8/7/2019 A2SportsFront 3-10-11

1/2

Hoops fans rejoice as playoffbasketball season get underway

March 10, 2011Heritage Media

OURSPORTSBSECTION

Log onto our Web sitefor additional stories, local

video and daily updateson everything Ann Arbor.

The madness...

is hereGENERAL

ADMISSION

MIKE LARSON

Theres a popular Christmas carol thatproclaims the weeks around the holi-days are the Most Wonderful Time ofthe Year.

Being a life-long Michigander andin love with the mild temperatures and theleaves changing colors, my fiance would tellyou how fall is by far the greatest season.

And while there are few things I enjoymore than walking around my back yard inbare feet and tending to my barbeque in thesummertime, I find that the season we are

approaching my absolute favorite.Sure, when it comes to weather, the early

spring in Michigan can be rough.There is almost always snow on the ground

until after the Tigestart playing and evenwhen it looks like its sunny outside, it stillfeels like you need to wear two jackets andsome thermal underwear.

But I still maintain that the month ofMarch is my favorite month of the year.

As a sports fan and a lover of allthings basketball, this time of yearcan be akin to a religious experi-ence.

There are important games on TVconstantly.

Local gyms are filled up with high

school teams getting ready to maketheir postseason runs.

NBA basket-ball is still

in fullswing

OK. Nevermind. Most

NBA gamesprobably arentworth watching until

the summer time, but any-way.

If you enjoy basketball, I would say itshard to find a better time of the year than

right now.As Im typing this, Im having a hard time

even concentrating because Im excited aboutthe upcoming slate of basketball games.

The city of Brighton is going to be hoppingall this week, as the Huron, Pioneer and Skyline

boys basketball teams will be playing for a dis-trict crown.Huron is the odds on favorite to win this

district tourney, but who knows?You see, thats the greatest part of post-

season basketball.Its unpredictable. Is Huron the favor-

ite?Sure.Are the River Rats absolutely going

to win this tournament?No way!Anything can happen! These

tournaments are so intriguingbecause every teams entire

season is on the line withevery game.

If you win, you move on, if you lose, yougo home.

It does not get better than that.And, if the high school tournamentswerent enough, the NCAA basket-

ball tournament is just gettingready to go.

As of this writing, the confer-ence tournaments are eitherunderway or getting ready to start.

The Madness that the sportsheads all like to use to describe thismonth is getting ready to boil over.

After a huge win over MichiganState over the weekend, the University

of Michigan not only managed to sweeptheir rival Spartans in the regular season,

Photos by Johnathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA

Skylines Theron Wilson (left) goes up for a dunkwhile Huron coach Waleed Samaha (right) directs

his team.

PLEASE SEE MADNESS/2-B

8/7/2019 A2SportsFront 3-10-11

2/2

Page 2-B Thursday, March 10, 2011 HERITAGE MEDIA/A2 JOURNAL

A fi rst time for everything

but the Wolverines also prettymuch sealed their spot in theBig Dance.

Michigan State, on the otherhand, might have shot itself inthe foot with the loss; however,if the team can make somenoise in the Big 10 tourna-ment, the Spartans might beable to back into the NCAATournament.

While Michigan andMichigan State tend to garnermost of the states attentionwhen this time of year rollsaround, Im cheering for some-one else.

Im most excited about theplay of my alma mater, OaklandUniversity.

As of Tuesday afternoon,the Golden Grizzlies were 24-9overall this season as well as theSummit League champs with aconference mark of 17-1.

Right now, it looks as if OUwill make another appearance

at the big one.Basically, the point is, if you

like basketball, this is yourtime.

This is your time to followyour favorite high school teamas they try to make it to theBreslin Center to play for thestate championship.

This is your time to take aday or two off of work, movethe basement TV and the bed-room TV into your living roomand set up shop on the couch.

If you love basketball, this isyour time.

Now, if you will excuse me, Ihave to end this now.

I have a game I need to get to.Mike Larson can be reached

by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.com. Follow him at www.face-book.com/A2SportsGuy andwww.Twitter.com/A2JournalSports.

MADNESSFROMPAGE 1-B

Photo by Jonathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA

Skyline head coach MIke Lovelace signals for his team to run aplay Monday night in Brighton. The Eagles shocked Pinckney,winning the district game 74-62.

In addition to all of the sportsstories and information found inthese pages, the A2 Journalsports section offers even moremedia online.Check us out on Facebook(www.facebook.com/A2JournalSports) for stories,

photo albums video and more.Follow us out on Twitter to getup to the minute scores fromyour favorite high school teamsand get updates gamecancelations or time changes.

Were more than justa sports section

You can also become facebookfriends with sports writer MikeLarson (www.facebook.com/A2SportsGuy) and follow him inrealtime as he updates hislocation using Foursquare. Trackhim down in and around AnnArbor to get the scoop on localsports happenings.

PLAYOFF BASKETBALL BLOWOUT

Skyline boys basketball wins

fi rst-ever Class A district gameBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

The Skyline boys basket-ball team has an interestingdistinction that sets it apartfrom every other team in theirClass A district tour nament,which is being held this weekin Brighton.

Unlike the other squads com-peting for a chance to continuetheir playoff runs, senior-lessSkyline doesnt have a singleplayer that wont be able to play

again next year due to gradu-ation.

The Eagles used this knowl-edge to their advantage Mondaynight in the tournamentopener, when they defeatedPinckney 74-62.

There isnt much pressureon us, Skyline coach MikeLovelace said. We just have tocome out and play our game.We dont have to worry about itbeing the last-ever high schoolgame for anyone.

The Eagles never trailed in

the game, taking the experi-enced Pirates by surprise fromthe opening tip.

Skyline started its wire-to-wire effort by going on a 16-2run to open the first quarter.

The run was highlightedby seven points from juniorTheron Wilson and as well as abig steal by Jordan Woods thatresulted in a layup.

The Pirates found their scor-ing touch late in the quarterand cut the Skyline lead to 10 bythe time the first quarter ended.

In the second, Pinckneycontinued to chip away at theSkyline lead.

The Pirates got nine pointsfrom four different players tocap off a 9-2 run and cut theSkyline lead to 20-17.

However, that is as close tocatching the lead as the Pirateswould ever get.

The Eagles went on a runof their own, outscoring thePirates 8-2 in the final 1:48 ofthe half.

Junior Jarrius Mann scoredfour of those points, including aput back with just a second lefton the clock.

With a 28-20 lead at the half,the Eagles knew they couldntget complacent after the break.

We talked at halftime aboutkeeping the pressure on,Lovelace said. We knew wecouldnt let up.

And the Eagles didnt.Both teams scored a lot of

points in the third quarter, how-ever, when the fourth quarterstarted, Skyline still held a 48-39lead.

With time winding down inthe fourth, the Pirates tried toget back into the game, however,the team was limited to justthree field goals in the quarter.

Although Pinckney did make8-of-9 free throws in the fourthquarter, it wasnt enough to getback in the game.

In the end, Skyline took thecontest 74-62.

Pinckney, which finished theseason in second place in theKensington Lakes ActivitiesAssociation, had no shortage ofstrong offensive performancesin the loss.

The Pirates had four playersfinish the game with doubledigit scoring.

Drew Stephens led the waywith 17 points, JP Calder added14 and Jeremy Perez and KyleSlotnick each added 10.

The victorious Eagles alsohad four players in doubledigits, as Wilson led the waywith 18 points and Mann scored17. Sakthi Sambandan andMarquis Wallace also eachadded 10.

Its a nice win for us,Lovelace said. We played real-ly well in this one. Im really

proud of this team.Lovelace said that his team

has come a long way since thebeginning of the season.

We got beat earlier thisseason by Plymouth (a KVAAteam) so we wanted to showourselves that we have gottenbetter, the coach said. And Ithink tonight just goes to showthat we have improved a lotsince then. We are getting closeto being where we want to be.

With the win, Skylineadvanced to the district semifi-nals to play Dexter.

The game concluded afterpress time.

Mike Larson can be reachedby email at Mlarson@A2Journal.com. Follow him at www.face-book.com/A2SportsGuy andwww.Twitter.com/A2JournalSports.

Photo by Jonathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA

Skylines Sakthi Sambandan (left) brings the ball up the court Monday night against Pinckney.The Eagles won the game by 12 points.

The vicious visitorsPioneer spoils Brightons homedistrict bid with 45-43 win

By Mike LarsonA2 Journal

The best that the KensingtonLakes Activities Associationhad to offer just wasnt enough

to take down the Ann ArborPioneers.

On Monday night thePioneers traveled to Brightonto take on the host Bulldogsand reigning KLAA champs ina Class A district quarterfinalgame.

Brighton, a team that went18-2 during the regular season,just wasnt up to the task, asPioneer won 45-43 in a physical

and grinding contest.It was really a tough game,

Pioneer coach Rex Stanczaksaid. We knew Brightonwould come out and be readyto play at a high level. I thought

we answered them well, and wegot a win.

The two teams seemedevenly-matched right from thestart, as the squads traded fieldgoals for the first half of theopening period.

Pioneer took a 10-6 lead with3:51 left in the first quarter, butthe Bulldogs answered rightback as Brighton senior NickSchroeder scored six unan-

swered points to end the frame.Schroeder proved to be

a thorn in the side of thePioneers for much of the firsthalf, as he finished the firsttwo quarters with 16 points.

However, in the second half,the Pioneers figured him out,and held him scoreless for therest of the game.

Hes a good player,Stanczak said of Schroeder.We knew we would have tocontain him if we were goingto have a chance. I thought wereally stepped up and kept himfrom being a factor in the sec-

Photo by Jonathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA

Jeremiah Strode (left) and James Kelly (above) helped thePioneers defeat Brighton on Monday, 45-34.

PLEASE SEE VICIOUS/4-B