Country Day too much for impatient Pershing

A lot of Detroit Pershing Doughboys must have thought the 3,000+ fans at Lansing Eastern's Don Johnson Fieldhouse were there to see them play. That must have been why they never returned a pass to the one of the two main attractions, future Spartan Keith Appling, jacking up three-pointer after three-pointer just like it was drawn up by Birmingham Country Day and its multiple zone defenses. Luckily...
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Flint Northern, Warren De La Salle leave Northern Michigan unscathed

Flint Northern defeated Traverse City St. Francis and Traverse City Central, and Warren De La Salle did the same to the hometown teams but in opposite order, at the St. Francis Christmas Festival. De La Salle's fast-rising junior, 6-foot-4 Brian Mitzer, was the tournament MVP, while one could have made an equally strong case for Flint Northern's 5-8 junior point guard Shaquille Smith. Even wi...
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Undefeated Petoskey could turn heads in March

Undefeated and ranked No. 4 in Class B, Petoskey passed its first major test in the Big North Conference with a 59-41 win at Class A Traverse City West. While star junior Cory Starkey scored 22 for the Northmen, it was their depth and versatility that made the difference against a West team most peg as the No. 2 team in the league. The Titans picked up their defensive intensity in the second half...
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No. 1, unbeaten Romulus rolls Chicago Orr

The playmaking and foul shooting of 6-foot-4 senior DeAndray Buckley, inside presence of 6-6 junior Justin Moss and perimeter shooting of 5-9 senior Derrick Stewart helped Romulus to a 76-65 win over Chicago Orr in the "Sportsmanship & Violence Prevention Classic" at Muskegon Heights. The undefeated Eagles are Bankhoops.com's No. 1 ranked team in Class A.  Buckley was too big and aggressive for O...
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Kleins have help as Otsego goes to 12-1
Bank Hoops - High School

When your best player has an off-shooting night and your can still end another team's eight-game winning streak, like Otsego did Friday to South Haven, 74-64, you're a pretty good team. Otsego is that, now 12-1. Of course it helps when that best player is a point guard, and 6-foot-1 sophomore Jared Klein is just that, one of the elite in Michigan's 2012 class. Jared Klein scored 12, but 6-1 junior Carl Nord had 23 points and 6-5 senior Derek Klein scored 21 for the Bulldogs. 

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Upset Averted: Heights not down with AOP
Bank Hoops - High School

Everything started to move faster. The stands seemed to unfold and more inhabitants emerge, louder and closer as that court wilted from under the Academy of Oak Park players' feet. Any sliver of light through the defense held nothing but false promises, soon eaten away by the wingspans and quick hands of Muskegon Heights defense, full-court press to half-court traps. The already flimsy handles of AOP's guards lost all bearings in the Tigers' fourth quarter comeback, and Oak Park's upset bid was destined to fail. Hope was blown away with the help of all those Tigers banners. There may come a time when some upstarts from Detroit, a charter school no less, come in and win with a whole town rooting against them, and history certainly not on their side. May do what even the defending Illinois state champion couldn't. Possibly end an undefeated season at its half-life.

But not this day. 

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Oh, Isaiah: Denby pulls Sykes job on Southeastern
Bank Hoops - High School

How quickly a team's fate can change in their era of the fluid player. Isaiah Sykes is in his second week of eligibility at Detroit Denby, his third school in as many years. The 6-foot-5 guard just happens to be one of the state's top 10 seniors, and not surprisingly the arrival of Sykes, and another Detroit Finney refugee, 6-5 senior Brandon Williams, has bolstered also-ran Denby to the ranks of the PSL's elite. They Tars beat Detroit Southeastern Friday, 79-73 and it wasn't that close. A homecourt win over Class A No. 2 Pershing this Tuesday would virtually guarantee Denby the other playoff bid from the PSL East.

Sykes and Williams join a third terrific senior who is a Denby holdover, 6-3 Derrick Barden. An unknown as a junior, he had a terrific off-season with the Family and keeps getting better. Barden led Denby with a game-high 28 points. It was Sykes who was the catalyst, as the Tars took it to 'em early, never trailed, and led by over 20 in the second half. He has the height and bulk of a high school power forward, and the handle and vision of a college point guard. No wonder he took the ball wherever he wanted against Southeastern's defense. He made 6-of-7 first-half shots, and finished with 24 points. 
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Covert Op: May and Dean dominating Class D
Bank Hoops - High School

Fiat currency  An exchange medium issued by official order, the value of which is based on the issuing authority's guarantee to pay the stated (face) amount on demand, and not on any intrinsic worth or extrinsic backing. 

Covert's senior duo of Amere May and Steven Dean went into Thursday's game against three Oaks River Valley averaging 37.5 and 23.5 points per game, respectively, for the state's No. 6 team in Class D. May was under his average with "only" 30 points, while Dean scored 31 in a running clock, 84-38, homecourt win.  
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