49, 20, 7, 6: Matt Costello absolutely dominates Flint Southwestern

Posted: January 21, 2012 by Jared Field in High School
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Matt Costello is a flat-out beast. The Bay City Western senior will be in East Lansing next year, but for now he’s just about as dominant a player at the high school level as you’ll ever see.

Witness his performance last night against Flint Southwestern. Costello, in an 80-75 double overtime victory, scored 49 points with 20 rebounds, seven blocks and six assists. That’s just sinful; and trust me, I’m not out here acting like it’s easy to put a cramp in Costello’s production — it’s not. But how can you let one player go all Wilt Chamberlain on you knowing that limiting his touches is job number one?

Honestly, I think Costello is the best player in the state and should be the Mr. Basketball winner. I think one could have made a legitimate claim that he was the most skilled player in the state last year as well.

I have to borrow a phrase from Keyshawn Johnson: “C’mon man.” 49 and 20?

Flint-area schedule for January 20: NW travels to BV, Kearsley to Fenton

Posted: January 20, 2012 by Jared Field in High School
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High school games in the Flint area on Friday night (7 p.m. tip-off unless otherwise indicated):

  • Flint Southwestern @ Bay City Western
  • Byron @ New Lothrop
  • Durand @ Flint Beecher
  • Lake Fenton @ Goodrich
  • Montrose @ Otisville LakeVille Memorial
  • Flint Northwestern @ Saginaw Buena Vista
  • Grand Blanc @ Howell
  • Saginaw Heritage @ Flint Northern
  • Morrice @ Burton Atherton
  • Caro @ Birch Run*
  • Davison @ Flushing*
  • Kearsley @ Fenton*
  • Flint Powers Catholic @ Carman-Ainsworth*
  • Ortonville-Brandon @ Lapeer East*
  • Lapeer West @ Swartz Creek*
  • Mt Morris @ Clio*
  • Linden @ Holly*

 

* 7:30 p.m. start

No. 1-ranked Mott slams St. Clair, 78-65

Posted: January 18, 2012 by Jared Field in JUCO
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Mott sophomore Walter Davis slams home two of his 14 points against St. Clair Wednesday night.

FLINT, Michigan — Wednesday night’s two big games on the JUCO circuit were both won by the favorites, setting up a showdown on Saturday in Oakland County.

No. 1-ranked Mott upended rival St. Clair 78-65 while no. 15-ranked Oakland squeaked out a victory over Henry Ford, the team responsible for the only blemish on the Bears’ record this season, 70-68.

Mott started slow against St. Clair, but rode the hot shooting hand of freshman guard Jakob Perry to an eight-point lead at the half.

The second half belonged to Mott’s ultra-quick sophomore scorer John Taylor, who led all scorers with 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Taylor is to ballhandling what former Mott forward Doug Anderson was to the dunk; he’s a showstopper.

As good as Taylor was, though, this game was won on the defensive end. The Bears were all over the court, forcing the Skippers into 24 turnovers. Johnnie Mills, St. Clair’s best player (at least in my humble opinion), turned the ball over seven times in the game. He did, however, finish with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds. He’s exceptionally quick in his own right.

Perry scored 15 points in only 19 minutes for Mott. Sophomores Walter Davis and Darryl Marshall added 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Saturday’s game against Oakland tips at 3:30 p.m. Listen live on the Michigan Regional Sports Network.

A pair of big JUCO matchups on tap Wednesday night

Posted: January 18, 2012 by Jared Field in JUCO
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Wednesday night will feature two big matchups in the JUCO ranks.

No. 15-ranked Oakland Community College will host Henry Ford Community College at 7 :30 p.m.

No. 1-ranked Mott will welcome old rival St. Clair County CC into the Steve Schmidt Gymnasium. That game also tips at 7:30 p.m.

By the end of the season, I would not be surprised if these four teams are at the top of the MCCAA Eastern Conference. These games will go a long way toward deciding the order.

MHSAA state rankings have Buctown on top of class C

Posted: January 17, 2012 by Jared Field in High School
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Class C

1. Flint Beecher

2. Schoolcraft

3. Detroit Consortium

4. Pewamo Westphalia

5. McBain

6. Iron Mountain

7. Traverse City St. Francis

8. Shelby

9. Negaunee

10. Saginaw-Nouvel Catholic Central

Others receiving votes: Detroit Loyola 22, Madison Heights Madison 16, Clare 16, Madison Heights Bishop Foley 12, Rudyard 10, Saginaw Buena Vista 10, Detroit Midtown Academy 9, Delton Kellogg 8, Bloomingdale 8, Iron River-West Iron County 6, Hancock 6, Ubly 4, Detroit Allen Academy 4, Elk Rapids 4, New Haven 3, Flint Hamady 2.

 

Former Flint Northwestern standout Deandre Upchurch is NJCAA Player of the Week

Posted: January 15, 2012 by Jared Field in JUCO
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Deandre Upchurch, a three-year varsity starter at Flint Northwestern, was recently named the Player of the Week by the NJCAA. Upchurch, now at Highland CC in Kansas, was among the top players in Mid-Michigan when he was at Northwestern. The last time I saw Upchurch play in person, it was in a dingy old gym in Flint. At the time, he was playing for Mt. Morris Alternative High School. I’m glad to see him getting his life and his game back on track.

From NJCAA.org:

In Highland’s two matchups last week, Upchurch (6’ 1”) put his talents on display and led the Scotties’ to victory. In a 71-66 win over Johnson CCC (Kan.), Upchurch posted 24 points and three rebounds. The sophomore knocked down six three-pointers and totaled 27 points in a 87-84 win at Division I Independence CC (Kan.). Back at home this week, Upchurch and the Scotties will welcome in No. 13 Kansas City Kansas CC from Division I and Labette CC (Kan.).

Up-to-date MCCAA standings

Posted: January 15, 2012 by Jared Field in High School
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Eastern Conference
School MCCAA Overall GB Home Away Neutral Streak
Oakland 5-0 1.000 13-2 .867 – 6-1 6-0 1-1 Won 7
Mott 4-1 .800 15-1 .938 1.0 9-0 6-1 0-0 Won 2
Kirtland 3-2 .600 12-3 .800 2.0 7-1 3-1 2-1 Won 2
Macomb 3-2 .600 12-4 .750 2.0 7-1 2-3 3-0 Won 1
Henry Ford 3-2 .600 11-5 .688 2.0 5-2 2-3 4-0 Won 1
Schoolcraft 3-2 .600 10-5 .667 2.0 6-1 4-4 0-0 Lost 2
St. Clair County 3-2 .600 10-7 .588 2.0 5-4 4-3 1-0 Lost 1
Delta 1-4 .200 5-11 .313 4.0 4-6 1-4 0-1 Lost 1
Alpena 0-5 .000 5-10 .333 5.0 4-4 1-2 0-4 Lost 7
Wayne County 0-5 .000 2-10 .167 5.0 1-5 1-5 0-0 Lost 6
Western Conference
School MCCAA Overall GB Home Away Neutral Streak
Lansing 5-0 1.000 9-10 .474 – 4-5 4-3 1-2 Won 5
Grand Rapids 3-0 1.000 8-5 .615 1.0 3-1 5-4 0-0 Won 3
Muskegon 4-1 .800 13-5 .722 1.0 8-3 4-2 1-0 Won 2
Glen Oaks 3-1 .750 10-8 .556 1.5 2-4 7-3 1-1 Won 2
Jackson 1-3 .250 8-8 .500 3.5 4-2 4-5 0-1 Lost 1
Ancilla 1-3 .250 7-7 .500 3.5 3-4 4-3 0-0 Won 1
Kellogg 1-3 .250 5-10 .333 3.5 2-1 3-6 0-3 Lost 2
Kalamazoo Valley 1-3 .250 5-12 .294 3.5 3-3 1-7 1-2 Lost 2
Lake Michigan 0-5 .000 6-11 .353 5.0 4-6 2-5 0-0 Lost 6

Former Okemos and Oakland University guard Jonathon Jones is Eurobasket player of the week

Posted: January 15, 2012 by Jared Field in Professional
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Jonathon Jones, a former standout guard at Okemos High School and Oakland University, is making a career out of basketball overseas. Recently he was named the Player of the Week on Eurobasket.com.  Jones is currently playing in Slovakia.

Check him out:

23-year old guard Johnathon Jones (183-G-88, agency: TSS Management) put on an amazing game in the last round for Komarno and receives a Eurobasket.com Player of the Week award for round 25.
He had the game-high 20 points adding six rebounds and seven assists for Komarno in his team’s victory, helping them to outclass Levice (#7, 10-13) with 28-point margin 95-67.

Check out the Flint-area’s top 10 teams

Posted: January 14, 2012 by Jared Field in High School
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1.) Buctown (9-0): I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be on top of this poll all season.

2.) Fenton (8-1): Cory Cox is even better than advertised. The Tigers are going to be a tough out in the playoffs with their depth.

3.) Flint Hamady (8-0): Erick Layton and company aren’t really being tested in the GAC Blue, but they haven’t had any let-downs.

4.) Holly (6-1): The Bronchos haven’t yet made it to the meat of the schedule, so they still have something to prove.

5.) Flint Northwestern (6-3): The best team in the city of Flint almost by default.

6.) Grand Blanc (4-3): Junior sharpshooter Bart Williams is starting to warm up.

7.) Flint Kearsley (6-3): Two signature wins for Paul Adas’ squad: Fenton and Swartz Creek.

8.) Goodrich (4-3): Goodrich has not played to its potential thus far. I still think they belong in the top 10, though.

9.) Flint Northern (3-5): Played two really good teams close (Beecher and Saginaw Arthur Hill) but the record is less-than-impressive.

10.) Swartz Creek (5-3): Gave away what could have been their biggest win of the year on Friday night versus no. 2 Fenton.

It’s still odd to me to look at a Flint-area top 10 and not see Carman-Ainsworth, Flint Powers and Flint Southwestern. My how things have changed.

Cory Cox, Fenton use 12-0 run in final quarter to down Swartz Creek

Posted: January 14, 2012 by Jared Field in High School, Metro League
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SWARTZ CREEK, Michigan — Last season’s script was recycled on Friday night. The last time Fenton played in Swartz Creek’s gym, the Dragons were the better team for three quarters and lost. The very same scenario played out again on Friday night, as Fenton downed Swartz Creek, 51-48.

Creek had a stranglehold on the game; the Dragons had the ball leading by eight points with under four minutes to go. And then came the turnovers. I must say I don’t think I have ever seen a team less comfortable playing with a lead. Fenton went on a 12-0 run and it was curtains for Swartz Creek. The only basket in the final four minutes for the Dragons came with under 30 seconds left in the game.

Give Fenton credit; in an instant, that team turned from prey into predator.

Oh, and this just in: Cory Cox is the best player in the Flint Metro League. The Fenton junior might not be the most talented, but he’s playing the best ball in the conference right now. He’s about as multi-dimensional as they come in high school, and actually better than his brother (Nate Cox, Flushing) was at this point in his development. Nate Cox went on to be a great player at Davenport University — arguably the best player in the school’s history.

Cox had 13 points for Fenton and Eric Readman added 12. Junior Max Cummings had 15 points and senior Jarod Jones had 13 points for Creek. The big surprise for Creek was the lack of production from junior J.D. Tisdale. This was probably the most disjointed game I’ve seen him play. He never got into the flow of the game and lacked the aggression on the offensive end that he normally displays.

Fenton now sits atop the Metro League standings. Swartz Creek is one game back.

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