The rematch of last years Class A title game between Ann Arbor Huron and Kalamazoo Central was being played in East Lansing but this time at Don Johnson Fieldhouse on the campus of East Lansing High instead of the Breslin Center at MSU. However, you would never have guessed it based on the intensity levels that both teams came out with. One could have thought this was March and this again was one game for the championship. When it was over AA Huron walked away with 61-52 hard fought victory and the trophy. However it is not quite like the one they are hoping to walk away with in March. This was a war on the floor and unfortunately turned into one with a fight that broke out following a hard foul that ended in the ejection of TJ Buchanan from Central and Jeff Hugan from AA. Both teams came out pressing and defense was the order of the day. Huron continued to apply that trapping half court press and the whistles didn't stop. By 1:44 of the first quarter both teams were in the bonus and at the end of the first quarter there was 18 team fouls between the two teams. Kalamazoo Central floor leader TJ Buchanan (Rhode Island) picked up his second foul with only 4 minutes into the game and had to take a seat. AA Huron star Dante Williams (Oakland) also had to take a seat at 1:13 of the first quarter with his 2nd foul. Kazoo lead after the first, 22-15 lead by nice inside play of their big man Darius Norman. I have to say, this kid has improved tremendously over the last year. He is more aggressive offensively, has quick feet and made some nice spin moves to get to the basket for some short buckets. Jeff Hugan, a 6'5 Sr, who came off the bench kept AA in it early as he was able to muscle his way in underneath for several baskets. Not sure how many he had but he could have been high scorer. He was able to bring them back to a 28-28 tie before Kalamazoo finished the last minute with the last 5 points and took a 33-28 lead into halftime. It looked like Huron would be in trouble early in the third as Williams picked up his third foul at 7:18 of the quarter only to be followed by Kyle Baker, 6'6' F for AA with his 4th at the 7:00 minute mark. Ann Arbor switched to a 2-3 zone and it appeared to be the difference as they took a 38-36 lead at the time of the brawl at 5:13 of the third quarter. A Kalamazoo player was fouled hard on a drive to the basket and a scrum followed on the floor underneath the basket and then a player got virtually tackled and then arms started swinging. When they sorted it all out, Hugan was ejected for Huron and Buchanan for Central. Both were big losses but Kalamazoo lost their leader and never regained the lead. AA was up 45-38 after 3. D'atavia Moore and Tyler Bell did their best to keep Kazoo in it but Williams answered with three consecutive baskets including an emphatic rebound dunk off a missed shot. They won this one in a hard fought, intense game by both sides, 61-52. Switching to the 2/3 zone in the second half was the difference for AA as Central could not answer with an outside game. Once Buchanan was ejected it was a struggle. AA is a strong team, they move the ball exceptionally well, they play hard, quick trapping defense and can throw a number of looks at you from a full court trap press to the half court trap to the 2/3 or match up zone. They take what the defense gives you and they can be very deliberate with the ball on offense. They have a number of weapons, AJ Matthew (Toledo) did not have a good shooting night and usual sharp shooter Matt Hastings did not look to take many shots from the perimeter in this game. Instead they force fed it down low and rode a great inside game from Hugan to score a number of baskets inside of 10 feet. Even though AA Huron won this game with Buchanan in there the whole time it changes the demeanor of Central. I still feel AA Huron is a stronger all around team. Advantage AA Huron at this point.....until they meet again...and that could be March 26th in East Lansing....this time at the Breslin Center
I saw a total of 4 games at this tournament and the other close one was the nightcap featuring Saginaw versus the host Quakers of East Lansing. Draymond Green stopped by to catch this one and perhaps route on his Trojans. In the end, they could have used him as Lansing Eastern topped the Trojans of Saginaw, 70-67. Lansing Eastern was led by 6'7' LaDontae Henton (Dayton) who had well over 20 points and could have been 30+. He got all of these points except maybe 4 from hard drives to the basket and rebound put backs. He puts his head and shoulders down and goes hard to the basket with the mentality that no one will stop him. At times he appears out of control but he manages to put that ball up on the rim. The player that makes this team go and catches my eye the most is sophomore guard Cha Cha Tucker. He is a good start and stop dribbler, he sees the court extremely well and seems to be a step ahead of the defense, he busts through traps and double teams and is able to escape with that push out dribble and is most comfortable with the ball in his hands. Lansing lead most of the way with a 16-8 first quarter lead, a 32-26 halftime lead and 54-41 after 3. This game was sloppy and when Cha Cha went out for a 3 minute rest Saginaw was able to chop at the lead and get back into it. Saginaw, with the exception of sophomore Dominuque Jackson could not hit an outside shot. In fact, if you want to beat this team, zone them and make them beat you with the outside jumper, this is where they struggle. Tommy McCune was once again a non-factor in this game and a player that in this guys opinion is extremely overrated and will have trouble playing at West Virginia. I might not be the only one who feels this way as a couple of guys I met from Grand Valley that were at the games felt the same way too. I am not even sure his coach has the confidence in him as he was sitting him the last 4 1/2 minutes of the game when they were clawing back. In fact he did not reinsert him into the game until another player fouled out at the 1:26 mark. Saginaw was able to pull this game to within 4 on two occassions down the stretch thanks to the play of Marquavis Ford and Tray Babers. They were driving to the basket putting it up on the glass and sending 4 to the boards. This is an athletic team and they can contend when they play this style, I just did not see it until the end in desperation mode. Lansing lead by 69-65 with 32 seconds when they committed a turnover. Tray Babers had a tip in with 20 seconds to cut the lead to 2, 69-67. Lansing then turned it over with 14 seconds but Saginaw returned the favor by turning it right back over. Lansing sunk one of two free throws to go up 70-67 with 4 seconds but Saginaw missed a rushed 30 footer for the final score.
Saginaw does not show me that they have any effective outside shooting game. They do have athletes and people that can attack the glass and with McCune should continue to contend. I liked this sophomore Jackson kid, he is athletic and has a nice rotation on his shot and hit at least two from over the 20 foot range.
Lansing Eastern is a solid club with good guard play from the sophomore duo of Brian Morton and Cha Cha Tucker. Henton shows up every game and make not look the smoothest when he is out there but gets the job done. Sophomore Steve Haney was still on the sideline and will not be eligible until January 18. This team will go deep into the playoffs.
I watched Lansing Sexton defeat Saginaw Arthur Hill 72-61 without the services of Junior Denzel Valentine (Michigan State) with a broken bone in his hand. He is expected to miss one to two weeks. I was bummed as I was looking forward to seeing him to see how much his game has improved. Even though this was another sloppy affair, this Lansing team is young but has talent. Senior 6'5 Tyrin Wade had 21 points and quite a few from the free throw line. He is a nice player. He is a wide body lefty power forward that can power down low but also has a nice soft touch and good range from the outside. This kid impressed me and reminded me a bit of Paul Crosby who played for Holt several years back but a much better shooter. In addition, they two junior guards, Anthony Clemmons and Bryn Forbes that both handle the ball fairly well. Clemmons is the stronger of the two, athletic kid and although a righty, can go to his left and uses his left hand a lot with the dribble. He led Sexton with 23 points. Jalen Hayes is a 6'7 sophomore that is long and has skills but plays passive and does not ascert himself enough. Saginaw is not a very good team. Certainly not up to the caliber of past SAH teams. Jordan Hare is their star player and heavily recruited as a Junior at 6'9 but he has a lot to work on. He has tremendous length, quick elevation and can block shots with the best of them (7 blocks) but is extremely light and was noticeably getting pushed around in the paint and the post. He looks to pass first and is not offensive minded enough for this team. He can be lazy at times and is a delicate rebounder. He needs to use his body to rebound and not just his arms. He has got to put on 30-40 pounds and be more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball to play at the next level.
Saw Romulus beat Pershing 78-65 as Justin Moss owned the low post and scored 23 and had double digit rebounds. Physically he is a man against boys but has to play within himself and be a role player to succeed at Toledo. Romulus has talent but seemed to play awful helter skelter at times and seemed to lack team unity and chemistry. They push the ball with a pair of young guards in Ray Lee and Wes Clark but sometimes to their own detriment. They played out of control a bit too much on the offensive end. Lee at times shows he has some skills but a bit inconsistent. Moss was the stabilizer for them down low. The player that I really liked in this game was sophomore Elbert Matthews for Romulus. This kid is 6'4is long, has good foot work, quicker than he appears, can get up and has a nice looking outside jumper. He is a slasher type that needs to improve with the dribble. He has a nice high arc on his shot and it reminds me of Paul Williams from Renaissance (Dayton). For Pershing, I was really looking forward to seeing Sherron Dorsey-Walker but could not have been more disappointed. I heard that he blew up this summer in AAU ball and was looking to see his advancement . Instead he did not start, don't know why, and played about half the game. Couldn't get into any kind of flow at all and looked frustrated on the floor. Now you can tell he has skills, he has long arms, a nice spot up jumper, goes to his left extremely well and has a lot of the same style game and mannerisms of ex team mate Keith Appling. Unfortunately it wasn't on show here on Saturday night. Junior guard Veyon Bentley had a good game and was the only one who could shoot from the outside. This team, ex Dorsey-Walker, can not shoot from the perimeter. I was also very unimpressed with sophomore Martez Walker, who was listed as the #3 rated WG for the sophomore clas. He has real bad form on his jumper does not handle the ball all that well and looked every bit a sophomore in this game.
A couple of other games to comment on that I was NOT at. I see where Detroit Country Day beat Detroit Southeastern 62-55 where Amir Williams (Ohio State) and Percy Gibson (Dayton) went after it. Williams and his team mates won out as he had 16 points, 17 rebounds and 8 blocked shots. Gibson countered with 16 points and 7 rebounds. MSU signee Brandon Kearney only had 10 on 3-15 shooting from the field.
A suprise to me was over at Pontiac where Detroit Consortium (#1 - Class C) beat Summit Christian Academy. Consortium, who is 7-0 beat Summit by a score of 64-61. Summit is the Prep school that beat Detroit Country Day earlier this year and features three D-1 players, Walter Pitchford (Indiana), Tahson Burrell (Rhode Island) and James Edwards (Considering Valpo & Iowa). I did not think there was a school in this state that could beat these guys after watching them play. Shows you what I know and shows me that Consortium is a really good team. Looking forward to seeing them in Saginaw tomorrow against Flint Beecher.
That's all for now. Just beat the 3 AM deadline and time to get to bed. Your Basketball SNOB Blog
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