ROCHESTER — It was a showdown at high noon last Sunday for the leadership of the Catholic High School League's Central Division.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s drew first blood by handily beating archrival Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, 66-47, on the distinctive “blacktop” colored court at Oakland University’s Athletics Center O’Rena.
The contest had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday but was moved to 11 a.m. Sunday because of the snow and wind storm in the metro area.
Would it have made a difference? Apparently, it didn’t for the Eaglets. Elijah Williams canned a triple to give the Warriors an early 5-3 lead that lasted about 20 seconds before St. Mary’s responded with an 11-0 run followed by a 13-8 second quarter for a 27-15 halftime advantage.
Williams, son of Detroit Pistons coach Monty Williams, opened the third quarter with another triple to reduce the deficit to nine points only to fire up St. Mary’s to take back the margin of victory that fluctuated between 10 and 19 points the rest of the game.
Brother Rice had no answer for the Eaglets’ duo of 6-foot-3 Trey McKenney (16 points, 7 rebounds) and 6-foot-6, 210-pound Jayden Savoury (18 points, 11 rebounds). Outside of a lone 3-pointer, McKenney’s production resulted from his dogged penetration of Rice’s defense. Savoury made his presence known down and low on both offense and defense.
Junior guards Sharod Barnes (13 points) and Isaiah Hines (8 points) combined to neutralize Rice’s defense.
The Warriors were their own worst enemy with numerous turnovers, especially at the beginning of the game, and questionable shooting decisions. Williams led Rice with 21 points, nearly half of the team’s output.
There’ll be numerous showdowns in the week ahead. All games start at 7 p.m.
On Tuesday, Brother Rice (8-3 overall, 2-2 Central), who now has lost three in a row, travels to Detroit to play University of Detroit Jesuit, whom they beat by 14 points three weeks ago, and on Friday hosts Warren De La Salle, whom they easily handled four weeks ago.
On Tuesday, Novi Detroit Catholic Central (8-2, 2-2) travels to De La Salle, to whom they lost by a point a month ago, then hosts Toledo Central Catholic (3-5, 0-1) on Friday. Last week, the Shamrocks lost to St. Mary’s and defeated U of D Jesuit.
On Tuesday, U of D Jesuit (9-2, 2-2) hosts Brother Rice and travels on Friday to St. Mary’s, whom they beat by five points a month ago.
On Tuesday, De La Salle (6-3, 1-3) hosts Catholic Central and is at Brother Rice on Friday.
Current Central Division leader St. Mary’s (9-1, 4-1) has just one league game this week, Friday at home versus U of D Jesuit. By the end of the evening, the Eaglets will know how secure their grip on first place is.
An unknown factor in all of this is what influence the Toledo schools — St. Frances deSales (7-3, 1-1) and St. John Jesuit (6-3, 1-1) in addition to Central Catholic — will have in shaping the Central Division standings.
Liggett hockey champs
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett won the CHSL Cardinal Division hockey championship, 1-0, over Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard, avenging a 5-4 overtime loss to the Fighting Irish in last year’s finale.
Senior Gary Stacy scored in the first period. Goalie Johns Maksim secured the shutout.
In the semi-final matches, Liggett stymied Allen Park Cabrini, 8-0, and Fr. Gabriel Richard defeated Dearborn Divine Child, 10-2.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
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