Boys Basketball

Holiday break and all that comes with it – no school, but plenty of "classics" and "showcases" – has come to an end.  But in its wake, we see a little better how some of the state's best stack up heading into league play that will d...

As with football during the fall, Second Half tries to hit all classes and all corners of the state for these weekly boys and girls basketball reports. But sometimes, focusing on the powers in Class A and B is simply unavoidable.

Michigan’s top boys basketball teams traditionally waste little time each December seeing how they match up against the rest of the elite. And last week proved no different.

Lamont Simpson’s “home” is a place he visits twice a week during his peak season, when NCAA Division I officiating duties have him navigating the Midwest like a person in a race for frequent flyer miles. So, naturally, there’s Simpson officiatin...

Who would I pick to coach a Lansing area boys basketball Dream Team? Sportswriters get a lot of questions like that, from radio hosts or fans, or roommates who grew up nearby. To not offend the other coaching friends I’d made in my decade-plus in Lansing, I kept ...

Annette Babers has lived on both sides of that message, as both the pursuer and achiever. And she explained how today's high school players can do the same last week in speaking to more than 200 athletes, parents and coaches attending the MHSAA's Reaching Higher girls...

Muskegon's Ron Pesch has been the foremost expert on Michigan high school athletics history for nearly two decades. He tells us about his current project, BCAM's Retro Mr. Basketball Awards.

We run into plenty of great ideas during our travels around the state. And what better way to make our vast home feel a little bit smaller than to share them. This was one of our favorites from this winter. Petoskey's Throwback night combined two things we often promot...

Did we just watch one of the greatest MHSAA boys basketball champions of all-time? That’s a question being asked around the state coming off this season’s Boys Basketball Finals at Michigan State’s Breslin Center.

Dearborn Divine Child's Cara Miller. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett's Madison and Hailegh Ristovski. Morley-Stanwood's Alexis Huntey. Goodrich's Aketra Sevillian. Sagianw's Travontis Richardson, Traverse City St. Francis' Sean Sheldon. What do they all have in ...

In its fourth trip to the Breslin Center in five seasons, Flint Beecher left with its first MHSAA title since 1987.

Charlotte High School's “Hooping for a Cure” players vs. teachers basketball games began as a way for teacher and coach Brent Crossman to honor his mom and raise money for the American Cancer Society. But this month’s game, the fifth in what is now an...

A pair of champion-winning guards highlight this week's High 5s as we begin wrapping up the 2011-12 winter season.

Lansing Sexton coach Carlton Valentine described Saturday night how every one of his four senior starters fit into a puzzle the last three seasons. Together one last time, they combined for a memorable closing performance in the Class B Final at the Breslin Center.

Every time Draymond Green visited a Saginaw basketball practice this season, he reminded the current Trojans of the same thing: The Michigan State and former Saginaw star has two Class A championship rings. They had none. He can’t tease them anymore.

Antuan Burks and Monte Moore sat together during the 2008 Class C Final and watched Flint Beecher come up just three points short of winning an MHSAA championship. They agreed they’d be back to finish the job.

As a sophomore on Southfield Christian’s one-win team two seasons ago, Gavin Toma didn’t spend much time dreaming an about MHSAA championship. And although the Eagles improved to 11-10 last season, they still seemed a long way from what they finished Satur...

The first time Detroit Country Day faced this Lansing Sexton team during a Finals weekend, the Yellowjackets won an MHSAA championship. But coach Kurt Keener knew that night in 2010 wouldn’t be the last his team would run into these Big Reds.

Stevensville Lakeshore coach Sean Schroeder had talked with his team this season about taking another step as a program. He echoed that with a little more fire at halftime of Friday’s Class B Semifinal at the Breslin Center.

No one from this season’s Saginaw team had played in an MHSAA Semifinals before this weekend. That’s saying something, given how the Trojans have made Breslin Center a regular March destination over the last two decades. After a slow start Friday, they look...