A2SportsFront 3-17-11

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Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

The Huron boys basketball team cant watch the waning moments of Monday nights game against Detroit Catholic Central. The Shamrocks defeated the River Rats 67-54 and ousted themfrom tournament play.

Catholic CentralShamrocks end Huronsbid for a state title

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March 17, 2011Heritage Media

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Sham-rocked

By Mike LarsonA2 Journal

With St. Patricks Dayapproaching, it was only fit-ting that the Shamrocks wouldhave an advantage.

Unfortunately for the Huronbasketball team, it was at theRiver Rats expense.

On Monday night in AnnArbor, the River Rats took onthe Shamrocks in a regionalsemifinal game at PioneerHigh School and fell 67-54.

The loss came as a hugeshock to Huron coach WalheedSamaha and his team, whowere expecting to make theirsecond straight appearance inthe Class A finals.

Im so used to looking

forward with these guys,Samaha said. And looking atthe next game and the thoughtof losing this game nevercrossed our mind.

Cold shooting and constantfoul trouble, in addition to afired-up Catholic Central teamkept Huron from ever reallygetting into the contest as

the River Rats trailed for themajority of the game.

Huron took an early lead,jumping out to a 6-2 advan-tage, but the lead was short-lived.

Catholic Central scored fourunanswered points to take thelead back.

Things continued to go backand forth for the rest of thequarter as the frame ended

A long walk for Huron

The sound of sneakers on atile fl oor never sounded lone-lier than it did on Mondaynight.

After the buzzer hadsounded and the Ann Arbor Huronbasketball team had lost, the play-ers on the team were left with along walk.

They escaped the gym in a ram-shackle line, walking with theirheads down.

Their sneakers squeaked ever soslightly as they filed listlessly out

of the gym.They didnt go right to the locker

room. Rather, they shuffled into anempty classroom to talk as a team;to talk as a family.

They didnt speak as they walked, lookingmore like refugees escaping a war torn land-scape than a basketball team after a roughloss.

But who could blame them?This was supposed to be the year of the Rat.

This was supposed to be anunstoppable team.

But instead of a chance at theglory that eluded them a year agoin the state finals, the River Ratswere stuck with a loss that will nodoubt become a hole in many oftheir hearts.

So they walked, trying desper-ately to ignore and block out thecheers and jubilation that wasechoing down the long hallwayfrom the gym.

Some players banged on the

lockers that lined the hall. Maybeit was just to let out frustrationor maybe it was to drown out thesounds of celebration from theCatholic Central team that had just

defeated them in the regional semifinals, end-ing their season. For some, ending their prepcareers all together.

One by one the Huron players entered theclassroom.

GENERALADMISSION

MIKE LARSON

with the two teams knotted upat 14-14.

Catholic Centrals KyleCooper nailed a three-pointer toopen the scoring in the secondquarter and put the Shamrocksup 17-14.

After that, Catholic Centralled up until there was just abouttwo minutes left in the half.

After taking a 24-21 lead, theShamrocks let the River Ratsback into the game.

Jeff Hugan scored twice andKyle Baker added a field goal asHuron went on a 6-0 run to takethe lead.

It looked as if the River Ratswere going to take a lead into

the locker room at halftime, butCatholic Central would havenone of it.

Shamrock junior MattDoneth nailed a three-pointerwith just six seconds left in thehalf to tie the game up at 27-27.

In the second half, theShamrocks came out on fire,starting the third quarter on a

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Irish come alive

when it matters mostAfter rough regular season,FGR wins at regionalBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

There were no doubt fanswho laughed at the GabrielRichard basketball team and itsfive-win regular season.

But the only folks laughingnow are fans of the FightingIrish.

After a regular season whichyielded just a handful of wins,and just one victory in theCatholic High School League,

the Irish are, as of Tuesdayafternoon, the only team inAnn Arbor still playing basket-ball.

On Monday night inFowlerville, Gabriel Richardshocked Olivet, defeating theteam 77-72 in a Class B regionalsemifinal.

Free-throw shooting waskey for the Irish, as the gamefeatured 79 free-throw attemptsbetween the two teams.

Gabriel Richard rose to the

challenge, especially down thestretch, converting 21-of-27 free-throw attempts in the fourthquarter.

Kamari Davis played a bigpart in that barrage of freethrows, as he made all 10 of hisfree-shot attempts in the finalquarter.

We really made it happenfrom the free-throw line,Richard coach Pete Schoch said.After that, we made good use ofthe clock and moved the ball.

Davis scored 18 points to leadthe Gabriel Richard team in justhis second game returning frominjury.

PLEASE SEE IRISH/12-A

Photo by Todd Sexton/A2 JOURNAL

Gabriel Richards Donnie Eaton guards an Olivet player Monday night. The Irish won the game77-72 and advanced to Wednesdays Class B regional fi nal.

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9-0 run.Trailing 36-27, the River Rats

went on a small run of theirown.

With Hugan, A.J. Mathewand Dante Williams all scoringpoints, Huron cut the Shamrocklead to just two points.

However, the River Rats justcouldnt take back the lead.

By the end of the quarter,

Catholic Central still clung to a42-38 lead.

As the fourth quarter started,the River Rats continued to flirtwith taking control of the game,but they just werent able to.

It seemed as the Shamrockswere always just a step ahead.

With five minutes left in thegame, Catholic Central took a50-42 lead.

The River Rats continued

to struggle on offense as theShamrocks just kept putting theball in the basket.

After scoring four unan-swered points and taking a 59-49lead the Shamrocks dealt theRiver Rats a toppling blow withjust about a minute and a halfleft.

Cooper put down a dunk andgot fouled and made the freethrow.

At that point in the game,Samaha knew it was over.With about a minute thirty leftsome of the reality started sink-

ing in, the coach said. Theywent up 12, and I think that iswhen reality really started tosink in.

Huron tried desperatelyto pull off the miracle, but itjust didnt happen, as CatholicCentral held out to win 67-54and advance to the regionalfinal against Orchard Lake St.Marys.

Huron seemed at a constantdisadvantage all night as theShamrocks seemed to get plentyof opportunities from the free-throw line.

In fact, Catholic Centralattempted 33 free throws whileHuron shot just 15.

The Shamrocks were led bya trio of scorers as BrandonTammaro scored 18 points,Doneth added 17 and Cooperscored 14.

Huron was led by Mathewwith 12 points. Hugan added 11and Williams added 10.

With the loss, Hurons run tothe state title game ends.

The River Rats finished theyear with a 21-2 overall record.

Mike Larson can be reachedby email at [email protected]. Follow him at www.face-book.com/A2SportsGuy andwww.Twitter.com/A2JournalSports.

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And, like most importantfamily meetings, this one wasprivate.

The team met alone, presum-

ably to talk about their year andtheir futures.Very early on in this season

it became iridescently clearthat anything less than a statechampionship was going to be adisappointment for this team.

This team was battle tested.With a squad full of juniors, theteam played for a championshiplast year and faltered.

This season, with all thosejuniors now seniors, this teamwas ready. This team was sup-posed to go all the way.

Led by A.J. Mathew andDante Williams, the teamran roughshod through theSoutheastern Conference.

The team literally struckfear into its opponents with adefense that is the basketball

equivalent of being at sea dur-ing a hurricane.

They were good.They drew strength from

senior Kyle Baker, is arguablythe best cheerleader in the his-tory of sports.

He would stand in the middleof the paint, flapping his 6-foot,6-inch wingspan like a giantbird, beckoning his fans to riseto their feet; beckoning them toscream.

And scream they did. Rightup until the very end.

But by the time the River Ratsconvened in that classroom,those screams were nothingmore than echoes.

With an early and unexpectedexit, the Huron basketball

team was forced to come to therealization that they would nothoist that championship trophy.

Rather, they would have tocling tight to the things they didhave.

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Hes not 100 percent yet,Schoch said of Davis. Hesbeen out with an injured foot,but he really stepped up forus.

The Irish also got a standoutperformance from LutherPage, who scored 17 pointsfor Richard, while MylesLockridge chipped in with 15.

On defense, the Irish were

charged with the daunting taskof shutting down Olivet seniorJay Cousineau, who led allscorers with 29 points.

Hes a tough matchup,

Schoch said of Cousineau. Wereally had to pull out all thestops to keep him in check inthe fourth quarter.

Despite the defensive effort,Cousineau still scored 17 pointsin the final frame.

Although the Irish finishedstrong and took the game, theearly goings were not easy.

We just didnt come out toplay in the beginning, Schochsaid. We were sloppy and wehad a lot of bad turnovers.

After the first quarterthough, Richard bounded back.

In the second frame the Irishoutscored the Eagles 16-9 andheld a one-point edge at half-time.

The lead remained in thehands of the Irish until late in

the fourth quarter when Olivethit a string of free throws.

Richard was unfazed though,as the team took the lead rightback a few possessions later.

It was a great comeback,Schoch said. It is just a creditto this team and the seniorleadership. It says a lot aboutwhat strong kids these are. Imvery proud of them.

With the win, the Irishadvanced to play No. 5 LansingSexton in the regional finals.

The game was played afterpress time.

Mike Larson can be reachedby email at [email protected]. Follow him at www.facebook.com/A2SportsGuyand www.Twitter.com/A2JournalSports.

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2011 DISTRICT TOURNAMENTS: A LOOK BACK


Huron senior A.J. Mathew focuses on his defense Monday night against Catholic Central.

And the list isnt short.Back-to-back-to-back district

championships.Back-to-back conference

championships.Going undefeated at home

twice in three years.Last years run to the finals.They clung to all of those

things.But even more importantly,

they clung to each other.

As their meeting ended, theyall put their hands in and yelledthe only word that was audiblefrom outside the room.

Family.After that, the players filed

out of that classroom, still sul-len and still crestfallen.

For the next several days andperhaps even weeks or longer,the walks are going to be longand lonely for the Huron play-ers and coaches as they try tocope with the disappointment.

But eventually they willcome to see what all of usalready know, that champion-ship or not, this team and this

family was special.Mike Larson can be reachedby email at [email protected]. Follow him at www.face-book.com/A2SportsGuy andwww.Twitter.com/

Photo by Todd Sexton/A2 JOURNAL

Sophomre Kamari Davis, in just his second game back from a lengthy injury, scored 18 pointsto lead the way for Gabriel Richard Monday night against Olivet.


Hurons Kyle Baker backs down a defender Monday night.Baker was Hurons emotional leader all season.

Ann Arbor teams dominate Brighton districtSkyline takes downDexter

The Skyline boys basketballteam got to celebrate its firstyear of varsity competitionwith a pretty nice honor; the

Eagles earned the chance toplay for a district champion-ship.Last Wednesday night inBrighton, the Skyline teamtook on Dexter and beat up theDreadnaughts 46-35.

The loss ended Dextersseason.After a first quarter whereboth teams scored eight points,the Eagles exploded in thesecond.Skyline started the quarteron 14-0 run which was high-lighted by three-pointersfrom Peter Bakker and SakthiSambandan.In the end, the Eagles out-scored Dexter 21-7 in the sec-ond to take a 34-15 lead at thehalf.

Dexter played one if itsworst offensive games of theseason as the Dreadnaughtsconverted on just eight fieldgoals for the entire game.

We didnt have ittonight, Dexter coach RandySwoverland said. Sometimesthats just the way it goes. Itsjust too bad that we went coldin the tournament.Both teams struggled in thethird and fourth quarters,as Skyline only scored twofield goals in the second half.However, the Eagles still tookthe game 46-35.I told our guys that we canttake (Dexter) for granted,Skyline coach Mike Lovelace

said. They are too good of ateam. We knew we couldnt letup, but we just didnt come outthe way we wanted to.Despite the low scoring in thesecond half, Lovelace said hewasnt surprised that his team

would be making an appear-ance in the district finals.I knew we had a lot of athleti -cism and a lot of talent, hesaid. We have just been tryingto get better and better and Ithink we have.Skylines Theron Wilson wasthe games high-scorer with 14points and 10 rebounds, whileBakker and Jarrius Mann eachadded 10.

Dexter senior DaveLaMore led the way for theDreadnaughts with 10 points.Fellow seniors Matt Muchmoreand Tyler Dunham each addeda field goal in the loss.

Huron downs Pioneerfor third time

It came right down to thewire, but at the end of fourtough quarters, the HuronRiver Rats had won again.

Last Wednesday in Brighton,the Huron basketball teamdefeated cross-town rivalPioneer 56-52 in a district semi-final game.

This marked the third timethis season the River Rats haddefeated their rival.

Its never easy to beat ateam three times in one sea-son, Huron coach WaleedSamaha said. And Pioneer isa great team. They really cameout and showed what theywere made of.

The last time Pioneer and

Huron faced off, Huron blewout their rival, defeating thePioneers 60-29.

In the latest installmentof the rivalry, though, thePioneers refused to be steppedon.

The score of the game wasclose throughout at Huron heldjust a 19-16 lead at the end ofthe first quarter.

In the second, Huron gotsome strong play from seniorA.J. Mathew, who scored sixpoints in the frame to helpHuron take a 31-25 lead at thehalf.

After the break though, thePioneers came out on fire.

After four points from seniorJames Kelly, including a thun-dering dunk, Pioneer seniorJeremiah Strode hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers togive his team a 38-35 lead.

On the next possession,Pioneers Aaron Schoenfeldthit a jumper to cap offPioneers 13-0 run.

In the fourth quarter, thetwo teams continued to playevenly.

In fact, with just 1:50 left inthe game, the score was tied at50-50.

With a minute and a halfleft, Mathew scored to putthe River Rats up by two, andthen with just thirty secondsremaining, River Rat MattHastings nailed a pair of freethrows to make the score 54-50.

Pioneer wasted no timegetting down the floor asSchoenfeldt hit a jumper just10 seconds later.

Trailing 54-52, Pioneer wasforced to foul, sending HuronsMike Lewis to the line.

Lewis hit both free throws toseal the win for Huron.

All I was thinking aboutwas getting to the line andmaking those shots, Lewissaid. I just wanted to get theball and make those shots.

With the loss, Pioneers sea-son was ended.

Its hard to be upset aftera game like this, PioneersRex Stanczak said. We cameout and played as hard as wecould. We just couldnt get it

done.Pioneer graduates 10

seniors, and Stanczak said itwould be hard talking to them.

Its never easy, he said.But Im going to tell them thatIm proud of them and that Ilove them.

Lewis scored 14 points forHuron, while Mathew added13.

Pioneer was led by Strodewith 16, while Kelly added 11.

Huron downs Skylinein finals

Sometimes David justdoesnt have it.

Sometimes Goliath doeswhat everyone is expectinghim to do and completely oblit-erates his opponent.

Thats what happenedFriday night in Brighton whenthe underdog Skyline Eaglestook on the championship-or-

Photo by Mike Larson/A2 JOURNAL

The Huron basketball team celebrates its third consecutive district title last week. Huron,Pioneer and Skyline were the last three teams alive in the Brighton district.

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