8/7/2019 A2SportsFront 2-17-11

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Little

bro?Heckno

Sometimes you get your lit-tle brother excited when you areplaying basketball and stuff. Lethim get the lead, then you justcome back and take it back.

Those words were infamouslyuttered by former University ofMichigan running back MikeHart after a come-from-behindvictory over Michigan State inNovember of 2007.

Hart sat smugly answering

questions, doing his best topolitely rub salt in the woundsof the Spartans.

After all, Michigan was thebetter team and the better pro-gram. In Harts mind, the bestteam won.

But what happens when lit-tle brother steps up and socksyou in the mouth?

Ask the Skyline boys basket-ball team, because this seasonsEagles squad has a lot in com-mon with those Spartans of2007.

The Skyline basketball teamwas supposed to be a doormatthis season.

They were supposed to bethe little brother of theSoutheastern Conference.

They were supposed to be theteam that everyone destroyed.The team that everyone

played and then afterwards, thewinning teams coach wouldtalk about how good they weregoing to be in the future.

Skyline was supposed to playthe role of the little brother, get-ting waxed like a Corolla in thefamily driveway by the moretalented, more experienced, andslightly condescending olderbrothers.

But thats not how thingshave unfolded.

Lets get one thing straight.Skyline might have the young-est team in the league, butthe team has proved it isntanyones little brother.

This is Skylines first seasonplaying in the competitive SECRed Division.

In its third year as a school,Skyline has just freshman,sophomores and juniors.

Every other team in theleague is made up of exclusivelyjuniors and seniors.

Yeah, I think you could lookat it as a disadvantage, Skylinehead coach Mike Lovelace said.But we never really focused onthat. We lack size and strength,we know that, but we also havea lot of speed and agility. Theway we look at it is we just tryto play to our advantages.

And that philosophy hasworked.

The Skyline team has madefast-paced, aggressive basket-

ball its signature.The Eagles play at a pace that

seems to keep opponents offguard.

Oh yeah, the Eagles also havea roster full of pure shootersand at least one player (TheronWilson) who is going to garnerconsideration for All-State rec-ognition.

We had a good vision for thisteam, Lovelace said. And theykeep exceeding our expecta-tions.

And recently, the Eagles havebeen outstanding.

After dropping four of theirfirst five games of the season,Skyline has rebounded by win-

Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

Hurons Jeff Hugan is guarded closely by Ypsilantis DerrickRichardson on Tuesday. Huron won the game 73-53.

Eagles shock SEC withback-to-back wins over

Dexter and Pioneer

PLEASE SEE LARSON/2-B

February 17, 2011Heritage Media

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Unbeaten Phoenix fall to HuronBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

Goliath lives.Despite a valiant effort by the

Ypsilanti Phoenix, there was noslaying of the giant.

On Tuesday night, in front ofan estimated crowd of around1,200, last years Class A staterunner up, Ann Arbor Huron,stormed into Ypsilanti andhanded the Phoenix its firstloss.

Despite coming into thegame with a 14-0 record,Ypsilanti was considered theunderdog in this game.

And the River Rats showedthe packed gym why, winningthe Southeastern Conferencecrossover 73-53.

Despite the big win, Huron

head coach Waleed Samahasaid the game was much closerthan it seemed.

A lot of people will look atthe score and think we domi-nated, but Ill tell you, we hada fit against their defense,Samaha said. They play somegreat defense. Best defenseweve seen all year.

The game was close in thefirst quarter as Ypsilantijumped out to a quick 9-4 lead.However, Huron reboundedbefore the end of the frame,taking an 18-13 lead at the endof the first.

In the second quarter, Huron

went on an 11-0 run, holdingthe Phoenix scoreless for overtwo minutes.

That run proved to be a turn-ing point, as Huron took a 39-23

lead at the half. Ypsilanti wasnever really able to get backwithin striking distance.

It was an important gamefor us, Hurons A.J. Mathewsaid. We knew we had to comeout strong, and we did.

Huron was led by DanteWilliams with 19 points, whileMike Lewis added 14 andMathew added 12.

The majority of Ypsilantisscoring came from MamadouBa, Aaerion Allen and TristanSimmons, who all scored 15.

Its a tough loss, Allen said.This isnt what we wanted tohappen, but Huron is a good

team. We just have to go back tothe gym and keep on working.Mike Larson can be reached

by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.com.

Skyline sweep

Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

Skylines Jordan Woods, above, goes up for a dunk against Pioneer on Friday while theSkyline fans, right, celebrate. The Eagles defeated the Pioneers in a 54-52 shocker.

By Mike LarsonA2 Journal

Skylines Jarrius Mann hasa way of coming through atthe end of games.

Last season, in a districtgame against Tecumseh,Mann nailed two free throwsat the end of regulation to tiethe game and send it to over-

time.Skyline later won.On Friday night, Mann

came through again forSkyline (7-7, 6-4) in a thrill-ing win over cross-town rivalPioneer (10-4, 4-3).

With just four seconds left inthe game, the two Ann Arborschools were tied at 52-52.

Skylines Jack Clarkinbounded the ball to team-mate Theron Wilson, whodrove and put the ball uptoward the basket.

The shot never even drewiron, but fell in the hopefulhands of Mann.

He banked the ball off theglass and into the basket justas the buzzer sounded, givingSkyline the 54-52 win.

Jarrius has a knack forhitting shots at the end of thegame, Skyline coach MikeLovelace said. He just really

came through for us.The game was close most

of the way through, althoughPioneer was handicapped withthe loss of several players dueto illness and academic eligi-bility issues.

Pioneers Jeremiah Strode,Darien Hill and JaKorey Davisall sat the game out.

We knew they were miss-ing some of their best play-ers, Mann said. So we really

PLEASE SEE SKYLINE/2-B

GENERAL

ADMISSION

MIKE LARSON

Richard hockey championship bound

File Photo

The GabrielRichard hock-ey team pre-pares for agame earlierthis season.The FightingIrish recentlydefeatedRiverviewGabrielRichard toadvance tothe CatholicHigh SchoolLeague finals.

By Mike LarsonA2 Journal

One way or another, therewas going to be a GabrielRichard hockey team in theCatholic High School LeagueDivision 2 Championship.

As it happened, it turned outthe Richard team from AnnArbor made the cut.

Last Monday, the FightingIrish from Ann Arbor hostedRiverview Gabriel Richard atYost Arena, with a champion-ship berth on the line.

Ann Arbor took control andwon the game 2-1 and earned aspot in the CHSLs title game.

It was our biggest game ofthe year, Ann Arbor coachTom OBrien said. We reallyplayed well and our defensestepped up in a big way.

The biggest defensive perfor-mance was turned in by AnnArbor goalie Colin McMahon,who made 14 saves in the win.

Colin was great, OBriensaid. He played a great game.Riverview had some great

Irish take down Riverviewto advance to CHSL finals

PLEASE SEE RICHARD/3-B