Smith Jr. leads Stoney Creek past Troy, 42-36
Saturday afternoon was vintage Trevor Smith Jr., with the scintillating 6-2 senior point guard putting on a show and leading his shorthanded Stoney Creek Cougars to a 42-36 grind fest of a win versus Troy in a Division 1 boys basketball district final on the Cougars’ home floor.
Smith scored a game-high 21 points, dished five assists, grabbed six rebounds and made three steals in the contest. His leadership and playmaking in the second half lifted his less-heralded Cougars past a Troy club with four college-bound players in the starting lineup.
Smith outplayed them all. And to those paying attention the past two months, it didn’t come as a surprise — pundits have proclaimed Smith the MVP of the OAA this season.
“We grinded out a championship today, we got crucial stops late and didn’t let the fact that we didn’t have some of our big guns on the court deter us from accomplishing our goal of getting a district title,” Smith said. “We have heart and chemistry. That overcomes a lot of other stuff.”
Lance Fogelberg and Alex Reiter, the Cougars second and third leading scorers, were on nonrefundable vacations, unaware when the getaways were booked that the 2021 COVID-19 affected campaign would be stretching into late March. It didn’t matter though on Saturday, as Smith more than picked up the slack in their absence.
Smith hit a long 3 from the left wing to put Stoney Creek ahead 21-12 at the half. A traditional 3-point play by Smith off an offensive rebound late in the third quarter pushed the Cougars on top 28-21 heading into the fourth.
To start the game’s final frame, Smith found power forward Josh Korson for a bucket in the paint and canned a pair of free throws. Smith’s second three-point play in a row midway through the quarter had the Cougars smelling a banner.
When Korson took a feed from teammate David Angel and converted underneath the basket with 3:48 remaining, Stoney Creek upped its advantage into double digits for the first time all game.
Things still got interesting at the end. Troy senior point guard Ethan Emerzian nailed a 3-pointer from the right elbow to make it 4036 at the 26.2 mark, but that’s as close as the Colts would get. Smith’s two free throws in the last 10 ticks sealed the district crown for the home team.
Emerzian paced the Colts with a teamhigh nine points. He and his twin brother, Jake, are inked with Madonna for their college ball. Oakland University-signee Brody Parker, one of Metro Detroit’s most prolific offensive threats the past three years, finished his last prep game with just six points in the slow-tempo affair. Concordia-signee D’Anthony Hamilton booked eight points and six boards in the game.
Troy (6-8) was favored to win the OAA White in the preseason, however, had a difficult time finding a rhythm this year despite its talented roster. Earlier in the week, it appeared the Colts had flipped a switch in their 83-26 throttling of Utica Eisenhower in the district semifinals, connecting on 15 triples on Thursday night.
“We couldn’t shoot it against Stoney Creek today, unfortunately the productivity from outside the other night didn’t carry over to
this game for us,” veteran Troy head coach Gary Fralick said. “We weren’t hitting shots, so the game turned into a defensive battle and they defended better than we did. That was the story.”
Stoney Creek (12-4) and Bloomfield Hills shared the OAA White championship for 2021. The Cougars are a deep, senior-laden team that don’t seemed phased by the prospects of playing the regionals without Reiter and Fogelberg.
“There’s so much buy-in from these guys, they’re not thinking about what we don’t have, they’re thinking about what we do have,” Stoney Creek’s 11th-year head coach
Steve Norgrove said. “Everyone knows their roles and everyone excels in those roles. This is team basketball at its finest.”
Norgrove, who also took the Cougars to a district championship in 2017, feels secure in the fact that Smith is captaining his ship.
“Listen, we have Trevor Smith, that should give us all confidence. That might be the biggest equalizer of them all (in regionals),” he said. “Look at the kind of season he has delivered. Look at the type of game-changer he is. Look how he makes every one of his teammates better and how his teammates have unwavering faith in everything he does out there. I’ll roll the dice with him every day of the week. They will, too. We’re going to keep letting him loose.”
Stoney Creek will face Chippewa Valley in the regional semifinal at Troy High School on Tuesday at 7 p.m.