James leads Stevenson to victory over L’Anse Creuse North, 52-40
Stevenson was in desperate need of a win.
Losers of five straight games, the Titans looked to turn things around against a solid L’Anse Creuse North basketball squad on Friday night.
Thanks to a 18-1 run in the second quarter, and senior guard Justin James scoring all 12 of Stevenson’s points in the final quarter, the Titans got back to a winning way, defeating the visiting Crusaders 52-40 in a MAC Red Division game.
“We needed this one,” Titan coach Ryan Joseph said. “We’ve been battling everybody, and it was five games in a row that we lost. The kids have had the right attitude in every game. The kids don’t get worse, they fight harder. I’m proud of that.”
LCN, behind eight points by Lorenzo Alfred, raced to a 12-8 lead after one quarter. However, the Crusaders went cold shooting the ball in the second quarter, and Stevenson got hot.
The Titans’ 18-1 run was paced by Zach Alindogan with six points, while Joe Malak added five points. Stevenson led 26-13 at halftime.
“I thought our shot selection was good, but I thought it became contagious that shots were dead on, but they were going in and out,” LCN coach Jay Seletsky said. “At that point, we continued to fight.”
LCN regrouped at halftime and opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run, cutting the Titan lead to 28-24 on a layup by Adam Koch with 4:41 left in the period.
Stevenson, though, answered from long range, ending the period with a 12-6 run on two treys by Alex Moratella, and one each by James and Alindogan.
“What’s great about it was that we countered their run with our bench,” Joseph said. “We haven’t stopped runs like that in the past. That’s been our focus.”
“I thought we battled in the third quarter, but our energy overall was good in the first half, but got away from us in the second half,” Seletsky said. “I think our rotations started to slack a little bit after we got it close in the third quarter.”
The final quarter belonged to James, who scored all 12 Titan points, including eight straight free throws in the final 3:31, icing the game. James finished the night with a game-high 23 points. He had seven assists.
“He’s been here since I’ve been here and we lean on him to do everything,” Joseph said. “It’s not easy when teams plan around him. Tonight, he stepped up and made his teammates better. We’ve been pushing for other guys to help him out, too.”
Alindogan chipped in nine points for Stevenson, while Malak finished with five points. The win improved the Titans’ record to 4-6 overall, 1-4 league.
“When they walked into the gym today you could feel that they were hungry,” Joseph said. “We had dropped two in a row at home and had both of them. Every game in the MAC Red is going to be like that. You can’t let the ebbs and flows of the season dictate everything.”
LCN was led by Alfred with 12 points, while Juan Caldwell added 11 points, and Conner Kouki and Drew Kozel each scored five points. The loss dropped the Crusaders’ record to 7-4 overall, 2-4 league.
“We have to work on our consistency,” Seletsky said. “Right now, anybody can beat anybody in the MAC Red. We need to become more consistent in all facets of the game.”
SOUTH LAKE 64, WARREN WOODS-TOWER 41
Markiese Friend scored 15 points and Roderick Friend and Jalen Mosley scored 11 apiece as South Lake improved to 7-0 in the MAC Gold and 11-3 overall. Amarion Brownlee scored 10 points. Warren Woods-Tower is 3-4 and 7-6.
ST. CLAIR 47, L’ANSE CREUSE 45
Hunter Richardson scored 12 points to lead St. Clair, which led 41-29 after three quarters and held off a L’Anse Creuse rally. Junior Caron Williams led L’Anse Creuse with 16 points. The Saints are 5-2 in the MAC Gold and 9-4 overall. L’Anse Creuse is 3-4 and 5-7.
PORT HURON NORTHERN 48, UTICA 35
Tyler Jamison had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to help Port Huron Northern climb to 6-0 in the MAC Blue. Luke Maher had 14 points and Malachi Mitchell 10 for the Huskies, who are 8-3 overall and trail first-place Lake Shore by one-half game. They’ve won seven games in a row. Trent McFarland scored nine points for Utica (16, 3-9).
LAKE SHORE 56, ANCHOR BAY 43
Jalen Jackson scored 31 points as Lake Shore improved to 7-0 in the MAC Blue. The first-place Shorians have three division games left, including two with Port Huron Northern (6-0). The first is Tuesday at PHN.
ROMEO 50, FORD 19
Junior center Tim Kewley had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks as MAC White-leading Romeo improved to 7-0 in the division. Matty Towne had eight points and Logan Rolfs six for the Bulldogs, who have won seven straight and are 8-3 overall.
NEW HAVEN 59, GROSSE POINTE NORTH 58
Keyondre Gamez made a basket at the buzzer to lift New Haven to the MAC White victory. Devin Sanford scored 12 points and Dezmond Gilleylen and Trevon Jeffery 10 apiece as the Rockets improved to
4-3 and 7-4. Adam Ayrault scored 23 points and Nick Robie 20 for Grosse Pointe North. New Haven has won four division games in a row after starting 0-3. Grosse Pointe North is 4-3 in the White. The Norsemen have lost twice in overtime, to Romeo and Eisenhower.
LINCOLN 87, LAKEVIEW 54
Markus Blackwell had 23 points and Kamari Barden 18 as Lincoln stayed undefeated in the MAC Silver. The Abes are 7-0 and have a two-game lead with three games to play.
Madison 43, Lamphere 23: Damian Harvey Jr. scored 13 points, Darrius Neal 11 points and Keanu Mills 10 to lead MAC Bronze leader Madison. The Eagles are 7-0 and have a two-game lead with three games to play.
Marysville 54, Clintondale 51: Clintondale sophomore Shamar RiserPressley scored 16 points in the MAC Silver game.
Girls basketball
DAKOTA 58, EISENHOWER 37
Ella Burger scored 18 points and Marissa Tocco 14 to spark Dakota to the MAC Red victory. Burger also had eight assists and seven steals, Tocco four rebounds and Tamia Tounsel nine points and seven rebounds as the Cougars improved to 4-1 and 10-3. Ava Stack led Eisenhower with 13 points.
PARKWAY CHRISTIAN 36, ROEPER 19
Ava Szacon had 13 points and Tamerah Peterson had nine points and nine rebounds to spark Parkway Christian. Caroline Schlaf made 10 steals and had seven points, five rebounds and four assists. Peterson scored 19 points and Schlaf 17 in the Eagles’ 40-23 victory over Lutheran Westland.
MOUNT CLEMENS 69, DETROIT VOYAGEUR 24
Nevaeh Williams scored 39 points and made a school-record 18 steals to lead Mount Clemens. Olicia Porritt scored 15 points.
Hockey
L’Anse Creuse Unified 6, Fenton-Linden 2: Cade Ringstad had two goals and three assists and Donald Gooley two goals and two assists as L’Anse Creuse Unified stretched its winning streak to seven games. The team made up of players L’Anse Creuse and L’Anse Creuse North