DETROIT — Luke Westerdale describes his Riverview Gabriel Richard basketball team as “hard-working,” “resilient” and “hungry.”
All those traits are coming into play as the experienced Pioneers hope to bring home their fifth Catholic League Cardinal Division championship in six seasons. Gabriel Richard — rated the top team in the state among Division 3 schools — will enter February’s playoffs as the top seed.
Kris Daiek’s squad returns all five starters from a 2023-24 team that won the Catholic League title and reached the Division 3 state semifinals. Nick Sobush and Westerdale are aggressive guards who each eclipsed the 1,000 career point milestone earlier this season. Drew Everingham and Derek Lesko are deadly three-point shooters. Charles Kage provides height underneath the basket and can grab rebounds.
With the regular season winding down in its final week, Gabriel Richard has clinched first place in the AA Division with a 9-0 mark. The Pioneers are 14-2 overall, only suffering losses to undefeated Flint Powers Catholic (ranked No. 1 in Division 2) and Division 1 Grand Blanc in the season opener.
“We came out for the season slower and not doing what we needed to do, and now we’re starting to click and really figure it out. The hard work’s really starting to work for us,” Westerdale said. “We’re really just starting to find a rhythm now and it feels great. We’re beating teams how we should be beating them now, and it feels good.”
The loss to Grand Blanc, played at Saginaw Valley State University, wasn’t a big shocker, considering the game was played just one day after the Pioneers competed in the Division 8 state football championship at Ford Field.
“The football state championship run kind of put a hinder on everything at the beginning of the season,” Daiek said. “I feel like three weeks ago we just started getting our legs back, get our groove on, and we started sharing the ball. The guys trust each other. We know if we get a good look at the basket, we’re going to knock it down. You’re starting to see that they’re getting more confidence with that, and just sharing the basketball. That’s been big.”
Recent results show that the Pioneers are hitting their stride at the right time. On Jan. 22, Gabriel Richard hosted previously unbeaten Jackson Lumen Christi and came away with an 88-65 blowout victory.
“I loved that; that was one of my favorite wins I’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Westerdale, who erupted for 26 points, including 6 three-pointers. “Last year we went into their gym and they knocked us off, and that was our one loss (in Catholic League play), and this year they got to come into our gym and they got to experience what it’s like to play GR basketball.”
“We made that trip last year; it’s not an easy trip. You drive for an hour and a half, and then you’re sitting around the gym for a while,” Daiek said. “They’re a good basketball team, but we’re just shooting the basketball well. We had 14 threes in that game; I think we had 13 in the game after that (last Friday’s 80-34 win over Macomb Lutheran North).”
Despite playing three games in four days, Gabriel Richard showed no signs of slowing down, hitting 14 more three-pointers in a 79-62 win over Flint Carman-Ainsworth in the “Downtown Showdown” at Detroit Cass Tech on Jan. 25. Westerdale was the high scorer with 24 points, Everingham had 20 and Sobush added 13.
“I thought we started off a little slow, but I know we picked it up,” Sobush said. “Luke and Drew got hot from the three-point line, so we just started getting them the ball, they just kept shooting and did their stuff. I thought we had pretty good defense in the second half, shut them down a little bit.”
Sobush said the X-factor is the team’s chemistry. All of the Pioneers’ seniors have been part of the varsity rotation for four seasons.
“We’ve been together for a while, so I know where Luke’s going to be, I know where everyone else is going to be,” he said. “We’re playing to win the Catholic League — it’s one of our goals: win the Catholic League and go into March on a roll.”
While the Pioneers have big expectations and an eye on returning to Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, they aren’t taking things for granted.
“I think it will be a different game if we play (Lumen Christi) again, and if we do, that’s great, because we’ll be playing for a championship,” Daiek said. “If we get to play them a third time (in the state quarterfinals), that means we both had good seasons — but we’re not even looking at that right now.”
The Catholic League post-season tournaments get underway Feb. 7 and will crown champions in six divisions. Here is a capsule look at the tournament:
BISHOP DIVISION – BOYS
Playoffs begin: Feb. 8 at Marian High School
Championship game: 7 p.m., Feb. 14 at Calihan Hall, University of Detroit Mercy
2024 result: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 58, Birmingham Brother Rice 55
Top seed (*as of Jan. 30): University of Detroit-Jesuit (6-0)
BISHOP DIVISION – GIRLS
Playoffs begin: Feb. 7, semi-finals played at the top-seeded schools
Championship game: 5 p.m., Feb. 14 at Calihan Hall, University of Detroit Mercy
2024 result: Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard 61, Toledo Central Catholic 47
Top seeds (*as of January 30): Fr. Gabriel Richard (8-0) (East), Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (7-0) (West)
CARDINAL DIVISION – BOYS
Playoffs begin: Feb. 8 at Brother Rice High School
Championship game: 7 p.m., Feb. 15 at Calihan Hall, University of Detroit Mercy
2024 result: Riverview Gabriel Richard 54, Jackson Lumen Christi 48
Top seed (*as of Jan. 30): Riverview Gabriel Richard (9-0)
CARDINAL DIVISION – GIRLS
Playoffs begin: Feb. 18 at Detroit Catholic Central High School
Championship game: 1 p.m., Feb. 22 at George Gervin GameAbove Center, Eastern Michigan University
2024 result: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 45, Jackson Lumen Christi 31
Top seed (*as of Jan. 30): Wixom St. Catherine of Siena (6-0)
ST. ANNE DIVISION – BOYS
Playoffs begin: Feb. 12 at Marian High School
Championship game: 5 p.m., Feb. 15 at Calihan Hall, University of Detroit Mercy
2024 result: Clarkston Everest Collegiate 49, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 29
Top seeds (*as of Jan. 30): Everest (7-0) (Intersectional-1), Our Lady of the Lakes (6-0) (Intersectional-2)
ST. ANNE DIVISION – GIRLS
Playoffs begin: Feb. 19 at Regina High School
Championship game: 11 a.m., Feb. 22 at George Gervin GameAbove Center, Eastern Michigan University
2024 result: Clarkston Everest Collegiate 46, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood 30
Top seeds (*as of Jan. 30): Everest (6-0) (Intersectional-1), Our Lady of the Lakes (4-0) (Intersectional-2)
