By DOUG DONNELLY

Monroe News

OTTAWA LAKE – When the SMCC boys basketball team finished off a 53-35 Division 3 district basketball championship Friday against Whiteford, the Falcons started celebrating, then abruptly stopped.

“They didn’t know what to do,” SMCC assistant coach Bryce Windham said after the game. “They said, ‘what do we do now?’”

None of the current SMCC seniors have won a district championship before, but they can’t say that anymore after building an early lead against the Bobcats and controlling the game at both ends of the floor.

“It means a lot,” said senior Ian Foster, who finished with a game-high 23 points. “We haven’t been able to do this in seven years. I’ve lost in the district finals all the years I’ve been here. For the seniors, its our last go-around so we wanted to make this one special.”

Special it was. SMCC turned what started out as a back-and-forth game into a 15-5 lead on a layup by Foster and 3-pointer by Drew Vuich. It was 31-22 at halftime as the Falcons closed the first half on a 5-2 run.

The third quarter is where SMCC exerted its defensive prowess, holding the Bobcats to one field goal the entire eight minutes. Head coach Randy Windham, who is retiring after the season, credited his son Bryce with that.

“He saw something watching them and thought we ought to play man-to-man defense,” Coach Windham said. “That was all him.”

The move was somewhat of a surprise to Whiteford head coach Nick Abalos.

“They usually plan zone, they play zone against everybody else,” Abalos said.

SMCC outscored the Bobcats 8-2 in the third quarter with all of its buckets coming on layups or drives to the basket. In the fourth quarter, they did more of that, taking advantage of the Bobcat defense.

The Falcons had dropped two straight to Whiteford, including a regular season game in January and in last year’s district championship game.

“It was in the back of our minds,” Foster said.

Windham said the focus wasn’t on getting revenge, but playing better than before.

“I always stress playing up to our potential,” Windham said. “To be honest, in those games, I felt we didn’t play to our potential. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you know you can play better.”

Whiteford closes its season with a 16-8 record despite losing all of its starters and 90 percent of its scoring from last season’s team that reached the regional finals.

“A lot of people on the outside might be surprised at the success we had this year, but I’m not because I saw how hard these kids worked,” Abalos said.

The Bobcat have only two seniors – starters Logan Delmotte and Rylan Joerin. They combined for 13 points Friday, with Delmotte leading the way with 8.

The district title is the ninth all-time for Windham. SMCC will take a 20-4 record to next week’s regional. They play Hillsdale in the first game.

SMCC 11 8 14 14 – 53

WHITEFORD 11 11 2 11 – 35

SMCC: Hines 4 2-3 10, Foster 9(3) 2-2 23, Keshen 2 0-3 4, Cousino 0 1-2 3, Martin 1 0-0 2, Vuich 3(1) 0-0 7, Treece 3 0-0 6. Totals 22(4) 5-10 53.

WHITEFORD: Schroyer 2 0-0 4, Griffith 2 2-2 6, Joerin 2(1) 0-1 5, Delmotte 3(2) 0-0 8, Thomas 3 1-2 7, Hillard 2(1) 0-0 5. Totals 14(4) 3-5 35.