Michigan high school D-1 boys basketball semis: Grand Blanc to go for back-to-back titles

EAST LANSING — Defending champion Grand Blanc served noticed in Friday’s Division 1 Michigan high school boys basketball semifinal that it has plenty of gas left in the tank.

The Bobcats (21-5) put the pedal to the metal and took care of business in convincing fashion with a 61-40 victory over tournament upstart Belleville (19-6) at MSU’s Breslin Center.

Grand Blanc, boasting just one senior in its lineup, used a balanced scoring attack to oust the Tigers, who were coming off an upset quarterfinal win over Detroit Cass Tech.

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The victory sends Grand Blanc back to the finals for the second year in a row against Warren De La Salle (19-7) in a 12:15 p.m. start on Saturday at Breslin.

Nine players scored for Grand Blanc, led by Tae Boyd (15 points), Amont’e Allen-Johnson (13) and R.J. Taylor (10).

The night before the game, Allen-Johnson got a call and a pep talk from head coach Mike Thomas, who also guided Kalamazoo Central to back-to-back Class A titles in 2010-11.

“He just asked me if I was ready,” Allen-Johnson said. “I said just playing here last year gave me a boost of confidence, just knowing I can come here and lead my team and we can just make history going back-to-back. He just gave me a whole lot of confidence coming into tournament this year.”

Taylor, a starter on last year’s state championship team as a sophomore, piggybacked on Allen-Johnson’s comments.

“Everybody was talking after our win in the quarters that we have the best of both worlds,” Taylor said. “We have the experience of being here before and winning here before. But we also have that chip on our shoulder to prove people wrong again. One thing that makes this so special is that we have the experience, but we also have the hunger still.”

Boyd, a junior guard, scored the Bobcats’ first six points as they built a 17-6 first quarter advantage. During the period, Grand Blanc made eight of 14 shots from the field while limiting the Tigers to 3-for-12 shooting.

The Bobcats stretched their lead to 24-8 midway through the second on a basket by Allen-Johnson and ended the half on a 3-pointer by 6-foot-7 center Bryce O’Mara. The sophomore gathered himself in the corner and flipped up a tough-angle shot that hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded, giving Grand Blanc a 31-15 halftime advantage.

“Sometimes stuff like that happens where a kid hits a crazy shot and it’s not in your control,” Belleville coach Adam Trumpour said, “but there were a couple of defensive possessions in the second quarter when we were struggling to score that I wish we could have done a little better job ... Unfortunately, that was kind of par for course today on that shot (O’Mara) hit at halftime.”

The Tigers tried to hang around in the third quarter, but couldn’t gain any ground as they were vying for their first finals appearance since 1998.

“Obviously Mike had them prepared and were going to take advantage of that, and we just couldn’t seem to string consecutive stops to have at those most critical moments,” Trumpour said. “We were even with them in the third, but with the deficit we had at halftime we needed to cut into the lead there.”

Seniors Bryce Radtka and Da’Jon Johnson scored nine points apiece for the Tigers, who shot 32% from the floor (15-for-47), including 3-for-18 from beyond the arc. The 6-8 Radtka also grabbed eight rebounds.

“Really struggled shooting the basketball in the first half,” Trumpour said. “Kind of uncharacteristic for us was some of the shots we had —not disappointed with all the shots – but obviously didn’t shoot it well. And we a team as good as Grand Blanc that put us in a hole. But we came out much better in the second half, really worked to get some good shots and knocked some of them down, but we kind of traded punches with them.”

Grand Blanc made 27 of 59 field goal attempts, including five of 15 from 3-point range.

“We’ve got to create a sense of urgency to accomplish unforeseen goals without making excuses tomorrow,” Thomas said. “Our main goal, and our ultimate goal is one — be standing after 130 days. This is Day 129, and 130 is tomorrow, and we’re right here and have an opportunity to accomplish our unforeseen goal.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan D-1 boys basketball: Grand Blanc goes for title repeat