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Heritage Media December 23, 2010

Reversal of
Quick
hits
Hastings hopes to
return soon

fortunes
The Huron boys’ basket-
ball team got an unwelcomed
surprise last Friday when
they traveled to Romulus.
The River Rats took on the
host Eagles in the Romulus
Holiday Classic and fell big,
losing 60-47.
Huron, which boasts two
of the best players in the
state in A.J. Mathew and
Dante Williams, struggled
to find the basket, while the
Eagles seemed unable to miss
in the first half.
Another reason the Rats
struggled was the absence of
senior guard Matt Hastings,
Pioneer wins over Belleville,
while top-ranked Huron loses
who sat out with a small tear
in his plantar fascia.
Hastings said that his

at Romulus Holiday Classic

coaches wanted to rest him to
prevent further injury.
The senior said he hopes to
be back in action for Huron’s
December 28 game against
Cass Tech, which will be held By Mike Larson Belleville team. Belleville’s Jamie Pearson
at the Breslin Center in East A2 Journal “I thought we played well banked in a three-pointer to
Lansing. against a tough opponent,” make the score 43-42 in favor
Despite a slow start and a late Belleville coach Don Hickman of the Pioneers.
Detroit teams make scare, the Ann Arbor Pioneer said. “Down the stretch we real- However, that was as
boys’ basketball team came ly did some good things, we just close as the Tigers would
history away with a win Friday night couldn’t get over the hump.” get to winning, as Pioneer’s
On Sunday night Detroit’s over Belleville at the Romulus At the end of the third quar- Jerimiah Strode hit a pair of
three professional sports Holiday Classic. ter, Pioneer led 29-22, but the clutch free throws with just
teams made history. The Pioneers struggled Tigers were threatening. seconds left to seal the win.
The Pistons, Red Wings early on, scoring just Late in “We could have done a
and Lions games all went
into overtime Sunday, and
two points in the first
quarter. Boys the fourth
quar-
lot better late in the game,”
Stanczak said. “But I was
that accomplishment marked However, the Ann PIONEER 47 ter, the happy with the way we con-
the first time any city had its Arbor team bounced Pioneers verted from the free throw
BELLEVILLE 42
NBA, NHL and NFL teams back to win the game held on line. It’s a good win for us.”
go into overtime on the same 47-42. to a 39-32 Kelly and Isom led their
day. “Belleville really lead, but respective teams as each
The Pistons defeated the came out and put the pressure Belleville refused to roll over. player scored 14 points in the
New Orleans Hornets 111- on us defensively to start the Tiger Deante’ Isom scored contest.
108, the Red Wings lost to the game,” Pioneer coach Rex three quick points to shrink the Strode and Mike
Dallas Stars 4-3 and the Lions Stanczak said. “They really Pioneer lead to just four points. Kielczewski each added eight
ended their NFL-record los- kept us off of our game in the With the clock ticking down, points for Pioneer in the vic-
ing streak (26 games) against first quarter. That was evident the Tigers kept up their tory.
Tampa Bay with a 23-20 win. by the score.” defensive “We’ve still got a lot to
After the first quarter pressure. work on, but I’m happy with
though, the Pioneers came With the early win,” Stanczak said.
Big Chill overshoots storming back. just Mike Larson can be
attendance, still After opening the second nine reached by email at
quarter with six straight sec- Mlarson@A2Journal.com.
breaks record points, the Pioneers tied the onds
On Saturday, December 11 game at 8-8. left
the Big Chill hockey game Belleville’s offense kept in the
between the University of churning, but with 2:13 left in game,
Michigan and Michigan State the half, James Kelly hit a layup
broke the attendance record to give Pioneer a 15-14 advan-
for an outdoor hockey game, tage. It was the team’s
but the final numbers aren’t first lead, and an edge it
as big as originally reported. would never give up.
During the game, it was
announced that the record-
breaking attendance was
By halftime, the
Pioneers led 18-14.
“Right before
River Rats
routed in Romulus
113,411, however, the folks at halftime our
the Guinness Book of World offense started
Records are reporting the working a
attendance to be 85,451. little better,” By Mike Larson and kept us from doing what we
The new number is still a Stanczak A2 Journal wanted to do.”
world record. said. “But Romulus came out firing on all
we still The tem- cylinders to start the game, hit-
High school sports have a lot to
work on.”
perature was ting four three-pointers in the
frigid out- opening frame to take a 12-11
going on hiatus Pioneer side on lead at the
The prep sporst sesaon will
tak a short break for the holi-
kept things
working in
Friday
night
Boys end of the
first quar-
days after today. the third when HURON 60 ter.
Most teams will take a quarter, Huron Huron start-
ROMULUS 47
break, with their schedules however, faced off ed the sec-
picking back up after the first the team was against ond quarter
of they year. never really the host looking to take control.
“It’s a nice break,” Pioneer able to widen Eagles in the The team’s first points of the
boys’ basketball coach Rex the gap much marquee game frame came on an alley-oop
Stanczak said. “Although it’s against the of the Romulus dunk from Andre Bond to give
tough to just get your season scrappy Holiday Classic. the River Rats a 13-12 advan-
started, and then have to take However, it was tage.
a break. We’ll keep practicing difficult to tell Romulus responded with an
and keep trying to get better.” what was cold- 11-0 run, including back-to-
er, the frosty back three-pointers from Eli
outdoors, or Robertson.
Huron prepares for the Huron After that, Huron never seemed
Meijer River Rats’ to be able to get back into the
shooting. half.
classic Huron By the break, the Eagles had a
The struggled to 30-17 lead.
Huron hit Huron kept try-
basket- bas- ing to get into
ball team kets VIDEO ONLINE: its patented trap
wil get a for the defense, but was
chance to entire unable to.
play at the game “We just
Breslin Center as they couldn’t get in
a little early this fell to and do what
season. the hot- we wanted,”
But not for the state Photos by shooting Samaha said.
championship, at least, Jonathan hosts, See video of this “We put the
not yet. Knight/A2 60-47. sporting event at pressure on a
On Dec. 28, the River Journal “We just www.heritage.com couple times in
Rats will take on Pioneer’s couldn’t the third and
Detroit Cass Tech Jerimiah shoot,” fourth quarters,
at the Breslin in Strode and Huron coach but we couldn’t
East Lansing. Huron’s Waleed Samaha said. get it consistently.”
The two teams Andre Bond “But Romulus had a lot to The Eagles’ shooting cooled off
are regarded as play during last do with that. I don’t want to in the second half, but Huron
two of the best in week’s Holiday Classic take anything away from them. was unable to take advantage
Division 1.–– at Romulus. They really put pressure on us
PLEASE SEE RATS/2-C
Page 2-C 
By Mike Larson
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
A2 Journal
The Ann Arbor Huron
girls’ basketball team made
quick work of rival Saline on
Tuesday night, defeating the
host Hornets 59-26.
The key to the Rats success
came with a high-pressure,
full-court defense.
Huron forced Saline into 23
turnovers as the River Rats
jumped out to a 16-6 lead at the
end of the first quarter.
Saline couldn’t keep up with
Huron as the game wore on.
In the end, the River Rats fin-
ished the game by outscoring
the Hornets 19-4 in the fourth
quarter.
Huron was led by Devin
Talley, who finished with 15
points. Other River Rat leaders
were Alexis Garner with 12
points and Kelcy Barott with
11.
Saline, which falls to 0-3 on
the season, was led by Katie
Crysler with six points.
Huron is now 3-1 overall
and 1-0 in the Southeastern
Conference.
Huron 72
Skyline 11
The Skyline girls’ basketball
team still has a long way to go
before it is going to be com-
petitive in the Southeastern
Conference.
Pioneer can’t stand up to
Detroit Country Day
By Mike Larson
A2 Journal
A sloppy second quarter led to the Ann Arbor
Pioneer basketball team’s first loss of the season.
On Tuesday, the team traveled to Beverly Hills
to take on Detroit Country Day, and after a rough
second frame, the Pioneers fell 74-40.
With the score tied at 15-15 at the end of the
first quarter, Country Day went on a tear.
The Yellowjackets held the Pioneers to just a
field goal in the second quarter, outscoring the
Ann Arbor squad 23-2.
After that, the Pioneers were never able to
RATS
FROM PAGE 1-C
as the River Rats couldn’t get
shots to fall.
“None of our players shot
well,” Samaha said. “We really
needed a player to step up and
make some shots. But we didn’t
have that.”
In the fourth quarter, the River
Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL
Huron’s Kyle Baker takes the ball to the hoop during the River Rats’ game against Romulus.
Thursday, December 23, 2010 • HERITAGE MEDIA/A2 JOURNAL
This was evident Friday
when the Eagles traveled across
town to take on the Huron River
Rats.
Huron stomped Skyline, trounc-
ing the Eagles 72-11.
The River Rats came out
with guns blazing in the first
half, taking a 47-7 lead after two
quarters.
In the second half, Huron let
up a bit, but still held a 62-7 lead
at the start of the fourth.
The River Rats had four play-
ers scoring in double digits
as Bianca Williams added 13
points, Brionna Kilgore scored
12 and Kelcy Barott and Alexis
Garner each added 10.
Skyline was led by Anita
Vander Meulen with four
points, while Kierra Jordan
scored three.
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climb back into the game.
Despite the loss, Pioneer was led by James
Kelly, who scored 11 points. Other Pioneer scor-
ers were Aaron Schoenfeldt and Jeremiah Strode
with nine points each and Jimmy Holman and
Anthony Hugan with four points each.
Country Day had five players in double digits
as Lee Bailey led the team with 15 points and
Adam Zavadil, Austin Price, Mahesh Umasankar
and Amir Williams all scored 10.
With the loss, Pioneer falls to 2-1 on the season.
Mike Larson can be reached by email at
Mlarson@A2Journal.com.
Rats started to make a run,
whittling the Romulus lead
down to five points with 4:12
left, however, that was as close
as the Ann Arbor team would
get.
The Eagles refused to get
rattled, and converted their free
throws to stay one step ahead
of the River Rats.
In the end, the Eagles won 60-
47.
Pioneer 70
Saline 30
Pioneer’s Kamilah Carter
continued her dominance and
Saline continued to struggle.
On Friday, Carter scored 29
points as she led the Pioneers
past the lowly Hornets, 70-30.
Pioneer started the game
on a 21-8 run, but the Ann
Arbor lead swelled to 29
points by the half.
The Hornets had their
best offensive showing of the
game in the third quarter,
putting up 13 points, but in
the end, Pioneer still won the
blowout by 40 points.
Maya Richmond scored 17
points for Pioneer, and capped
off her double-double with 11
rebounds.
Emma Brann also added 12
rebounds and three points.
Saline was led by Amanda
Price with nine points.
Mike Larson can be
reached by email at
Mlarson@A2Journal.com.
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Journal
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A2JournalSports
“It’s still early,” Samaha said.
“We play teams like this so we
can prepare for March. Now we
just need to get back to work.”
Mike Lewis and Kyle Baker
each scored nine points in the
losing effort for Huron.
The River Rats are now 2-1 on
the season.
Mike Larson can be reached
by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.
com.
Pioneer basketball just
trying to get better
By Mike Larson
A2 Journal
Wasn’t Huron supposed to be
the best prep basketball team in
the area?
Apparently nobody told that
to the Ann Arbor Pioneers.
“We don’t worry about what
anyone else says,” Pioneer
coach Rex Stanczak said. “We
know we’ve got some good
things going, and we just try to
play our game.”
On Friday, both Pioneer and
Huron played in the Romulus
Holiday Classic, but only
Pioneer was able to come away
with a win.
Huron fell to host Romulus
while Pioneer defeated
Belleville in a 47-42 shootout.
Pioneer proved that not only
can they play with top-notch
opponents, but the team proved
that it has the potential to be
more than just an also-ran in
this season’s Southeastern
Conference race.
“This is a good win for us,”
Stanczak said of the Belleville
game. “It is going to give us
some confidence as we move on.
And that’s always a good thing.”
The Belleville win even
became a little more valuable as
the Tigers proved they were a
legit opponent with a recent win
over state-ranked Cass Tech.
Although it’s easy to compare
the Pioneers to the River Rats
early in the season, Stanczak
says his team isn’t ready for
comparisons.
“They have a great team over
there,” the Pioneer coach said
of Huron. “And we will get to
play them twice. It’s too early
in the season to start looking
ahead to those games, but you
know, we shocked them last
year.”
Last season, the Pioneers
defeated Huron at the
Riverdome.
However, this year’s Pioneer
squad is much different than Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL
last year’s. Pioneer’s Anthony Hugan drives to the basket against
Most notably is the loss of Belleville.
David Veals, who graduated in
the spring. to move people,” the Pioneer Pioneers aren’t looking too far
This season, the Pioneers are coach said. “He really adds a lot ahead.
to our team.” “We have our own goals and
relying on James Kelly to lead
the way. In addition to Kelly, Pioneer expectations,” the coach said.
will look to guards Jerimiah “We aren’t comparing our-
“James is a force,” Stanczak
said. “He’s one of the best ath- Strode and Jimmy Holman to selves to any other teams. We
lead the Pioneers on the floor.” are just doing what we need to
letes we have.”
In fact, if Kelly is able to stay “I really like our guard play,” do to be successful. We are just
Stanczak said. “We really rely doing our thing and playing
eligible, something he struggled
with last season, there is little on our guards to lead our team. our game. That’s all we are con-
The way we did things (against cerned with right now.”
doubt he’s one of the best post
players in the region. Belleville), I’m really happy Mike Larson can be reached
by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.
“He’s got great touch around with our guards.”
Despite the big win, the com.
the basket, and knows how
It’s much too early
to start to worry
December is a time for cel- after three-pointer, while Huron You see, Samaha is smart
ebration, a time for renewal and tossed up more bricks than an enough to know that losing a
a time to reflect. upset toddler at Legoland. basketball game in December
But it is certainly not the So what gives? doesn’t define his team.
time to start panicking. Well, the answer is pretty He knows that his team could
This is especially true if you simple. (and probably will) lose a few
have anything to do with the Nothing. more games before all is said
Huron River Rats basketball Like I said, it’s not time to and done.
program. start panicking. Heck, when you think about
Huron lost to It’s not like it, the River Rats, could techni-
Romulus on Friday, GENERAL Huron lost to cally lose every other game on
and the Rats lost
huge.
ADMISSION some slouch team
from Cascades
their schedule, and as long as
they get things figured out by
They played ter- Conference or the time the district tourna-
ribly and were beaten something. ment started, they could still
by a team that just The River Rats make a run.
flat out played better. lost to Romulus, Of course, the River Rats
Not to beat a dead which is also con- won’t lose ever game. Huron,
River Rat, but the sidered one of the despite the recent loss, is a
team didn’t deserve best teams in the really good team.
to win. In fact, with state. But the point is that Samaha
the exception of a few They also lost knows that it doesn’t matter
minutes in the fourth to Romulus on what his team does right now.
quarter, Huron never the Eagles’ home As long as they keep improv-
was really close to MIKE court. ing and keep learning, it doesn’t
making a comeback. LARSON Sure, Huron has matter if the team wins.
What happened? plenty to improve As long as the team is ready
Huron was sup- on, but that’s noth- to play once March rolls around,
posed to be the best team in the ing that the River Rats weren’t it doesn’t matter who the team
state. aware of. loses to.
It was reported in this news- After the game, Huron coach However, the team can’t real-
paper, as well as pretty much Waleed Samaha talked about ly be satisfied with mediocrity
every other rag and online his team, saying that he was dis- either.
sports site in the state that the appointed with the loss, but he So Samaha shouldn’t be wor-
River Rats were almost certain- certainly wasn’t worried. ried about his team not making
ly going to make it back to the And he didn’t look it. it to the playoffs, but he should
Division 1 state championship. The coach wasn’t rattled. be making sure that his play-
And this time they would win. Sure, he seemed frustrated, but ers are ready to get back and
The Detroit Free Press even that’s to be expected. compete and right the ship, so
ran an article declaring not only He just watched his team, a to speak.
that Huron was the best team in team that he knows to be incred- December is a time for hard
the state, but that everyone who ibly talented, throw up rim work and learning from mis-
follows high school basketball bangers for about two hours or takes, it’s not a time to panic.
should know that Huron is the so. The Huron team still has
favorite. You’d probably be frustrated three months before it needs to
But the River Rats lost in just too. even think about panicking.
their third game of the season. But he wasn’t worked up. Mike Larson can be reached
by email at Mlarson@A2Journal.
And boy was it ugly. In fact, he was quite the oppo-
Romulus hit three-pointer site; he was calm. com.