Districts pare the field down to six local teams

Lapeer East’s Payton McCallum was swarmed under the glass by Davison’s Kyle Landis (32) and Christian Reynolds (22) Monday at the Class A Davison district. Lapeer East was eliminated from the district, 70-55. Photo by LISA PAINE STATEWIDE — With the first round of most Michigan High School Athletic Association boys basketball district games going off Monday, every team in the state got a fresh start regardless of how the regular season played out, leaving some to thrive, while others where denied under the tournaments one-and-done format.

Lapeer East, Capac, LakeVille, Marlette and Mayville have been eliminated, while Almont, Brown City, Dryden, Imlay City, Lapeer West and North Branch are still alive.

Below is a recap of first round games played on Monday across the area.

Class A, Davison

During their 19-game losing streak, the Davison basketball team kept its never-say-die attitude. Game after game Davison would lose, whether it be a blowout or a close game, lost in the end. A season that started with a win against Lapeer East three months ago continues with a 70-55 win against the Eagles during the opening round of district play at Davison on Monday.

LakeVille junior Andrew Haynew makes a pass while guarded by Birch Run’s Derrick Schroeder Monday at Goodrich. Photo by MICHAEL SELECKY The Cardinals, 2-19, jumped out to an early 18-13 lead after the first quarter and continued to build on that lead every quarter. The Eagles were outscored, 16-10, in the second quarter to trail, 34-23, at the half. The break did not stop Davison’s momentum, as the Cardinals outscored the Eagles, 18-16, in the third and fourth quarters.

The Eagles, 7-14, seemed to play uninspired at times, missing shots and turning the ball over when they had a chance to get back into the game. Every time the Eagles made a mistake, Davison took advantage of it.

Davison’s Travis Toye led all players with 24 points and was one of four Cardinals in double figures. Jake Thompson scored 13 points, while Kyle Landis added 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Mitchell Rubio chipped in with 10. The Cardinals are a young team and were without one of their leading scorers in Lance Arnold, who broke his wrist at the end of the regular season.

The Eagles were led by Cullen Turczyn with 18 points, but he made only 8-of-20 field goals. Payton McCallum scored 17 points, while Anthony Hunt had 10, and Jeff Wells added eight.

Davison moves on to play Flint Northern tonight in one semifinal while Lapeer West will take on Flint Northwestern in the other. Northwestern defeated Flint Kearsley in the opening round, 87-52. Class B, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

Capac saw its season come to an end in a way no one likes; with a one point loss to Macomb Lutheran North, 56-55. Lutheran North now faces Almont today in one semfinal, while Imlay City gets Notre Dame Prep after it eliminated Armada, 64-36, in the district opener.

Class B, Goodrich

LakeVille didn’t go down without a fight, but their district run was cut short by a potent Birch Run sqaud, 59- 51, at Goodrich.

The Falcons stayed just out of reach of Birch Run in the first half, leading 27- 26 at the break, but Birch Run put up a huge third quarter, outscoring the Falcons, 25-9, leaving them a rather large deficit to erase. LakeVille gave it a go with a 15-8 final quarter, but it just wasn’t enough.

Goodrich, ranked No. 4 in Class B, was defeated by Flint Powers, ranked No. 3 in Class B, in the other district opener, 57-55, so Birch Run now Mt. Morris today in the semifinals, while Flint Southwestern Academy gets Flint Powers.

Class B, Croswell-Lexington

North Branch, 13-8 overall, were taken to two extra sessions against Millington, 11-10 overall, in their district opener at Croswell-Lexington, with North Branch pulling off the double overtime thriller, 76-67.

The Broncos had the game in hand with a 20-7 first-quarter, but Millington began its attack in the second with a 16-11 second quarter to pull to within 31-23. Both sides put up a solid effort in the third with North Branch still on top, 44-38, but the fourth is when things began to get really interesting with Millington evening the score at 53-53, after outscoring North Branch, 15-9. The first overtime ended in another stalemate with both team’s putting up 10 points. Not content to see their season come to an end, North Branch took over in the second overtime, pacing the game with a 13-4 effort to clinch the win and a berth in the semifinals today against Caro. Yale awaits the winner of Cros-Lex vs Vassar in the other semifinal.

Ryan Kosko was the hot shooter on the night with 22 points, that included 10 field goals, while Chris White added 12 points, hitting three treys and sinking 3-of-4 from the line. Doug Griffin and Joe Raymond each chipped in with seven points apiece and Ron Jones added six.

Class C, Memphis

In the final matchup of a three-game agenda, Brown City took on Greater Thumb Conference-East rival Mayville Monday, taking a convincing 75-26 victory. After taking leads of 22-2 and 44-9 at the end of the first and second quarters, the Green Devils were just as aggressive once halftime had passed, outscoring the Wildcats, 19-12, and, 12-5, in the third and fourth.

With a dozen players making their way into the scoring charts and 15 total getting playing time, Brown City was led by Corey Soucie with a team-high 16 points, Andrew Knox scored 14, and hitting six field goals and 1-of-1 free throws for 14 points was Andrew Bell. Stew Peterson also managed to get himself noticed for the Green Devils with a six-point showing, scoring five was Casey Martus, and adding four points each were Josh Moffitt, Dylan Mason and Shawn Wendorf.

Having only a half dozen players contribute offensively, Mayville’s bounty was much less plentiful than the opposition’s despite a nine-point presentation by junior Jonathan Maddocks, senior William Henderson scored five, and posting four points apiece were seniors Brandon Harper and Jacob Coutcher.

With New Haven beating Sandusky, 57-30, in game two, the night began with Marlette taking on Memphis, but the Red Raiders fell, 52-42.

Despite having victory dangled before them only to see it snatched away when sophomores Jeff Weidner and Phil Jock got together to post all 18 points for the Yellowjackets in the game’s final session, the Red Raiders did get a quality performance out of Alex Storm, who scored 11 for the Red Raiders.

Overall Memphis’ fourth quarter mad men were able to clock a combined 34 points and 10 boards on the night.

Memphis plays Dryden in the district semifinals today at 6 p.m., followed by New Haven taking on Brown City at 7:30 p.m. The two winners will then play for the district title Friday at 6 p.m.