“Reaching Higher” Marks 5th Year
July 11, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The annual Reaching Higher showcases of Michigan’s top high school basketball players will return to South Lyon High School beginning with the boys event Wednesday, July 17, followed by the state’s top girls prospects taking the floor July 25.
More than 220 athletes with aspirations to play at the college level will train and scrimmage under the tutelage of high school coaches from across the state and in front of college coaches expected to represent all three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and junior college levels. Coaches from 42 college basketball programs attended during the 2012 Reaching Higher events, including 12 from Division I schools.
This will be the fifth year of Reaching Higher. An educational effort by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, the Reaching Higher experience includes classroom sessions for student-athletes and their parents as well as on-court drills and scrimmaging. The events aim to give athletes a vision of what it takes to become a college basketball player and also succeed in college life.
Participants in the program were selected by a committee of BCAM members. The process began in December when local high school coaches submitted nominations to the selection committee. Participants were chosen in February.
A complete schedule of activities and invitees can be found on the “Reaching Higher” page of the MHSAA Website.
PHOTOS: Players face off during a scrimmage at the 2012 Reaching Higher girls basketball showcase at South Lyon High School.
Moment: Rouge Runs Title Streak to 5
April 16, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
After setting the Lower Peninsula record the season before, River Rouge completed the streak that remains the standard for boys basketball programs with a fifth-straight MHSAA Finals title in 1965.
The Panthers won Class B for the fifth-consecutive season by downing South Haven 87-65. Rouge led only 54-52 after three quarters, but scored 33 points during the final period to seal the clincher.
The 87 total points also broke a Rouge Class B Final record set the year before (86) and remained the record (tied in 2003 by Grand Rapids South Christian) until Class was replaced by Division for basketball tournament classification in 2019.
Frank Price led with 28 points. Sam Campbell added 16. Rouge finished the season 24-2. (Side note: Price's daughter Franthea led Rouge to its first MHSAA girls basketball title, in 1984.)
Only Crystal Falls (now Forest Park), with six straight championships from 1938-44, has won more consecutive MHSAA titles in boys basketball, and that streak came during a time when separate tournaments were conducted by peninsula. Crystal Falls’ streak skips the 1943 season, when Finals weren’t played because of World War II.
