Lansing Catholic damns CHD to zone purgatory

With Mack McKearney having matriculated to Dartmouth, Okemos is down to one Division I guard on its roster, Butler signee Chris Harrison-Docks. Slow him down, and you may have a chance. Slow him Lansing Catholic Central did, and with the senior guard mired in their 2-3 match-up zone the Cougars got an impressive non-conference road win 63-56.Lansing Catholic forced and enticed Harrison-Docks into ...
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Borderlands: Edwardsburg holds on beats White Pigeon

EDWARDSBURG - In the furthest reaches south in the state, Highway 12 runs parallel to the Michigan/Indiana border. It's not quite the US/Mexican border, no tunnels, illegal immigrants or drug war casualties piled up. Yet it is somewhat eerie. Like with Yoopers who are Packers fans, do they have duel loyalties here? Are they true Michiganders or Crypto Hoosiers? They're games are covered by the Sou...
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It takes a team, Dowagiac now 5-1

DOWAGIAC - The orange sign in Dowagiac's student section with Dontel Highsmith's #3 said it was "Too Easy." No, kid. Basketball may be beautifully simple, but it's rarely easy. So there was no repeat of Highsmith's December 56-point game, no Wolverine Conference record, for Highsmith. A well-coached Three Rivers team made him work for everything and sometimes make him pay even if he did get it, be...
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Top Class B clubs flourish with sophs

They're only 10th-graders, but you go with what you've got. And with the sophomores Detroit Douglass and Muskegon Heights have, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Both schools had underclassmen play important roles in knocking off established Class A programs, Muskegon Heights 64-51 Friday at Rockford and Douglass 47-37 over Ann Arbor Pioneer, Saturday at Lansing Sexton.6-4 sophomore Mike Davis c...
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P-W survives toughest test yet
Bank Hoops - High School

PEWAMO- A veteran coach like Laingsburg's Greg Mitchell knows the danger inherent to gimmick defenses. The junk approach often inverts traditional help-defense principles, which can lead to break-downs when a player's ingrained reactions take over, and the gimmick breaks down. That happened Wednesday to Laingsburg with its box-and-1 on Pewamo-Westphalia's Nick Spitzley. It effectively shut down the 6-2 sophomore for 30 minutes, during which Spitzley scored three points on three shots. But with 2 minutes to play he was all alone in the left corner. 6-5 Lane Simon kicked the ball out to his fellow sophomore and Spitzley calmly sank his second 3 to give P-W its largest led of the night 42-38. They won 49-45 after Spitzley secured the rebound when Andrew Wade's pullup jumper rimmed out then walked to the other end and stuck both free throws.

The key CMAC matchup began with only Laingsburg playing like it was a rivalry game. It took six minutes for P-W to get on the scoreboard. It was 17-2 after one quarter thanks to a 30-foot chuck at the horn from Laingsburg junior guard Jacob Zielinski. But the Pirates would return from halftime with energy and focus, looking more like the state's No. 4 ranked team in Class C, improving to 12-0, 10-0 CMAC. No. 21 Laingsburg is 8-3, 6-3. The Wolfpack has played P-W tougher than anyone else in both their games. Laingsburg will get a third shot at the Pirates in district play.

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P-town wins Big North classic
Bank Hoops - High School

CADILLAC - In his two-and-a-half seasons of varsity basketball, Zak Lewis has never been on a team that's lost a Big North Conference game. With 5 seconds to play Friday at Cadillac, it looked like the state's 10th-ranked Class A team might finally drop a league contest after 27 straight victories.

But not before Lewis, the lone holdover from Petoskey's 2010 Class B quarterfinalist, got in one more shot. With the right sideline in-bound action happening largely up top with Jake Mullin coming off two screens, 6-3, 200-pound senior found himself isolated deep on the low block. Lewis flipped in a soft James Worthy-style half-hook with 2.4 seconds to go and the Northmen would head back up on 131 their winning streak intact, 48-47. They're 13-0, 8-0 in the Big North.

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Arthur Hill has all the pieces
Bank Hoops - High School

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS - It's a dangerous proposition, getting behind a team whose most talented players are a senior center who is physically fragile and socially erratic and a freshman point guard. But if Saginaw Arthur Hill continues to play like it did in Saturday's 71-68 win at Muskegon Heights, pencil in the 11-3 Lumberjacks as one of the favorites in Class A.

Arthur Hill's point guard, 6-2 freshman Eric Davis, is playing with twice the confidence and aggression he had back in December. The real trick, he's improving so quickly while still playing a controlled game, the same trait that allowed Drake Harris to flourish as a freshman last season. Davis does more communicating and looks for his shot with regularity than early in the year. He's smooth long and skilled, and can create a jumper or full drive. Again like Harris, Davis is the best guard in his class. He scored 15.

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It takes a team, Dowagiac now 5-1
Bank Hoops - High School

DOWAGIAC - The orange sign in Dowagiac's student section with Dontel Highsmith's #3 said it was "Too Easy." No, kid. Basketball may be beautifully simple, but it's rarely easy. So there was no repeat of Highsmith's December 56-point game, no Wolverine Conference record, for Highsmith. A well-coached Three Rivers team made him work for everything and sometimes make him pay even if he did get it, before falling to what was likely Dowagiac's best overall team effort of the season 62-54.

Highsmith has rocketed up the rankings and coaches' recruiting lists thanks to the prolific December during which his explosive play eliminated concerns about what had been a lingering knee injury. That left him a healthy 6-2, 190-pound junior point guard whose playing resume is the strongest in the 2013 class, as it features a Class B state semifinal appearance and two years of national 17U AAU.

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