De La Salle, Dakota move on to quarters

Dakota’s Joshuah Hines came out with fire in his eyes Thursday night.

The Cougars’ senior guard scored 31 points, including 20 in the first half, leading Dakota to a 58-52 Division 1 regional basketball championship victory over Stoney Creek at Troy.

“He’s been there for us all year,” Dakota coach Paul Tocco said. “We haven’t been up after the first quarter in a playoff game all year. He gave us what we needed early on with his hot hand. I am proud of him.

“This is the second regional in our school’s history,” Tocco added. “The first year was 2016 when we went to the Final Four.”

The game featured two of the top players in the state in Hines and Stoney Creek’s Trevor Smith Jr., and both brought their best efforts.

After Smith Jr. picked up his second foul midway through the first quarter, Hines seemed to find another gear, exploding for 13 points in the first quarter, staking Dakota to an 18-7 lead after eight minutes. He added seven points in the second quarter, which ended with the Cougars in front 29-18.

“(The second foul) did give Hines a lot more confidence to attack, and we knew that would be the case,” Stoney Creek coach Steven Norgrove said. “Trevor’s been our main guy for four years, and he’s been absolutely fantastic. He’s the greatest teammate you could ever play with. The greatest player a coach could have as far as executing what you want executed and being a role model for younger player.”

Despite Smith Jr. going off for eight points in the third quarter, Dakota, behind five points by Ethan Mair, outscored Stoney Creek 14-13 in the period, extending their edge to 43-31 heading into the final period.

This is where Smith Jr. took over, scoring 15 points in the final period. Including his team’s final 12 points in the final 2:29. His layup with 1:27 left cut the Dakota lead to 51-46.

“We had a chance down the stretch,” Norgrove said. “Dakota did a great job making their free throws down the stretch and not letting us get close. We started hitting some shots, but it wasn’t enough. The effort was there.”

Dakota, though, sealed the win from the free-throw line, making good on 18-of-23 attempts on the night, and 13-of-16 in the fourth quarter. Mair made four straight, while 5-of-7 down the stretch.

“That’s pretty good,” Tocco said. “On Tuesday night (in the regional semifinal against Roseville) we went 14-for-14. We missed a couple at the end that

I’m not real happy about, but we’ll take it.”

Besides Hines, Dakota also received 11 points from Mair, and eight points from Tymias Williams.

“Mair’s been that second ball-handler that we really needed,” Tocco said. “He takes pressure off of Joshuah. He made good decisions and made free throws down the stretch. I am proud of him, too.”

The win improved Dakota’s record to 13-1 overall and moved the Cougars into Tuesday’s state quarterfinal against De La Salle at Detroit Renaissance. The Pilots advanced after defeating U-D Jesuit at De La Salle.

“We have to play solid, fundamentally sound basketball,” Tocco said. “We have to shoot the ball well and play solid defense.

“This year has been such a challenge on so many fronts, I am so proud of these boys that they have done the right thing on and off the court to stay in the game,” Tocco added. “A lot of teams haven’t been able to do that. I can’t be prouder of what they’ve done to get to this point. Any time you’re in the final eight in the state of Michigan, you’ve really done something.”

Smith Jr. finished with 30 points to lead Stoney Creek.

“I want to give a lot of credit to Trevor Smith,” Tocco said. “He’s an unbelievable player and got aggressive late. We didn’t have a lot of answers for him.”

Zac Jones chipped in 12 points for Stoney Creek, which ended its season at 13-5 overall.

“The thing I love the most is these guys on my team have had the experience that they will remember for a lifetime,” Norgrove said. “You can never take it away from them. It’s very rare to play in a regional and these guys came here and didn’t just play in it, they excelled in it.

“I’m really proud of our effort tonight,” Norgrove added. “We knew it was going to be a tough task. We know how storied Dakota’s program is and the great things they have done there.”

Other quarterfinal pairings: Ann Arbor Huron vs. River Rouge; Grand Rapids Forest Hills vs. East Lansing, and Grand Blanc vs. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.

The Dakota-DLS winner plays the Huron-River Rouge winner at the Breslin Center on Thursday.