyes on the Mack Light Ball, a conference championship and a long postseason run.
“We wanted to chase the conference and to battle for a District,” Roussin noted. “Obviously, we knew St. Ignace is in there and they are the favorite team.”
Senior leadership has been one of the keys to Harbor Light’s finishing atop the conference for the first time in more than a decade.
“We want to show up and play the best basketball you can to make your team the best they can,” Roussin said. “That’s what has been awesome with the leadership we’ve had on this team.
“Through all the guys is ‘it is not about me,’” Roussin continued. “It is about ‘what can I do to make the team better?’”
St. Ignace brings a 16-6 record into the Solid Rock Center. The Saints will have a chance to view some NBA history in addition to playing the final.
Above the main gym resides a mini court containing the Detroit Pistons floor from the Pontiac Silverdome. Before moving to The Palace of Auburn Hills, and most recently Little Caesars Arena, the Pistons played at the Silverdome from 1978-88.
Jeff Jakeway was able to get the court to Northern Michigan through connections in Novi.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Harbor Light’s Vaughn Henagan (23) gets to the basket during a 59-39 win over Kinross Maplewood Baptist on Dec. 21. (Middle) David Chamberlin (22) elevates over a Pellston defender as the Swordsmen work toward a 75-20 victory Jan. 19. (Photos by Billy Mac Photos.)