Seaholm pushes past Farmington, 47-45
On the floor for his defensive ability, Birmingham Seaholm senior Dylan Genzlinger instead delivered the game-winning basket Tuesday to help his Maples to a 47-45 district playoff-opening win over Farmington.
Following a miss by the Falcons at the other end, Seaholm elected to run down the final minute of the clock in a tie ballgame, hoping for one basket to end it.
The Maples missed an initial attempt in the lane, but senior Michael May skied in the air to pull down the offensive rebound and kicked a pass out to Genzlinger, who confidently drained a long jump shot with a toe on the 3-point line.
“We actually put him in the game to guard their point guard, who we thought was getting a little out of control,” Seaholm coach Mike DeGeeter said. “Dylan has made shots all season (in practice), just not in games. That’s the first big shot he’s made.”
Genzlinger described the moment as “the best feeling in the world” to make good on the second-chance opportunity for his team.
“Mike got the rebound. I know he was looking to go to Johnny (Chinonis), who has the best shot on the team,” Genzlinger recalled. “But as I looked, they go down in the corner and there was a double team, so I’m there thinking I’m wide open. I didn’t have a care in the world about where my feet were, either on the line or not. You just get ready and load up to catch and shoot. Coach tells us every day in practice to have your shot ready.”
Ruled a 2-pointer after the referees conferred, the go-ahead basket left 5.2 seconds remaining on the clock for the Maples to defend following a timeout. Needing to go the length of the floor, the Falcons could only muster a strongly-contested 3-pointer that fell short at the buzzer.
Seaholm showed resilience throughout the night, as it fell into separate deficits of 10 points and nine points before clawing back to tie it each time.
“This whole team is a bunch of dogs. (Farmington) had the size and the athleticism, but this whole team is a bunch of dogs,”
Genzlinger said. “This whole team just works their butts off. There’s a lot of heart on this squad.”
Having expended a lot of energy to draw even at 27-27 midway through the third quarter, the Maples found themselves trailing 42-33 soon after. But a couple of big plays by Chinonis, their leading scorer, helped close the gap again. His 3-pointer after side-stepping a defender tied the game with 1:55 to go.
“I was pleased with our ability to stay in the moment. We talked about it at the beginning of the game. There are no big moments, just a lot of little moments you have to work through,” DeGeeter said. “No matter what the score is, we’re just going to keep playing hard and try to execute our stuff.”
Chinonis finished with 15 points for the Maples, while Charlie Bokos recorded eight points. Tyler Eick and Jonny Cross contributed seven points apiece in support, while the hero, Genzlinger, tallied his four points in the fourth quarter.
Seaholm (6-8) advances to Saturday’s district final at Birmingham Brother Rice.
Originally slated to face North Farmington in a district semifinal, the Raiders announced Tuesday night that they have to forfeit due to COVID-19.
Farmington was led offensively by Robert Davis’ 19 points. Prince Jackson added 11 points.
The Falcons concluded the season with a 4-12 record.
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