OILERS, IRISH READY FOR REGIONAL FINALS TODAY
What happened before doesn’t matter. What matters now is what happens now. On Wednesday night both Mt. Pleasant High School and Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Academy will be competing in MHSAA boys basketball regional finals, looking to punch their respective tickets into next week’s quarterfinal round.
The Oilers (18-7) take on Grand Blanc (232) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a Division 1 regional final from Saginaw Heritage while the Irish (18-6) take on Hillman (21-4) at 7 p.m. in a Division 4 regional final from Houghton Lake High School.
On paper both teams are going to have to play their best basketball of the season to advance and that’s the plan going in.
The Oilers have a huge task in front of them in that Grand Blanc has been ranked near the top of the D1 rankings all season and bring in a 20-game winning streak. Moreover, when these two teams met on Feb. 24 visiting Grand Blanc won rather easily by a final of 63-37.
Mt. Pleasant defeated Traverse City Central 64-47 Monday in Gaylord and is looking to advance to the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2014 when they fell to Muskegon in the D1 semifinals.
“We’re going to have to be balanced again,” said Mt. Pleasant coach Dan Schell of Wednesday night’s showdown with the Bobcats. “We need our top-three to step up and score. (Grand Blanc) is the best defensive team we have played so we’re going to need to make some contested shots.”
For the season the Oilers have been led by junior center Logan Borodychuk as he’s averaged 17 points and eight rebounds per game. Senior point guard Amonti Greenesloss and senior forward Andrew Barbee have also averaged in double-digits in the scoring column and will need to do so again Wednesday.
The Bobcats are also super balanced offensively with numerous players who can light up the scorebook, thus Mt. Pleasant is going to have to be very good on the defensive end too.
Sacred Heart Academy also faces a huge challenge in Hillman. The Tigers have one of the best players in all of Division 4 in 6-foot-3 junior point guard Trenton Taratuta. He averages 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and 5.5 steals per game.
“He’s legit and we’re going to have our hands full with him,” said Irish coach Justin Sherlock, who led the Irish to the D4 semifinals two years ago. “It’s going to be a challenge, but we’re excited for it.”
The Irish have been rock-solid all season defensively as they rank near the top in Division 4 in point allowed per game at 37. The play of sophomore guard Grady Pieratt and freshman guard Noah Zeien has also been a key as they’ve been good all season long. Additionally, the Irish probably have an advantage down low with 6-foor-5 Josiah Howell and 6-foot-3 Aidan Halliday and this is an advantage Sherlock is hoping to use to his advantage.
SHA defeated Peck 63-49 Monday in Deckerville while Hillman bested Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary 74-60.