Farmington Hills, Farmington

Lakers bow out

By Christian Davis
C & G Sports Writer

Photo by Tracy Dreslinski West Bloomfield High junior Josh Levin takes a shot against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in a Class A district semifinal at North Farmington March 11. The Lakers lost 63-37.

Boys hoops team wraps up another strong season

FARMINGTON HILLS — As West Bloomfield High boys basketball coach Andre White described it, “it was just one of those days.”

While the basket seemed to have a lid on it for the Lakers, there was seemingly a never-ending parade of perfect swishes for Orchard Lake St. Mary’s March 11 at North Farmington in a Class A district semifinal.

In the end, it was St. Mary’s moving on with a 63-37 victory.

“I don’t even know what we shot for the game,” White said. “In the first half, we probably shot 20 percent or so, and they shot about 70 percent.”

And much of the damage was done in the second quarter.

The Lakers trailed by five points heading into the frame, but headed into halftime down 26 after the Eaglets made six 3-pointers — including four in a row.

“Once you let a team get on a roll, they’re tough to stop,” White said. “They played well. I give them credit. They did what they had to do.”

West Bloomfield senior Antonio Credit said it was tough witnessing the bombardment.

“I tried not to let it get to me, but they were making all of those 3s,” he said. “Then we tried to get all the points back in one shot and started taking bad shots.”

The Lakers played St. Mary’s even in the second half, but the damage was done.

“That’s the state tournament,” White said. “You have one bad game, and it’s over.”

West Bloomfield wasn’t accustomed to bad games this season. The Lakers finish 16-6 overall and in second place in the Oakland Activities Association Red Division, splitting the season series with division champ Clarkston High.

White, in his second year leading the program, said he believes this season was another step in the right direction in making the Lakers a premiere program.

“Each year, it gets better and better. I think next year it’ll be even better because the kids are used to our system and what we want, but it takes a lot of hard work,” he said. “We’re going to keep chugging away at it, keep improving and heading in the right direction.”

After losing a host of talented seniors from last season and finishing 15-6, Credit said he was proud of the way this squad didn’t let down.

“Everyone thought we weren’t going to be as good as last year, but we wanted to prove we’re still West Bloomfield, and we’re still going to be a good team,” he said.

Along with Credit, the Lakers say goodbye to seniors Chris Hurst, Tyler Sarter, Mohammad Seed, Eric Ellis, David Odunlami, Antwaan Credit and Mike Martin.

White said he hopes the whole team learns from the loss.

“It’s life lessons. Sometimes things go well for you, sometimes they don’t,” he said. “It’s how do you handle it when things don’t go your way. … We talk about handling it the right way. Learn from it and move on.”

The district final was played after press time. For more on the state basketball tournament, see our Web site at www.candgnews.com and click on the Sports link.

In other local basketball action:

Following the West Bloomfield contest, North Farmington knocked Walled Lake Northern out of the district.

Walled Lake Western fell to Brighton High 63-49 March 11 at Milford High in a Class A district semifinal. The Warriors advanced after beating Walled Lake Central 41-32 March 9.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Christian Davis at cdavis@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1062.