Clarkston continues thriving on the court
The pundits keep trying to write them off, but the Clarkston boys basketball squad just won’t relinquish its role as a suburban superpower.
With the legendary Fife and Loyer names no longer on the marquee, the Wolves continue to thrive.
Last week, Clarkston went on a two-game road trip to square off with Detroit Cass Tech and Oak Park and took home roughand-rugged wins in both contests. The Wolves are 6-2 and in the thick of the race for the OAA Red crown. They knocked off Cass Tech 55-52 and their 57-54 victory over Oak Park places them at 1-1 in league play. Their only losses of the season have been to nationally-ranked Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and OAA Red rival North Farmington in a narrow defeat where the Wolves squandered an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Senior floor general Keegan Wasilk (6-3, 16 ppg. 6 rpg. 6 apg. )was one of the best point guards in Metro Detroit the past two years, but this season he’s one of the top playmaking guards in the whole state of Michigan. He registered a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds versus Cass Tech and then filled the stat sheet for 21 points and 6 assists against Oak Park. The week prior his 13 dimes against North Farmington set a new single-game assist record for the program his dad Chris and his uncle Tim both starred in as well back in the 1990s.
Tim Wasilk replaced his old coach Dan Fife in the fall of 2018, with the program coming off back-to-back Class A state championships. Mr. Basketball Foster Loyer (Davidson-Michigan State) graduated and Fletcher Loyer (2022 Mr. Basketball candidate in Indiana) moved with his parents to the Hoosier State two years later.
Still, Keegan Wasilk remained. Like a rock. The steadiness and
leadership he brings serves as the program’s anchor.
“Keegan is the ultimate competitor, he’s a coach on the court and he holds everybody on this team accountable,” said the elder Wasilk of his nephew. “This season, he’s as dialed-in and as focused as can be. He’s raised his game to another level and that’s giving us an edge.”
Nate Steinman, the Wolves’ senior shooting guard, is playing at a much higher level this winter, too. The 6-foot-2 gunner has shown considerable more versatility during his senior campaign. Steinman dropped 17 points apiece in the Cass Tech and Oak Park games, respectively.
“Nate’s consistency and ability to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim have improved tremendously,” Wasilk said.
Second-year starter Zach Austin is a jack of all trades type on the perimeter and adept at drilling open jumpers on kick-outs from Waslik and Steinman. Sixth-man Caleb Woodbury is a “glue guy” out of the backcourt with grit and a soft touch.
Sophomores Brody Kosin (6-6), Zack Sherler (6-10) and Des Stephens (6-2) in the frontcourt represent the future of the program. Stephens had a breakout early portion of the season but is sidelined with an injury until next month. Scrappy junior Cavanaugh Diton has stepped in for Stephens in the starting lineup and brings a punch-you-in-themouth mentality every possession. Diton, Kosin and Stephens all also star on the school’s football team.
SITUATION IS BIGGER
Rochester Adams twosport standout Brady Prieskorn picked up his first Big Ten offer on the football field over the weekend when Penn State put a bid on the table. Prieskorn (66) is a hybrid tight end on the gridiron and a natural “stretch 4” on the basketball floor. Central Michigan offered him for football back in October. His Adams club won the OAA White and advanced all the way into the Division 1 state finals in 2021 before losing to Belleville 55-33 in a game in which he made two long touchdown grabs.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You better learn how to turn the page in this league or you’re not going to get very far…..you’re either going to respond and you’re going to get trampled over licking your wounds,” Birmingham Brother Rice head boys basketball coach Rick Palmer on the brutal league schedule in the CHSL Central and needed to put defeats in the rear view mirror quickly