Haskins, Stevens spark Richmond to district championship
Richmond seniors D’Quan Haskins and Karl Stevens weren’t going to let their high school basketball careers end Friday night.
The two Blue Devil guards combined for 23 of Richmond’s 28 second-half points, leading host Richmond to a 57-49 Division 2 district championship win over Blue Water Athletic Conference rival Armada on Friday night.
“They are arguably the two best players in the area,” Richmond coach Josh Presnell said. “It’s back-to-back (district) championships for us.”
Richmond never trailed, racing to a 13-7 lead after one quarter, before extending the advantage to 29-20 at halftime behind 13 points by Haskins.
“It was a great battle,” Presnell said. “This was two great teams and to win is impressive.”
The Blue Devils led 44-34 after three quarters, before Armada made a run, cutting the deficit to 48-45 on a triple by Riley Andrews with 3:54 to play.
“I told the seniors before they came out that I couldn’t be more proud of what they did,” Armada coach Chris Haller said. “Our goal this season was to go and compete for a championship. We challenged the top players in the BWAC this season and we knew this was a good team. It was a loud rivalry, and we were only down six points at the wire. You never know how it’s going to go.”
Richmond, though, pushed the lead up to 53-47 on a putback by Stevens with 2:57 left, before making 4-of-8 free throws in the final minute, closing out the win.
“We’ve been here before and know what it’s like,” Presnell said. “They weren’t going to back down. We have some tough kids.”
Haskins led Richmond with 25 points, while Stevens finished with 15 points. Sebastian Maes chipped in seven points for the Blue Devils.
“Armada plays so hard,” Presnell said. “They just never stop. We were getting beat on the boards in the first half and corrected it at halftime. We had to box out.”
The win improved Richmond’s record to 22-2 overall and moved the Blue Devils into next week’s regional at Imlay City.
Armada was paced by An
drews with 15 points.
“Riley has come on big for us here at the end,” Haller said. “He wants to get to rim and is as good as anyone I can remember. He runs our offense and brings a great team attitude.”
Justin Schapman added 13 points for the Tigers, while Andrew Sniesak finished with nine points.
“We got a lot of good shots that we wanted at the end, but they just bounced off the rim,” Haller said. “They didn’t let that get them down.”
The loss ended Armada’s season at 14-10 overall. Haller said this team was very special to him.
“They stayed positive through the whole game and knew they were going to finish it,” Haller said. “It’s a tough loss, but this group is super special to me. I had them for three years, beginning on JV and coming up with me to varsity. There was nothing I wanted more than a championship at the end. We just fell a little short today.”
Richmond plays Goodrich at 7 p.m. in a regional semifinal. CroswellLexington plays Notre Dame Prep in the other semifinal.
Cros-Lex and Richmond tied for the BWAC championship.