Dispatches from the Flint Central district

Carman-Ainsworth and Flint Northern moving on

By Andrew Bolton

28 February 2008

greatlakeshoops.com

Game One

Four local teams squared off tonight in the district at Central. The first match of the evening pitted Carman-Ainsworth against Lapeer West in a rematch of last year’s district semifinal. Carman won last year in a relatively close game, so the Panthers may have had a little revenge on their minds going into this one.

Whatever their mindset coming in, they could not have been ready for what happened. C-A jumped out to a 16-4 lead before you could blink, and it only got worse for West from that point on. The Cavaliers win convincingly, 82-38.

It was all over early. The Cavs came out with a four-guard lineup with Alan Sharp starting in place of Jaylen Larry. This enabled them to set up a highly effective 2-2-1 press that generated turnover after turnover, which led to easy basket after easy basket. When Lapeer West tried to counter with a press of its own, the Cavs broke it with ease, once leading to a massive, two-handed slam from Dee Chapman. It turned into a 3-point shooting contest at the end among the Carman players, with seldom-used Kevin Root making two and Ahmad Cheers making two at the end of the game.

Lapeer West was led by senior Chris Hutton, who had 12 points, five rebounds, and two assists in his final high school game. He is one of the best guards in the area, bar none. Congratulations on a great career, Chris. The show he put on at the end of last summer is something I won’t forget.

The Panthers were not a bad team by any stretch this year and Carman made them look like a JV team. Alan Sharp directed the balanced attack, scoring eight points while also adding four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. Jon Lee played more off-guard tonight, which freed him up to do more than just run the offense. Lee scored just six, but he had nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Dee Chapman led CA in scoring with 15 points. He also added three rebounds and two steals. Reggie Stallings and Kieon Arkwright also added 14 points apiece.

Game Two

The late game at Central was Davison against Northern and, fortunately, this game was a lot better than the previous one. It featured lots of end-to-end action with lots of turnovers and missed shots. But in the end, Northern’s athletes would prove to be too much for the Cardinals to handle, and in a semi-shocker the Vikings are advancing to meet Carman in the district final after winning 57-49.

The key to this game was that Northern successfully goaded Davison into trying to run with them. The Vikings led 15-6 after the first period, largely due to Davison turning the ball over so much. The Cardinals’ guards struggled with the press, and the lead should have been more, but Northern missed a lot of lay-ups.

The Vikings would regret these misses in the second. Davison locked down on defense and started beating the press. They would outscore Northern 21-8 in the period to claim the lead going into halftime.

As has been the case all year, however, Davison had another second-half meltdown. Northern’s pressure D and offensive rebounding wore down the Cardinals, who simply could not score or come up with a rebound down the stretch.

Same old, same old for Davison. No go-to player or play down the stretch costs them yet again. Turnovers were also a huge factor, as they had 20. Corey Lang led the Cardinals with 17 points and four rebounds. Ryan Schultz added six points and 10 rebounds. The best player for Davison tonight, though, was Danny Thwing. The stats say Thwing had two points, two rebounds, and one assist, but the stats don’t tell the story of how well he played tonight. Joemar Black tried to guard him. Carlos Benton tried to guard him. Michael Martin tried to guard him. No one on Northern could stay in front of him. He was Davison’s press break by himself. He would have wound up with seven or eight assists, but his teammates could never capitalize on his passes. Great game for Danny in defeat.

Northern was led by Demetrius Peterson with 16 points and five rebounds. Joemar Black added 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. He was consistently amazing, showing his athleticism and scoring ability on just about every possession. Sam Morgan also had seven points and nine rebounds, many of which came on the offensive end down the stretch. He too was too athletic to handle up front.