Region 8 Preview

Written Sunday, March 11 at 12:40 AM

March Madness has been crazy and the upsets keep continuing to come throughout the state of Michigan.

This week was a crazy district week in Boys Basketball. A lot of upsets occurred this week in district play throughout the state. At Swartz Creek, Clarkston lost at the buzzer in double overtime to Fenton snapping a 19 year district winning streak for the Wolves. Southfield Lathrup another favorite beat Detroit Henry Ford on a free throw was upset by Oak Park at Southfield. Waterford Mott shocked Troy and Troy Athens at Troy Athens and Rochester who had won 20 games in a row lost to Lake Orion at Rochester Adams. Birmingham Seaholm lost to Birmingham Groves on a heartbreaking timeout call at Birmingham Seaholm and Bloomfield Hills Lahser took advantage of a Groves team that lost it's best player to an apparent leg injury on Friday night.

Anyway here is the Region 8 preview which is at Lake Orion. This region is wide open as the grand canyon and has a really good shot of going to Breslin in East Lansing.

Lake Orion (14-9) should be the favorite being at home for the regional. The Dragons are led by it's long and lengthy front court with John McCarty, Brad Watterworth, and Chaz Miller and guards Damonte Kruse and Justin Walukonis along with a solid bench. Lake Orion beat Rochester (20-2) 48-44 for their first district championship in 28 years at Rochester Adams. The Key is going to be guard play, if the Dragons can balance the scoring out like they did against Rochester and everyone is hitting on cylinders, then this team is a very dangerous team.

The OAA Gold Champions, Bloomfield Hills Lahser Knights (18-5) is a very dangerous team coming into this regional. Lahser has not played the schedule that the three other teams in this region had to face but is getting better each game. Lahser features 6.7 Yanten Maten who is a shot blocker and a load inside along with Martez Jones who had 10 points against Groves. Lahser hit 11 three pointers against Groves in their district championship game at Birmingham Seaholm. The Key for Lahser is the Knights are not a deep team if Maten can stay out of foul trouble and if Jones can play well then Lahser could do some damage despite still being a young team.

The Kensington Lakes Athletic Association North Division Champions, Waterford Mott Corsairs (17-6) ended a long district drought that had haunted them for 30 years. Mott took down both Troy Athens at Troy Athens and James Young and Troy to take the district with teams like Troy, Troy Athens, and Pontiac were in that district. The Corsairs features two really good players in leaper 6.3 forward DaVonte Daniel and point guard Khali Malone and a pesky defense. Both Malone and Daniel were huge against Troy, Daniel had 19 points and 15 rebounds while Malone had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Mott was seven of 11 from three in that game against the Colts. The key for Waterford Mott is these two players have to continue to play well, they combined for 37 points and 25 rebounds. Mott is a very good basketball team and could be a force.

The Southfield Blue Jays (12-11) lost 4 players from the State semifinals team last season. The Blue Jays have played a tough OAA Red schedule this season and playing the likes of Clarkston, Lathrup, North Farmington, and Pontiac have helped them this season. Southfield is led by Brandon Bean, Ron Thompson, Earl Swift, and Jeff Greear. Greear had 18 points for the Blue Jays against Oak Park in a district championship won on it's home court. Southfield's key will be balanced scoring and if they get that then they will be fine in this district.

Waterford Mott vs. Southfield: Monday at 5:00 PM.

This game will be a high scoring affair. I expect Malone and Daniel to have big games for the Corsairs along with Bean, Thompson, Swift, and Greear. Both teams have been battle tested with Mott going through the Kensington Lakes Athletic Association schedule and the Troy Athens district with Troy and Troy Athens. Southfield has played in the OAA Red and saw teams like Clarkston, North Farmington, Pontiac, and arch rival Lathrup but their district didn't prepare them enough, considering that Southfield Lathrup was upset by Oak Park. I think this will be a high scoring game with Mott coming out on top.

PICK: Waterford Mott.


Lake Orion vs. Bloomfield Hills Lahser: Monday at 7:00 PM.

This game features an interesting matchup of bigs. This game features Lake Orion's John McCarty and Brad Watterworth while Lahser features Yanten Maten and Martez Jones. I think this game is going to come down to the small forward position and I look at the body of work of each team. Lahser has played a soft schedule but did beat Troy early in the season. Lake Orion has played a brutal schedule from Southfield, Ferndale, Rochester, Farmington, Troy Athens, Birmingham Seaholm, and Clarkston. I think with the Dragons being at home it will be too much for Bloomfield Hills Lahser to handle.

PICK: Lake Orion.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Lake Orion vs. Waterford Mott.

Interesting match-up but the problem will be the small forward match-up for the Corsairs. I expect David and Malone to get their points but expect Watterworth, McCarthy, Miller, Cruse, and Walukonis to get their fair share of points as well. Mott did win at Athens but going into Lake Orion and facing the Dragons is a whole another ball game. I can see Lake Orion moving on to the state quarterfinals and possibly the state semifinals.

REGIONAL CHAMP: Lake Orion.