Pressure? No problem as Our Lady Advances
March 24, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – The bright lights have worn off for Waterford Our Lady’s seniors.
And that might have made all the difference over the final minutes of what could’ve been their final high school basketball game.
Andrew Kline and brothers Clay and Devin Senerius brought the Lakers to the Class D Semifinals a year ago for the first time since 1993, and they just missed a football championship losing by seven points in the Division 8 Final this fall.
So when the score of Thursday’s first Class D Semifinal sat tied for the seventh time with 5:49 to play, the Our Lady seniors weren’t phased by the building Breslin Center pressure.
The Lakers closed on a 15-3 run to finally break away from Wyoming Tri-unity Christian and earn their first MHSAA championship game appearance with a 64-53 victory.
“Playing on the big stage, it’s not as hard as it used to be,” said Devin Senerius, who led four Our Lady players with 17 points. “At the beginning of last year, at the Semifinals we were all nervous. And then at the state finals (for football), we were a little nervous. Now we all just wanted to win instead of lose.”
They’ve got a chance to win one more time, and for the first time in program history on the final day of the season, when they face Powers North Central at 10 a.m. in Saturday’s Class D Final.
The Lakers (22-4) were ranked No. 3 at the end of the regular season, so this run was hardly a surprise. But they also lost the final two games before the District began, putting the senior leaders in a position to pull their team back on track.
Our Lady responded by winning four of seven tournament games by at least 10 points.
“First off, it’s their personality. They want to win, and that’s vital,” Our Lady coach Paul Robak said. “It doesn’t matter if it is basketball, football, whatever; they want to win. That’s the most important part of the culture, teaching that not only to others in their class but the younger classes.
“We took a step backward toward the end of the year, and we got a little sloppy. But to their credit, we went back to being more competitive on the practice floor. And it starts with these three guys.”
Still, the final score Thursday was not indicative of how close the game stayed until the final six minutes.
To that point, neither team built a lead of more than six points. From 2:25 to play in the second quarter until 1:17 remained, neither team got ahead by more than four. There were 14 lead changes, seven in the third quarter and five during the fourth.
There would be only one run – and it would belong to Our Lady.
Kline scored nine of his 15 points during the final go-ahead drive, while Tri-unity Christian made only 1 of 9 shots from the floor during the final six minutes.
“Coach told us it’s crunch time,” Kline said. “We’ve got to buckle down. We knew we were the better team.”
Freshman Noah Robak added 12 points and Clay Senerius had 11 for Our Lady. Devin had 12 rebounds and Clay added 10 and six assists as the Lakers outrebounded the Defenders 37-15.
Senior guard Collin Rosendall led Tri-unity (20-6) with 17 points and four steals, and senior forward Javi Cuevas had 12 points and four assists.
Although the Defenders made a decent 44 percent of its shots from the floor, they connected on only 7 of 27 tries from 3-point range – struggling at what’s usually a strength.
“All year long we’ve done a good job of maintaining the bleeding on the boards,” Tri-unity coach Mark Keeler said. “Tonight we didn’t do a good job of that. They have good shooters and I think they knocked down key shots at the right time.
"They stayed in their zone, and I was happy they stayed in their zone because our 3-point shooting is normally good. But it failed us at the end.”
The Boys Basketball Finals are presented by Sparrow Health System.
PHOTOS: (Top) Our Lady’s Clay Senerius looks for an opening while Tri-unity’s Javi Cuevas defends. (Middle) The Defenders’ Collin Rosendall works to get past a Lakers player during the Class D Semifinal.
Munising Powers Past Reigning Champ to Claim 1st Finals Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 25, 2023
EAST LANSING — There is an old saying that the heart of a champion should never be underestimated.
But in this case, it was the heart of the challenger that couldn’t be underestimated.
After seeing a six-point lead turn into a one-point deficit during the fourth quarter of the Division 4 Boys Basketball Final on Saturday, Munising seemed to be on the ropes trying to dethrone 2022 champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian.
But from there, it was Munising which made the championship plays.
The Mustangs scored six straight points, and ultimately did enough to hold on for a 39-37 win over the Defenders.
It was the first Finals title for Munising, and chants of “UP Power! UP Power!” rained on the court from the Munising fans as the team celebrated afterwards.
“A lot of our games have been this way this year,” Munising head coach Terry Kienitz said. “We come out fighting and scrapping the whole game. A lot of times we get a good lead and lose it, but we always keep fighting and the next guy makes a big shot.”
Munising held a 25-19 lead with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter, but Tri-unity Christian went on a surge and took a 30-29 lead with 3:46 left in the game on a layup by senior Roy Fogg.
Then, Munising took over.
First, senior Cully Trzeciak hit a 3-pointer from the wing to give Munising a 32-30 lead with 2:10 remaining.
The play run for that shot was called “Herro,” after Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro, but it was appropriate because it turned Trzeciak into a town hero forever.
“On Thursday (in the Semifinal), I was kind of in a slump and missed a lot,” Trzeciak said of his only 3-point attempt in this game. “But shooters shoot. You’ve got to keep shooting, and it felt good.”
Sophomore Trevor Nolan then stole an errant inbounds pass and went in for an uncontested layup with 2:02 left to make it 34-30 Munising.
Senior Kane Nebel then made a free throw with 1:07 remaining to give the Mustangs a five-point lead. Tri-unity Christian made it 35-32 with 45.1 seconds left on two free throws by Fogg, but Munising took a 37-32 lead with 33.6 seconds to go on two free throws by sophomore Carson Kienitz, and then went up seven on two free throws by Nebel with 18.6 seconds left.
Things did got a little dicey at the end for Munising, as Tri-unity Christian cut its deficit to 39-35 with 13.6 seconds left on three free throws by junior Owen Rosendall and then made it 39-37 with 2.8 seconds left with a basket by Rosendall.
But Munising successfully inbounded the ball, avoided a foul and dribbled out the clock to start its celebration.
Nebel – whose grandfather Chuck Nebel played on the last Munising team to reach the Semifinals in 1954 – had 14 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the way for Munising (27-1), which overcame a 39-17 rebounding advantage by Tri-unity Christian.
Junior Jordan VanKlompenberg scored 15 points and Fogg added 11 for Tri-unity Christian (22-7), which was making its third-straight appearance in the championship game.
The Defenders shot 31.1-percent from the field and made just 4 of 19 shots from 3-point range.
“I was disappointed in our offense,” Tri-unity head coach Mark Keeler said. “I felt we showed a lot of impatience and a lot of bad shots. But I don’t want to take anything away from Munising. They had a great team and they played great defense.”
PHOTOS (Top) Munising players celebrate the team’s first Finals championship Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) The Mustangs’ Kane Nebel (0) gets to the basket for a shot with Wesley Kaman (5) defending. (Below) Munising’s Carson Kienitz (2) tries to get a pass past Tri-unity Christian’s Akais Giplaye (20).