Great Lakes Hoops

FLINT, Michigan — Mott entered its game on Wednesday night in the midst of its toughest two-game stretch of the season. The Bears’ 13-game winning streak was snapped on Monday night on the road against Henry Ford. Tonight, the Bears hosted a Macomb Community College squad that beat Henry Ford by 20 points just last week.

Despite John Taylor’s worst offensive showing of the season, no. 1 -ranked Mott survived a major scare against Macomb, winning 68-64.

This was a game Mott could have easily let slip away, but the player who had struggled the most made a play when his team needed it the most.

Macomb actually had a chance to win the game late, but Keith Paris misfired on a shot from the elbow with nine seconds left. Instead of calling a timeout, Mott pushed the ball up the court with Taylor. When Macomb collapsed on the lightning-quick lefty, Taylor found a cutting Walter Davis who scored with 1.7 seconds left to give the Bears the victory.

Taylor’s fifth assist of the game went a long way to make up for a woeful 4-for-25 performance from the field.

Credit Macomb’s Ashton Curd for a tremendous effort against Taylor defensively. Curd also scored 15 points. The player of the game for Macomb, however, was 6-6 forward Patrick Ferrell. The bouncy Ferrell took advantage of Mott’s lack of size on the frontline. He scored 23 points on 15 shots and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Mott’s top gun was sophomore Walter Davis. The 6-4 forward scored 15 points with nine rebounds including seven on the offensive end.

Mott (14-1) will go on the road Saturday to take on a struggling Wayne County squad at 3 p.m.

Mott's Kory Billups (left) and Walter Davis celebrate after a dunk by teammate Robert Littlejohn in the second half of the Bears' win over Delta Saturday.

FLINT, Michigan — For the second consecutive game, no. 1-ranked Mott played without its top scorer, sophomore guard John Taylor; and for the second consecutive game, it didn’t matter too much.

The Bears scored at will in the first half against Delta College on Saturday afternoon en route to a 100-74 victory over the Pioneers.

In reality, it wasn’t even that close. Mott doubled Delta up in the first half, shooting 68 percent from the floor to lead 58-29 at the break.

Led by freshmen Ralph Eason, Kory Billups and Jakob Perry, Mott cashed in on nearly every fast-break opportunity; and the opportunities were plentiful throughout the game, as the Bears forced 26 turnovers.

Mott’s trio of guards combined for 70 points on 24-of-42 from the field. Eason also added seven assists.

Mott’s 6-8 sophomore forward Robert Littlejohn is slowly starting to emerge as a serviceable big man for the Bears. Littlejohn, who played sparingly as a freshman, has had several strong outings this season. On Saturday, he scored eight points (4-of-4) and pulled down four rebounds in just eight minutes.

Sophomore forward Walter Davis (another Memphis product), also made all four of his shot attempts. He scored 10 points with eight rebounds and had several impressive slams.

Delta was led by sophomore guard Jody Hill, one of the top JUCO scorers in the nation. Hill scored 26 points despite being bottled up for much of the first half. Sophomore forward Tyler Dwyer, a workhorse big man, came off the bench to score 20 points with 10 rebounds.

Mott will try to continue its unbeaten streak on Monday night on the road against rival Henry Ford Community College.

FLINT, Michigan — Lake Michigan College passed the eyeball test on Thursday night: they looked really good in warm-ups. After the opening tip, however, it was a Dick Vitale special — mismatch city.

No. 1 Mott improved to 11-0 on the season with a 92-64 win over LMC, a team that came into the game with a 6-5 record and one of the MCCAA’s top prospects, sophomore small forward Tim Bates.

This game was over just minutes after it started. The Bears scored on their first six possessions of the game and led 15-0 before the Indians knew what hit them. With three minutes to go in the half, Mott led 43-14. Mott’s superior depth was evident in the half, as every player that suited up played in the first 10 minutes.

The play of the game came early on when Mott freshman Ralph Eason posterized LMC’s Romero Gordon. It was ugly. Eason absolutely explodes to the basket, and I’m certain Gordon didn’t think he could jump like that.

The Bears were led by sophomore guard John Taylor’s 20 points. Eason added 16 points and nine rebounds.

Mott will hit the road on Wednesday for its first game of 2012 at Alpena, a team that has won all four of its home games this season.

The no. 1-ranked Mott Community College Bears are now 10-0 after Monday night’s win over a struggling Lansing squad, 89-62. The win is Mott’s second this season over its archrival.

The Bears, quite clearly, are starting to come into their own. Early in the season, Mott survived a few scares to good teams including Grand Rapids and Jackson; entering the holiday break, however, this looks like a team that’s very deserving of its position atop the national poll.

Against Lansing, Mott was led by Chicago freshman Kory Billups, who scored a season-high 26 points with eight rebounds. I don’t think a lot of people know what Mott has in Billups, but soon they’ll know. Billups was a big-time player at Crane Tech, the same high school that produced NBA guard Sherron Collins. Billups actually led his high school team to a supersectional in Illinois last March for the first time since Collins did it in 2005.

Mott will return to action on December 29th, at home versus Lake Michigan CC.

FLINT, Michigan — We finally have an answer to the question many Mott fans have been pondering through the first quarter of the season: Can the Bears win big games when their star player struggles? The not-so-easy answer is yes.

The no. 1-ranked Bears survived a major scare against Owens, a team many consider to be among the best in the region, winning 74-70 Wednesday night.

The win was Mott’s second this season over Owens, coached by former Mott and University of Toledo assistant Dave Clarke. The first time around, Mott ran away from Owens on the strength of sophomore guard John Taylor. This time around, Taylor (and his 29 points per game average) was stymied by the Express. Taylor was in single digits for most of the game before scoring eight points in crunch time to help secure the win for the unbeaten Bears.

The problem, for Owens, is clearly depth. The Express have two of the top players in the region in 6-7 forward James Kelly and former Albion standout Justin Edmonds. This two-headed monster has been running roughshod over the competition so far this season, but their team’s obvious lack of a true point guard is magnified against powerful teams like Mott.The pair combined for 36 points. Kelly is about as good a big man as their is at this level. He’s a thoroughbred athlete with a surprising skillset. Edmonds, for his part, has added a great deal of strength to his game since high school.

Mott led by nine points at the half and appeared to be on their way to another lopsided victory before the Express heated up from the perimeter. Taronta Cole’s only basket of the game was a big one for Owens in the second half, cutting Mott’s lead to four. He only attempted two shots in the game, but scoring wasn’t the reason for his 30 minutes on the floor. His job was to stop John Taylor, and he did quite well at that for most of the game.

Taylor still led Mott with 19 points, but the player of the game for the Bears was freshman Ralph Eason. Mott’s high-rising combo guard scored 14 points with five rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. He’s slowly turning into Mott’s most reliable all-around player. He’s a more offensively-talented version of former Mott guard TJ Cameron. Mott’s only other player in double-figures was sophomore point guard Darryl “Boo” Marshall. He scored 11 points, all in the first half.

It was great to see Coach Schmidt going head-to-head with Clarke. I’m certain his early success at Owens is a point of pride for Schmidt.

Mott is now 9-0 on the season and preparing for Monday night’s showdown on the road versus archrival Lansing.