Michigan Collegiate falls to Ferndale, 69-50
Ferndale head coach Juan Rickman had no problem turning the calendar to a new year two months ago.
His Eagles basketball team was in the midst of a slump, a 1-4 start to the season. Nevermind the fact that Rickman’s squad had played a brutal schedule which included the likes of Brother Rice, Detroit U-D Jesuit, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Grosse Pointe South — three of which were playing for regional championships Wednesday night — the coach was not pleased with the team’s play on the court.
The story is much different now for Rickman’s team, which defeated Warren Michigan Collegiate, 69-50, to capture a Division 2 regional title at Hazel Park High School. The Eagles played clean basketball, scoring early and often, to earn their third straight trip to the state quarterfinals.
“At the start of the season, we were at about a one, or a two or three — out of 10,” Ferndale
senior Cam Reed said. “But we knew we were going to get better, working hard, taking it day-by-day and staying true to the grind.
“I had a lot of confidence, because, as a team, we say this a lot, ‘Not Attack The Outcome, NATO.’ We knew the progression was going to come and we’d be where we are today.”
Reed scored 13 points and dished out eight assists to help his team past the Cougars (213). Fellow guards Trent Ruth and Caleb Renfroe had 18 and 12 points, as the Eagles controlled the game from start to finish.
“We were never worried, we just knew we had to get our guard play together,” said Rickman, whose team improved to 18-8 with the win. “Cam really stepped it up and
his floor game has gotten a lot better. He’s making better decisions. I knew once he got better and the rest of our guards got better, we’d get better.”
Ferndale fell behind early but used a 10-0 run to end the first quarter with an 18-7 lead. Ruth and senior guard Noah Blocker each hit a 3-pointer during the run. The Eagles continued their hot shooting into the second quarter. Ruth hit a 3 with 4:02 left in the half to give his team a commanding 27-11 lead. Reed scored on back-to-back drives to
the basket moments later and senior guard Chris Williams converted on a Collegiate turnover with 2:12 left to give his team its biggest lead of the first half, 33-13.
Renfroe hit a pair of 3s and Ruth added five points of his own as the Eagles extended their lead to as many as 23 points in the third quarter. Collegiate used a 12-2 run to finish the third — aided by a pair of Dylan Grant dunks — to cut the lead to 52-39. Grant finished with a game-high 23 points.
But Ferndale used an 11-4 run to open the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach.
Williams finished with nine points and eight rebounds
in his team’s win. Renfroe had four steals.
“When we came into the game, we talked about 70 being the magical number if we wanted to beat Michigan Collegiate,” said Rickman, whose team has won 13 of its last 14. “They’re so good. (Coach) James Scott does such a great job. His guys are so tough and they rebound the ball so well. We knew we were going to have to rebound and we had to make them score.”
Ferndale will now face Goodrich in a quarterfinal game Tuesday at Lake Orion High School. The Martians (22-4) defeated Croswell-Lexington, 56-39, in their regional championship game.