Great Lakes Hoops

Mott’s Fred Mattison.

Fred Mattison is heading south once again. The former high school standout forward from Anderson, South Carolina, spent one season at Mott and will finish his career in West Palm Beach, Florida, playing for hall of fame head coach Rollie Massimino at Northwood University.

Mattison led Mott to conference, state and district championships this season. He was named MCCAA Eastern Conference Player of the Year and was a member of the all-tournament team at the NJCAA Nationals in Danville, Illinois in March.

Massimino, now 78 years old, is a legend in the college ranks. He is best known for coaching Villanova to one of the biggest upsets in basketball history, a win over Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA National Basketball Championship.

Mattison, at a burly 6-foot-7, had significant lower-level D-1 interest. He did not earn the requisite amount of college credits, however, to qualify because of a failed stint at Kilgore College in Texas. Northwood competes in the NAIA.

Under Massimino, Northwood has compiled a record of 201-41.

Check out former Mott forward Doug Anderson who continued his streak this week of never losing a slam dunk contest. He won this one in Atlanta and never missed a dunk.

Mott sophomore Fred Mattison (Mike Tews, Mott)

Mott’s sophomore big man Fred Mattison earned all-tournament team honors at the NJCAA National Tournament in Danville, Illinois on Saturday. Mattison was Mott’s most consistent performer in the tournament, scoring 13 points and pulling down seven rebounds per game.

Mott went 2-2 in the tournament, losing to Louisburg College in the consolation bracket on Saturday to finish in 8th place. It was Mott’s worst finish at the national tournament during Steve Schmidt’s 22-year tenure as coach.

The MCCAA’s other representative, the champions of the Western Conference from Grand Rapids, fared even worse — an 0-2 finish and early exit on Thursday.

Mott will regroup, as the bulk of the firepower from this season’s team will return for next season. Mott will look to return to Danville next season for the fourth consecutive time.

Mott’s Fred Mattison finished with 14 points in the Bears’ 13-point win over Phoenix College Friday.

The goal every season for a championship program is to play on the last day of the season. Unfortunately, unlike the past two seasons, Mott will not play in the national championship game in Danville, Illinois, on Saturday.

Mott will play on the season’s final day, however.

The Bears were upset in the first round by Central CC (Nebraska) and have since bounced back with two wins over Iowa Lakes and, most recently, Phoenix College. Mott (31-4) will play Saturday with a chance to finish in seventh place. They will play either Howard CC or Louisburg College.

The Bears puts the clamps on Phoenix early on and for a long stretch in the second half. At one point in the second half, Mott forced Phoenix into a dozen consecutive misses. The Bears held Phoenix to 31 percent shooting in the second half.

“We really defended,” said Mott head coach Steve Schmidt. “It’s tough to be in the consolation bracket. But I told my players a tough day in Danville is better than a good day back home.”

Mott was led by freshman Malik Albert who scored 19 points with three assists. Sophomore Fred Mattison scored 14 points with four assists and his cousin, Chavis Mattison, added 10.

A win Saturday would be the 30th in Schmidt’s career at the National Tournament.

Mott freshman Malik Albert scored a game-high 20 points against Iowa Lakes. (Mike Tews, MCC)

Mott Community College (30-4) shrugged off one of the most disappointing performances in Steve Schmidt’s coaching career Tuesday morning by knocking off Iowa Lakes, 73-68, on Wednesday afternoon in Danville, Illinois. The victory gives the program its third consecutive season of 30 or more wins.

The game was Schmidt’s 33rd in the national tournament, increasing his overall record to 28-5.

“Every one of those games has been special, even yesterday’s game,” Schmidt said. “I’m glad we survived. I’m proud of my guys. I’m happy that we get to stay a little longer and compete.”

Probably no player on Mott’s roster took Tuesday’s loss against Central Community College (Nebraska) harder than freshman guard Malik Albert. The former Detroit King standout had his worst game as a Bear, shooting 1-for-17 from the field and 0-for-11 from 3-point range. Schmidt said he sat down with his lead guard after the game and had no doubt he would bounce back.

And that’s exactly what he did. Albert led Mott with 20 points including several clutch free throws down the stretch to put the game away. His backcourt mate, Devin Foster, added 16 points with five rebounds and three assists.

After an abysmal shooting performance on Tuesday morning, Mott shot 55 percent from the field as a team against Iowa Lakes.

Former Flint Northwestern sharpshooter Deondre Parks, a freshman at Iowa Lakes, scored 14 points.

Mott will not play again until 11 a.m. Friday against either Phoenix College or Cecil College.

Mott’s Fred Mattison scored a team-high 17 points against CCC. (Mike Tews, Mott)

The unthinkable happened on Tuesday morning in Danville, Illinois. The top seed in the NJCAA National Tournament, Mott Community College, was knocked off by Central Community College (Nebraska) — one of the bottom four seeds in the tournament.

The Bears (29-4) could not overcome its atrocious shooting from the perimeter including 1-17 (0-11 from 3-point range) from freshman guard Malik Albert. As a team, Mott was 3-for-27 from 3-point range.

Mott struggled mightily early on, but played well enough defensively to take a two-point lead into halftime after a tip by sophomore Kortez Ross.

Central CC, winners of 11 of its last 13 games, packed it in defensively for the bulk of the game and limited Mott’s touches inside.

“We just didn’t make the shots,” said Mott head coach Steve Schmidt. “Give credit where credit is due. They played with more passion than we did. They got the lose balls and made the plays. We didn’t have our best effort.

“We will just build on this experience; we will keep our heads up.”

Fred Mattison led Mott with 17 points. Ross and Coreontae DeBerry added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Mott will return to action tomorrow in the consolation bracket.

Check out former Mott Community College All-American and National Player of the Year John Taylor. The lefty scorer is a junior at Fresno Pacific and he’s setting the D-2 ranks on fire. He has scored over 40 points three times this season, including this:

From Pacificwestsports.org:

WINONA LAKE, Ind. - John Taylor became the first player in Pacific West Conference and Fresno Pacific history to score 50 points in a game, leading the top-seeded Sunbirds past #8 Roberts Wesleyan 113-101 in the first round of the NCCAA Tournament.

The 50 points broke a 44-year FPU school record, a Pacific West Conference record, and was the highest point total this season by any player at the NCAA Division II level.

His 50 points came on 23 shots –  a truly remarkable performance.

Mott sophomore Fred Mattison was named Conference Player of the Year on Friday.

Mott Community College’s top player, 6-7 sophomore forward Fred Mattison, has been named the MCCAA Eastern Conference Player of the Year. He is joined on the All-MCCAA first team by Mikquell Jackson (Wayne), Aaron Hayes (Oakland), Johnnie Mills (St. Clair) and former Flint Southwestern standout Jojo Graham (Delta), the conference’s leading scorer (20 ppg).

Mott sophomore Kory Billups won the MCCAA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award while Wayne’s Mikquel Jackson was named Freshman of the Year. His coach, Rogeric Turner, won Coach of the Year for his impressive turnaround of that program.

 First Team All-Conference

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Mott freshman Malik Albert.

BAY CITY, Michigan — Mott freshman Malik Albert was named the MCCAA District 10 Most Valuable Player on Saturday. Albert, who prepped at Detroit King, was among the top players in Detroit last year and has become one of Mott’s most clutch performers.

Albert scored 49 combined points against rivals Henry Ford CC and Oakland CC including 29 points and an incredible 18-for-18 from the foul line in the clincher on Saturday against Oakland. Ironically, it was little more than one year ago that Albert also scored 29 points in a Detroit PSL title-clinching win against then no. 1 Detroit Pershing.

Mott’s 6-7 sophomore forward Fred Mattison was also named to the all-tournament team. He had 39 points and 18 rebounds in two games.

Steve Schmidt received the Coach of the Year award, one that he has won on numerous occasions.

District 10 All-Tournament Team

Mikquell Jackson -Wayne County CC
Aaron Hayes – Oakland CC
Roderick Butler – Henry Ford CC
Fred Mattison – Mott CC
Kallante Miller – Oakland CC
MVP – Malik Albert, Mott CC
Coach of the Year – Steve Schmidt, Mott CC

Mott sophomore Fred Mattison slams home two of his 18 points on Saturday in Mott’s district championship win over Oakland.

BAY CITY, Michigan — In years gone by, Steve Schmidt has taken his teams to the NJCAA national tournament on the strength of a superstar and the perfect mix of talented and complementary players. There was fanfare, awards from the NJCAA and no shortage of name recognition.

There are no superstars in 2013. After Saturday’s 85-76 win over Oakland, Schmidt and company will have to do the introductions themselves in less than two weeks.

Starting with 6-7 sophomore Fred Mattison.

“He may not have the fanfare of many of our players from the past, but Danville is about to find out who he is … we’re coming back,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt described the play of Mattison, the state’s top JUCO player, as on another level. In the first half, Mattison dominated the game on both ends of the floor. He finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists en route to being named to the all-tournament team.

“Fred brings it every day … from start to finish,” he said. “He gets double-teamed and he gets a lot of attention. He looked like a first team All-American today.”

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