GRAND BLANC, MI – Grand Blanc’s boys basketball team has got this whole playoff thing backwards.
The games are supposed to get more difficult the deeper teams go into the state tournament yet Grand Blanc continues to make it look easy.
In three postseason games, the Bobcats have won by 50 points, 39 points and 25 points. For anyone without a calculator handy, that’s a total of 114 or an average of 38 points per win.
“It just us coming together at the right time,” sophomore point guard R.J. Taylor said Tuesday after a 64-39 Division 1 regional semifinal win over Flushing. “We went through a lot as a team and we’re just clicking at the right time. That’s all it is.
“We’re just so close together as a team, it’s starting to show at the right time. It’s a lot of new guys on the varsity team so by us playing together, it gives us a lot of confidence now that we’re starting to get rolling. I think we’re only getting better every game.
“A lot of teams fall under the pressure. They can’t handle the pressure and get nervous. We just go out there and have fun and worry about ourselves.”
The Bobcats have certainly been fun to watch during the tournament, what with the Taylor-to-Ty Rodgers alley-oop dunks, 3-point shots, a high-tempo offense and outstanding defense.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best game yet,” said Grand Blanc coach Mike Thomas. “Hopefully we’re saving it for the next couple games. It seems like as soon as the tournament started, we started getting better and better and better. We’re sharing the ball. I don’t have to call much.
“It just shows what kind of team we have. When we play hard, smart and together, it’s going to be hard for us to lose games. When Ty plays like he’s been playing, it’s going to be hard. This is the Ty I like. This is the Ty I love right now.”
Indeed, Rodgers has been outstanding in the tournament.
He’s averaging 25.3 points after scoring a career-high 34 points in a 91-52 win over Davison in the district title game before scoring 26 against Flushing. And he not only did while playing less than three quarters against both teams, the big games came against teams with a combined final record of 24-10.
So it’s not like he was cherry picking against bottom feeders.
“You can tell they’re locked in,” said Flushing coach Eric Smith. “If you look at the scores in their most recent games prior to ours, they’re starting to click. The Rodgers kid, he’s tough. He’s got an NBA-type body.
“They guard well. We couldn’t keep them off the boards tonight. We had some success in the district limiting teams to one shot and we really struggled tonight keeping them off the boards. And they shoot well, too.”
Sophomore A’Monte Allen-Johnson added 11 points for Grand Blanc while junior Shamus Thompson had his first career double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Rodgers added 10 rebounds, giving the Bobcats (11-2) two players with double-doubles.
Grand Blanc will play Marquette (13-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Midland Dow for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Flushing was led by Chase Lueker with nine points and Spencer Willman with eight.
The Raiders finished with a 12-6 record after seeing their four-game winning streak end.
“I’m proud of the guys,” said Smith, who is in his first year as the Raiders’ head coach. “I’m proud of them for sticking with it. It’s not always easy in the first year. Everybody does thing differently and I appreciate them for sticking with it.”
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