Catholic League Playoffs

Detroit- The University of Detroit-Mercy’s Calihan Hall was the host Saturday for the first round of the Detroit Catholic League playoffs.  The playoff seeding was determined by regular season records, giving DeLaSalle and U of D Jesuit the number one and two seeds.  Both teams automatically advanced into the Catholic League semi-finals later this week, but played Flint Powers and Livonia Clarenceville on Saturday.

The first game of the day featured #1 seed Warren DeLaSalle against Class B power, Flint Powers.  DeLaSalle took a 19-12 lead into the second quarter but Powers bombarded the Pilots with their fast pace tempo that just ran DeLaSalle out of the gym.  A steal from Shane Moreland turned into an easy transition basket for Pierre Brackett to cap a 10-0 run and give Powers a 29-24 lead.  3-pointers from Patrick O’Brien and Moreland keyed another 9-0 run to give Powers a 40-28 halftime lead.

Powers went up 54-34 midway through the third quarter on another O’Brien jumper, and the Chargers cruised the rest of the second half to a 78-59 win.

The #2 seed, U of D Jesuit, faired a little better in the second game as the Cubs were able to top Livonia Clarenceville 72-56.  Senior Jordan Morgan had his way for most of the game while freshman Cameron Fowler and Chris Jenkins played key roles.  However Clarenceville’s Jamie Stewart put on a show in the loosing effort.  Stewart put together his own highlight reel of dunks that continued to fire up his squad and keep his team close.

Stewarts’s fourth dunk cut the Cubs’ lead to 35-29 early in the third quarter.  Stewart then picked up his fourth foul with a minute left in the third quarter while U of D’s Gerald Bridges ended the quarter with four straight points to give his Cubs a 51-41 lead.  Morgan opened the fourth up with an “and 1″ play and Clarenceville could never get closer.

St. Mary’s and Divine Child played the first game that truly meant something as the winner would advance to play in the semi-finals.  St. Mary’s built an 18-7 lead after one quarter and went up 30-12 late in the second quarter but Divine Child fired back in the second half.  Divine Child cut the lead down to 43-34 heading into the fourth quarter and Anthony Manno’s 3-pointer made the score 45-44 with four minutes left to play.  A Stephen Claypool 3-pointer cut the St. Mary’s lead to 49-47 with 44 second left but Dion Sims sealed the win with a pair of free throws.

Detroit Catholic Central needed a fourth quarter rally to upend Brother Rice 39-33 in the day’s final game.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Pierre Brackett, Powers- the sophomore wing came off the bench to give Powers a huge spark of energy that helped key the big run to take the lead in the second quarter.           

Cameron Fowler, U of D- the freshman point controlled the ball in the second half and did a solid job for a freshman in such a big game.  Nothing too flashy but was solid down the stretch and what else can you ask for out of a freshman?

Juwan Moody, OLSM- didn’t log a lot of minutes but he came up huge down the stretch by going four for four at the foul line.  Finished with 7 points.

Shane Moreland, Powers- Moreland made his presence felt with his defense on this day.  The senior guard completely took DeLaSalle’s Alex Marcotullio out of his game.  Moreland held Macotullio to six points.  Moreland was also able to deflect and get his hands on lose balls to help his troops get out and run, while adding 16 points.

Jordan Morgan, U of D- Morgan is ending the season strong and sharp.  He led his team with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Patrick O’Brien, Powers- like usual, O’Brien forced a mismatch problem as DeLaSalle had trouble stepping out and guarding the shooter, and O’Brien made them pay for it by logging a game high 22 points.

Jalen Reynolds, Clarenceville- the 6-7 sophomore is long and bouncy.  He relies on pure athleticism right now but showed plenty of potential.  Played strong in the first half but disappeared in the second.

Dion Sims, OLSM- the wing forward has to carry the load in the paint for his team. He scored 12 points in the first quarter while finishing with 23. He calmly sank two free throws to lock down the win.

Jamie Stewart, Clarenceville- Stewart is going to make a mid-major college very happy!  He can do a little of everything, he handled the ball and banged around with Morgan in the paint.  I talked about his dunkfest but his skills are far beyond dunking.