DLS falls to Ann Arbor Huron in D1 semifinal
Ann Arbor Huron defeats De La Salle in state Division 1 semifinal game
EAST LANSING » Nothing Ann Arbor Huron did Thursday in its 55-39 victory in the state Division 1 basketball semifinal at the Breslin Center surprised De La Salle coach Gjon Djokaj.
“I’m so familiar with this team,” said the Pilots’ firstyear coach. “They’re actually like family. Devin Womack and Julian Lewis played for me in AAU ball. Kingsley (Perkins) and Tyson (Edmondson) played for the Michigan Warriors and we played them so many times in travel ball that I know these guys inside and out.
“They’re a physical presence at every spot on the floor. They’re bigger than us at just about every position. They’re no strangers to the weight room. Ann Arbor Huron, in my opinion, is the best team in the state.”
The style of game played into the hands of the River Rats, who take a 20-0 record
into Saturday’s championship game.
“They’re tough and they’re physical and this was the type of game where there weren’t a lot of calls,” Djokaj said “They let us play both ways. Typically, we love that style as well, but their aggressiveness and toughness gave us trouble.
Huron coach Waleed Samaha and Gjokaj each said there were two key stretches in the game.
The first came early when De La Salle jumped out to a 9-4 lead after a 3-pointer by Linden Holder, who finished with a game-high 19 points.
“We weren’t making shots and we weren’t rebounding,” Samaha said. “When you’re not making them, you can at
least get rebounds and we weren’t doing that real well in the first quarter. That was a moment when they could have pulled away but we made enough plays to keep it close and we had a four-point lead (19-15) at halftime.”
The other key stretch came late in the third quarter. A pair of free throws and a layup by Holder and two free throws by Nino Smith brought the Pilots within a point, 28-27. Edmondson stopped the momentum with a 3-point basket and triggered a 14-3 run by Huron that gave the River Rats a 12-point lead with 5:11 remaining. During the run, Perkins scored on a putback and got a layup after a steal by Lewis. Edmondson capped the run with another triple.
“Key plays by key players in key moments,” Samaha said. “That’s what you have to have in these games.”
“The game got away from us in a couple stretches,” Djokaj said. “We did a good job of maintaining our style of play and our system to stay close. A few opportunities and bounces of the ball didn’t go our way and that allowed them to extend the lead to a point where we couldn’t make a final push. That’s not due to a lack of effort, intensity or focus. These guys gave their all until the final whistle.
Holder said that Huron’s
size was a major obstacle for De La Salle.
“They’re big, really big,” he said. “They have a lot of kids taller than us. It makes it harder to maneuver around them. When you do maneuver around them, they’ve got bigs standing around. Being tall and long definitely hurt us.”
Once the River Rats got a comfortable lead they went into what Samaha calls his “four-minute offense.”
“We felt we could run the clock, make them guard us for a longer period of time and get a layup out of it,” he said. “The kids are smart, tough and
disciplined so they execute pretty much what we ask of them.”
The one positive for De La Salle in falling behind by double digits was that Djokaj was able to get each of his seniors into the game.
“Our seniors have been the foundation and culture of our program,” he said. “They’ve sacrificed so much and have led these young guys to this point.”
Edmondson led Huron with 18 points, Perkins had 13 points and eight rebounds and Brandon Rawls added 10.
Smith scored 10 points for De La Salle, which finished 14-4.