Romulus' shooting woes from the semifinal round looked to have been solved
in the early going in the MHSAA final versus Holt Saturday afternoon. The Eagles
came out firing, netting four threes (two each from Dante Williams and Jason
Gibson) in the opening quarter of play and led 18-12 after one.
Muhammad El-Amin paced Holt's attack with six first quarter points, but he
really picked things up in the second. He drove to the basket eight points on
a 23-9 run that put the Rams up 35-27. The Eagles chopped the deficit to six
right before the break, but Holt remained on the offensive.
Paul Crosby was a force in Holt's semifinal game versus Grosse Pointe North
with 15 points and 13 rebounds, but he had been relatively quiet in the first
half versus the Eagles. That all changed at the start of the third quarter.
The sophomore big man scored the first seven points on a 12-6 run that pushed
Holt's lead to double digits (47-35). After a team-timeout at 3:23 mark, the
Eagles had a sense of urgency and Jerret Smith began to take the game over.
Smith went to work immediately, driving to the hole and drawing contact in
the process. He nailed two free throws to cut the lead to ten. On the defensive
end the Eagles pressed fullcourt, trapped at halfcourt, and doubled Crosby whenever
he got the ball. On one such occasion Crosby kicked the ball out for a wide
open three, but Romulus was right there with then answer. Back to back threes
from Gibson and freshman Dominique Buckley. Smith followed that up with a pull-up
jumper from the wing to cap an 8-0 run and cut the lead to five (50-45) with
a minute remaining. The Rams finally ended their brief drought moments later
when John Lierman hit a lay-up. Holt seemed to sap the Eagles momentum even
more in the waning minutes of the quarter with another lay-up to push the lead
to nine (54-45), but Smith would rise to the occasion in the fourth and give
his team the opportunity to win.
After the Rams pushed the lead to 11 early in the final stanza, the Eagles
began their march back. Gibson started things off with a triple and then Smith
took them the rest of the way. The senior point guard scored seven straight
points, including a three-pointer and a beautiful up-and-under lay-up, to cut
the lead to three (60-57) with 3:54 left in the game.
Crosby gave the Rams a little breathing room, scoring a bucket down low and
converting and-1 free throw after being fouled. Gibson got those points right
back when nailed his final three-pointer with just less than two minutes remaining.
The two teams then played to a stalemate until Smith hit a lay-up a minute later
to cut the lead to one (63-62).
Seconds later, Romulus had a chance to take the lead but their shot attempt
fell short. Crosby seemed to have secured the rebound, but when he brought the
ball down, Romulus senior Avery Stevenson tied it up to retain possession for
the Eagles with 8.5 seconds on the clock. Jerret Smith took the ball out and
almost got called for the five-seconds, but lobbed it in to Stevenson in the
corner just in time. As Stevenson received the ball he was nudged toward the
sideline from behind. That was enough to force the turnover, as the referee
indicated he had stepped out of bounds.
The Eagles immediately fouled guard Ty Motley, who calmly sank two free throws
to put the Rams up three with 5.3 seconds left. Romulus had one more shot to
win when Jerret Smith drew two Holt defenders and kicked to an open Geryn Reese
for a long three-point attempt, but it fell off of the front of the iron, and
the Eagles lost 65-62.
On the game Romulus was led by Jason Gibson with 20 points (6/9 from three-point
range) and Jerret Smith with 19 points (15 in the second half), five assists,
and three steals. Muhammad El-Amin had a double-double for the Rams with 18
points and 11 rebounds, while Paul Crosby had 17 points and seven rebounds.
For more on the game, click here.
Check back for more notes and quotes from the game later.
State Final Results
Class A Final - March 19
Holt 65, Romulus 62 - Box
Score
Class B Final - March 19
Grand Rapids South Christian 67, Muskegon Heights 60 - Box
Score
Class C Final - March 19
Olivet 74, Unionville-Sebewaing 55 - Box
Score
Class D Final - March 19
Detroit Rogers 71, Bellaire 68 (OT) - Box
Score