OURSPORTS

SECTION B
Log onto our Web site
for additional stories, local
video and daily updates
on everything Ann Arbor.

Heritage Media March 10, 2011

The madness...
is here Hoops fans rejoice as playoff
basketball season get underway

T
here’s a popular Christmas carol that
proclaims the weeks around the holi-
days are the “Most Wonderful Time of GENERAL
the Year.”
Being a life-long Michigander and
ADMISSION
in love with the mild temperatures and the
leaves changing colors, my fiancée would tell
you how fall is by far the greatest season.
And while there are few things I enjoy
more than walking around my back yard in
bare feet and tending to my barbeque in the
summertime, I find that the season we are
approaching my absolute favorite.
Sure, when it comes to weather, the early
spring in Michigan can be rough.
There is almost always snow on the ground
until after the Tigestart playing and even MIKE LARSON
when it looks like it’s sunny outside, it still
feels like you need to wear two jackets and
some thermal underwear.
But I still maintain that the month of
March is my favorite month of the year.
As a sports fan and a lover of all
things basketball, this time of year
can be akin to a religious experi-
ence.
There are important games on TV
constantly.
Local gyms are filled up with high
school teams getting ready to make
their postseason runs.
NBA basket-
ball is still
in full
swing…
OK. Never
mind. Most
NBA games
probably aren’t
worth watching until
the summer time, but any-
way.
If you enjoy basketball, I would say it’s
hard to find a better time of the year than
right now.
As I’m typing this, I’m having a hard time
even concentrating because I’m excited about
the upcoming slate of basketball games.
The city of Brighton is going to be hopping
all this week, as the Huron, Pioneer and Skyline
boys’ basketball teams will be playing for a dis-
trict crown.
Huron is the odds on favorite to win this
district tourney, but who knows?
You see, that’s the greatest part of post-
season basketball.
It’s unpredictable. Is Huron the favor-
ite?
Sure.
Are the River Rats absolutely going
to win this tournament?
No way!
Anything can happen! These
tournaments are so intriguing
because every team’s entire
season is on the line with
every game.
If you win, you move on, if you lose, you
go home.
It does not get better than that.
And, if the high school tournaments
weren’t enough, the NCAA basket-
ball tournament is just getting
ready to go.
As of this writing, the confer-
ence tournaments are either
underway or getting ready to start.
The “Madness” that the sports
heads all like to use to describe this
month is getting ready to boil over.
After a huge win over Michigan
State over the weekend, the University
of Michigan not only managed to sweep
their rival Spartans in the regular season,
PLEASE SEE MADNESS/2-B

Photos by Johnathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA

Skyline’s Theron Wilson (left) goes up for a dunk
while Huron coach Waleed Samaha (right) directs
his team.
Page 2-B 
A first time for everything
Skyline boys’ basketball wins
first-ever Class A district game
By Mike Larson
A2 Journal
The Skyline boys’ basket-
ball team has an interesting
distinction that sets it apart
from every other team in their
Class A district tournament,
which is being held this week
in Brighton.
Unlike the other squads com-
peting for a chance to continue
their playoff runs, senior-less
Skyline doesn’t have a single
player that won’t be able to play
The vicious visitors
Pioneer spoils Brighton’s home
district bid with 45-43 win
By Mike Larson
A2 Journal
The best that the Kensington
Lakes Activities Association
had to offer just wasn’t enough
to take down the Ann Arbor
Pioneers.
On Monday night the
Pioneers traveled to Brighton
to take on the host Bulldogs
and reigning KLAA champs in
a Class A district quarterfinal
game.
Brighton, a team that went
18-2 during the regular season,
just wasn’t up to the task, as
Pioneer won 45-43 in a physical
Thursday, March 10, 2011 • HERITAGE MEDIA/A2 JOURNAL
again next year due to gradu-
ation.
The Eagles used this knowl-
edge to their advantage Monday
night in the tournament
opener, when they defeated
Pinckney 74-62.
“There isn’t much pressure
on us,” Skyline coach Mike
Lovelace said. “We just have to
come out and play our game.
We don’t have to worry about it
being the last-ever high school
game for anyone.”
The Eagles never trailed in
and grinding contest.
“It was really a tough game,”
Pioneer coach Rex Stanczak
said. “We knew Brighton
would come out and be ready
to play at a high level. I thought
we answered them well, and we
got a win.”
The two teams seemed
evenly-matched right from the
start, as the squads traded field
goals for the first half of the
opening period.
Pioneer took a 10-6 lead with
3:51 left in the first quarter, but
the Bulldogs answered right
back as Brighton senior Nick
Schroeder scored six unan-
PLAYOFF BASKETBALL BLOWOUT
the game, taking the experi-
enced Pirates by surprise from
the opening tip.
Skyline started its wire-to-
wire effort by going on a 16-2
run to open the first quarter.
The run was highlighted
by seven points from junior
Theron Wilson and as well as a
big steal by Jordan Woods that
resulted in a layup.
The Pirates found their scor-
ing touch late in the quarter
and cut the Skyline lead to 10 by
the time the first quarter ended.
In the second, Pinckney
continued to chip away at the
Skyline lead.
The Pirates got nine points
from four different players to
cap off a 9-2 run and cut the
Skyline lead to 20-17.
However, that is as close to
catching the lead as the Pirates
would ever get.
The Eagles went on a run
of their own, outscoring the
Pirates 8-2 in the final 1:48 of
the half.
Junior Jarrius Mann scored
four of those points, including a
put back with just a second left
on the clock.
With a 28-20 lead at the half,
the Eagles knew they couldn’t
get complacent after the break.
“We talked at halftime about
keeping the pressure on,”
Lovelace said. “We knew we
couldn’t let up.”
And the Eagles didn’t.
Both teams scored a lot of
points in the third quarter, how-
ever, when the fourth quarter
started, Skyline still held a 48-39
lead.
With time winding down in
the fourth, the Pirates tried to
get back into the game, however,
the team was limited to just
three field goals in the quarter.
Although Pinckney did make
8-of-9 free throws in the fourth
quarter, it wasn’t enough to get
back in the game.
In the end, Skyline took the
contest 74-62.
Photo by Jonathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA
Skyline’s Sakthi Sambandan (left) brings the ball up the court Monday night against Pinckney.
The Eagles won the game by 12 points.
swered points to end the frame.
Schroeder proved to be
a thorn in the side of the
Pioneers for much of the first
half, as he finished the first
two quarters with 16 points.
However, in the second half,
the Pioneers figured him out,
and held him scoreless for the
rest of the game.
“He’s a good player,”
Stanczak said of Schroeder.
“We knew we would have to
contain him if we were going
to have a chance. I thought we
really stepped up and kept him
from being a factor in the sec-
PLEASE SEE VICIOUS/4-B
Photo by Jonathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA
Skyline head coach MIke Lovelace signals for his team to run a
play Monday night in Brighton. The Eagles shocked Pinckney,
winning the district game 74-62.
Pinckney, which finished the
season in second place in the
Kensington Lakes Activities
Association, had no shortage of
strong offensive performances
in the loss.
The Pirates had four players
finish the game with double
digit scoring.
Drew Stephens led the way
with 17 points, JP Calder added
14 and Jeremy Perez and Kyle
Slotnick each added 10.
The victorious Eagles also
had four players in double
digits, as Wilson led the way
with 18 points and Mann scored
17. Sakthi Sambandan and
Marquis Wallace also each
added 10.
“It’s a nice win for us,”
Lovelace said. “We played real-
ly well in this one. I’m really
Photo by Jonathan Knight/HERITAGE MEDIA
Jeremiah Strode (left) and James Kelly (above) helped the
Pioneers defeat Brighton on Monday, 45-34.
proud of this team.”
Lovelace said that his team
has come a long way since the
beginning of the season.
“We got beat earlier this
season by Plymouth (a KVAA
team) so we wanted to show
ourselves that we have gotten
better,” the coach said. “And I
think tonight just goes to show
that we have improved a lot
since then. We are getting close
to being where we want to be.
With the win, Skyline
advanced to the district semifi-
nals to play Dexter.
The game concluded after
press time.
Mike Larson can be reached
by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.
com. Follow him at www.face-
book.com/A2SportsGuy and
www.Twitter.com/
A2JournalSports.
MADNESS
FROM PAGE 1-B
but the Wolverines also pretty
much sealed their spot in the
Big Dance.
Michigan State, on the other
hand, might have shot itself in
the foot with the loss; however,
if the team can make some
noise in the Big 10 tourna-
ment, the Spartans might be
able to back into the NCAA
Tournament.
While Michigan and
Michigan State tend to garner
most of the state’s attention
when this time of year rolls
around, I’m cheering for some-
one else.
I’m most excited about the
play of my alma mater, Oakland
University.
As of Tuesday afternoon,
the Golden Grizzlies were 24-9
overall this season as well as the
Summit League champs with a
conference mark of 17-1.
Right now, it looks as if OU
will make another appearance
at the big one.
Basically, the point is, if you
like basketball, this is your
time.
This is your time to follow
your favorite high school team
as they try to make it to the
Breslin Center to play for the
state championship.
This is your time to take a
day or two off of work, move
the basement TV and the bed-
room TV into your living room
and set up shop on the couch.
If you love basketball, this is
your time.
Now, if you will excuse me, I
have to end this now.
I have a game I need to get to.
Mike Larson can be reached
by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.
com. Follow him at www.face-
book.com/A2SportsGuy and
www.Twitter.com/
A2JournalSports.
We’re more than just
a sports section
In addition to all of the sports
stories and information found in
these pages, the A2 Journal
sports section offers even more
media online.
Check us out on Facebook
(www.facebook.com/
A2JournalSports) for stories,
photo albums video and more.
Follow us out on Twitter to get
up to the minute scores from
your favorite high school teams
and get updates game
cancelations or time changes.
You can also become facebook
friends with sports writer Mike
Larson (www.facebook.com/
A2SportsGuy) and follow him in
realtime as he updates his
location using Foursquare. Track
him down in and around Ann
Arbor to get the scoop on local
sports happenings.