Bedford, SMCC, Mason, Airport, Huron win state-tourney openers
WOODHAVEN – Bedford’s boys basketball team has just one senior on its roster.
That senior played like he didn’t want his career to end Monday night.
Jesse Damon scored 7 of his 9 points – one off his career best – in the fourth quarter as Bedford slipped past Gibraltar Carlson 55-48 in the opening game of the Division 1 district at Woodhaven.
Bedford let a 31-20 halftime lead slip away in the third quarter.
A 3-pointer by Tyler Martin at the end of that period knotted the score 41-41 heading into the final 8 minutes.
Damon showed his senior savvy on the opening basket of the fourth quarter, getting free for a layup on an inbounds play under the basket.
The senior would add another basket on a nice back cut and hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch.
Damon did have one bad turnover in the fourth quarter, but used the play to show leadership.
“He just patted his chest and said, ‘My bad,'” Bedford coach Jordan Bollin said.
That’s just what Bollin expects from a senior.
“Jesse has been a rock star this year,” the coach said. “He’s really been solid. He’s an example of a kid who didn’t get to play much as a junior, working hard for his senior year. We get every ounce of his ability out of him.”
Bedford needed every ounce in a close game between two teams that have endured tough seasons.
Bollin’s team had almost no experience back from last year’s 18-6 squad.
The Mules have won two of their last three games to take a 4-18 record into Wednesday’s district semifinals against the host team.
They showed their growth by setting down to control the fourth quarter 14-7 following their disappointing showing in the third period.
“Earlier in the season, we would have unraveled after something like that,” Bollin said. “I told the kids, ‘We’ve played a really tough schedule to prepare us for the postseason.’”
It was the 100th career victory for Bollin - 68 at Dundee and 32 at Bedford.
Noah Colon scored 17 points and Jace Williams 16 to lead the Mules, who will play the second half of Wednesday’s semifinal doubleheader. Monroe and Trenton meet in the first game at 5:30 p.m.
It was Carlson’s 12th loss of an 8-14 season by 10 points or less.
“This year was up and down,” Marauder coach Paul Morrison said. “We’re young. The first half of the year there was a big learning curve.”
Morrison was disappointed Monday.
“I really don’t have words for this one,” he said. “We didn’t come out ready at the beginning. The third quarter was really the only one where we competed and won. … This is a tough one. We should have won this one.”
Damon’s basket off an inbounds play to start the fourth quarter summed up the night for the Marauders.
“That’s all communication – little things that matter,” he said.
Tyler Martin led Carlson with 16 points and Jackson Zachary added 10.
Division 3 at Blissfield
BLISSFIELD – Kevin Skaggs woke up and saw the sun Monday morning and decided it was going to be a good day.
It was.
His Eagles struggled through a 5-17 regular season while playing the toughest schedule in school history. All of those losses were thrown out the window with the start of the state tournament. The Eagles are 1-0 now after beating Sand Creek 61-47.
“Finally,” Skaggs exclaimed after the win. “It’s been a long year. Anything that could go wrong has gone wrong this year. It was a nice game for us. We’ve had a lot of games where the shots didn’t fall.”
The Eagles were able to hold off every run the Aggies made and had to come back in the second quarter but stayed calm and poised down the stretch to pull out the victory and advance to play top seeded Whiteford in the district semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The other game will feature St. Mary Catholic Central (15-8) and host Blissfield after the Falcons disposed of Clinton in the second game Monday 75-45.
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Mason started out with an 8-0 lead, but Sand Creek responded with a 10-0 run to take the lead into the second quarter.
The game was tied 19-19 when Jason Crooks drove the length of the floor and scored to give Mason the lead. The gap widened from there, although the Aggies cut it to three once in the third quarter. From that point on, however, the Eagles used a patient offense, several transition buckets by Jackson Iocoangeli and free throw shooting down the stretch to keep a comfortable margin.
“We’ve shot the lowest percentage of my 13-years here, but we’ve had spurts. This was a fun win. We’re not making it anything more than it is. It shows our resilience. They could have caved in. We’ve had a lot of tough ones.”
Iocoangeli finished with 12 points in a nice effort. Xavier Wise knocked down four 3s, several at crucial moments, and scored 14. Logan Goodin had a nice all-around game and scored 15.
“Credit the kids,” Skaggs said. “It’s a really great group of guys. Everybody knows about our schedule. It’s nice to finally get another win.”
SMCC dominated Clinton by making a season-high 10 3-pointers.
Drew Vuich started the shooting parade by hitting four straight 3s in the first half. His first triple made it 17-9 with 1:08 left in the first quarter. His last made it 26-12 with 6:35 left in the second quarter.
“You should see him in practice,” SMCC Coach Randy Windham said. “He can shoot like that. He’s got to that level a few times. Tonight was a great atmosphere to do it in – first game of districts.”
Ian Foster knocked down four as well on his way to 25 points.
“We really don’t rely on the 3-pointers,” SMCC coach Randy Windham said. “We try to get to the basket. We like to get the ball inside. That’s kind of like taken the pressure off us to not rely on the three. We don’t have a ton of threes this year, so Clinton was probably thinking they would concentrate on us inside. It’s not a bad strategy, we just hit them tonight.”
Buddy Snodgrass had a strong game inside. He scored eight points in the third quarter, including a two-step dunk as the Falcons kept adding to their advantage. He scored 14 for the game.
SMCC has won 11 of their last 12 games. Windham said it starts with defense.
“We’ve been really good defensively the last three or four weeks,” Windham said. “When we are excited on defense it leads us to good offense.”
Division 2 at Airport
CARLETON – Airport was a heavy favorite in the opening game of the Division 2 District it is hosting and took care of business in a 53-44 victory over Milan.
The Jets led 16-4 after one quarter.
“Credit Milan for never giving up,” Airport coach Jason Ruhlig said. “It’s hard to beat a team three times in a season and Milan did a great job making it tough for us.”
The guards handled most of the scoring load for Airport (12-11) as Brett Moore fired in 19 points and Colin Nowak 16. The Jets move on to play Dundee in the second game of Wednesday’s semifinal doubleheader. Ida tangles with Jefferson in the first game at 5:30 p.m.
Milan concludes its season with a 3-20 record. Grant Segrist and Landon Talladay scored 12 points each for the Big Reds.
"We competed hard and I was proud of our effort," Milan coach Bobby Green said. "Congrats to Airport. They started fast and that was the difference."
Division 2 at Summit
ROMULUS – Chad Martin and Kyle Kantola netted 15 points apiece and Zennon Grant chipped in 11 as New Boston Huron (15-8) opened the state tournament with a 60-29 rout of Dearborn Heights Annapolis.
““Our team came out with great energy which resulted in a strong defensive and offensive game,” Huron coach Ted Tackett. “There is nothing like tournament basketball this time of year. We will look to build on this as we prepare for Flat Rock."
Huron gets another shot at the Huron League champions at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The first game that night features the host school playing Grosse Ile.
Division 4 at Lenawee Christian
Summerfield moved into the semifinals of the Division 4 District at Lenawee Christian without taking a shot.
Summerfield was notified Monday that Ann Arbor Rudolf Steiner would be forfeiting its district game against the Bulldogs that night.
The Bulldogs move into Wednesday’s semifinals to play the host school, which is ranked No. 1 in the state.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Boys Districts:Bedford, SMCC, Mason, Airport, Huron win openers
