Zander Woodruff takes over, leads Laingsburg past Michigan Center for regional title

HORTON - Despite entering the game with seven losses, Michigan Center looked up to the task of competing with No. 2 Laingsurg as the Cardinals led by two points at halftime - the first time all season the unbeaten Wolfpack trailed at the break.

But there's one thing Laingsburg has that its opponents don't: Zander Woodruff.

The junior, the area's leading scorer this season, turned in another electric performance when his team needed him most in Wednesday's Division 3 regional championship. Woodruff scored a game-high 30 points, 17 of those coming in the pivotal third quarter, as Laingsburg defeated Michigan Center, 63-42.

"I also didn't have the best first half myself, but I knew coming out in that second half that I was gonna have to ball out," Woodruff said. "And that's what I did in that third quarter and just tried to carry it on into the fourth quarter.

"We're shooters, so shooters shoot. Sometimes it's not gonna fall, but in that second half, we got it done. We shot, and shots were falling."

The win gave Laingsburg its first regional title since 2013.

"We got a lot of kids that just expect to win, and that's really cool to coach," said Laingsburg coach Daniel Morrill. "I'm wanting to celebrate at the end of this game, and we got kids saying, 'Coach, we're not done yet.' And that's super exciting. At halftime, I think they knew they had to find another level."

The Wolfpack (25-0) will play Ecorse (19-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the state quarterfinals.

The first half was one of runs, with Laingsburg using a 16-4 surge to grab a 25-21 lead before Michigan Center ended the half on a 9-3 streak to lead 30-28 at the break.

And that's when Woodruff took over.

Woodruff, who entered the tournament averaging 23.3 points per game, scored Laingsburg's first five points of the half. And after the Cardinals hit consecutive 3-pointers to regain the lead at 37-36, Woodruff made two big-time plays.

First, his steal and coast-to-coast layup put Laingsburg up 38-37. Then, Jacob Essenberg was fouled on a made layup. He missed the free throw, but the Wolfpack grabbed the rebound and passed it out to Woodruff on the wing, who canned a 3-pointer to complete a 7-0 run and put Laingsburg ahead for good at 43-37 with 3:12 left in the quarter.

He'd go on to hit another 3-pointer, two free throws, and then steal an inbound pass and score with a second left on the clock, tallying the last of his 17 points in the period for a 52-41 Wolfpack lead.

"He's Zander. He can miss a few and you never worry because he'll lock in," Morrill said.

Laingsburg scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to lead 56-41 with 5:15 to go, finishing off a game-changing 22-4 run.

"It was a little shaky at first," Woodruff said. "(B)ut we stayed with it and stayed as a team. We came into the locker room with positive energy and we knew we could beat them, so we came out there and that's what we did tonight."

Eli Woodruff was also in double figures for Laingsburg with 13 points. Brayden Thomas and Ty Randall chipped in six points apiece.

Defensively, it was a team effort that kept a lid on the Michigan Center basket, holding the Cardinals to 12 second-half points. Morill also cited the effort of a number of reserves, including Connor Hulliberger, Jackson Audretsch and Elliott Wilsey.

"We had a lot of special efforts from guys off the bench. There's a long list of guys that came in and played really important roles and it showed up big," Morrill said.

Adrien Putnam led Michigan Center with 16 points.

"We didn't know it was going to be this tough, but it's the regional finals," Zander Woodruff said. "It's always gonna be a good game. That doesn't change us. We face adversity all the time."

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Laingsburg boys basketball beats Michigan Center for D3 regional title