It wasn’t easy, but Beecher was able to hold back Laingsburg 40-39 and take the Class C state title for the second straight season.
It’s the first time Beecher has able to repeat as state champs. The 1987 team was poised to repeat as Class B champs but lost on a buzzer beater that gave Buena Vista a 33-32 victory.
Beecher ended this season at 27-1, but it wasn’t easy, especially with several members of the team battling illness. Mr. Basketball, Monte Morris, was affected, but he still led his team with 16 points and three rebounds.
In 29 minutes of action, Morris was 8 of 16 from the floor but 0 of 3 in 3-pointers. He was the only Beecher player in double figures. Aquavius Burks had nine points off the bench. No one else had more than five. Markell Lucas led Beecher with six rebounds.
Beecher fell behind early 14-10 after the first quarter but came back to take a 21-19 halftime lead. It was 28-28 going into the fourth, and the Buccaneers’ defense was able to shut down Laingsburg’s last-second bid for the winning basket.
Detroit Pershing was the only team to beat the Bucs during the regular season, 81-74.
Beecher coach Mike Williams had plenty of praise for Laingsburg.
“We played them a couple of years ago in Springport in the regionals and it was a real tight game,” Williams said. “I went back and watched the film. Their coach does a great job teaching his kids fundamentals. We hadn’t played a team that was going to handle the ball this well and run their offense for 20, 30, 40 seconds… a minute, these kids understand what they’re doing.
“I warned our guys you can’t think you’re going to run through them. That turned out to be true. I’d say that’s the best team we’ve played all year, including Pershing.”
Williams said he was notified Saturday morning that some of his players, including Morris, were ill. There were reports that they had been hit with some type of food poisoning.
“Emmanuel Phifier was sick; he didn’t play well today, not to his usual standards,” Williams said. “You could see Monte was sick. He was barely able to finish the game. He poured it out and without him, we’re not sitting on this podium.”
“We got the job done,”’ said guard Eric Cooper, who had five points and three assists.
“Our coaches said be a patient on offense,” Lucas said. “I took what they told me and kept working hard and started making baskets.”
“These are the games I like to coach, tight games when your team is challenged,” Williams said. “This year we had to win this all the way through and have faith we would come out on top. There hasn’t been a game when we’ve only had eight steals. Even against Pershing, we were able create turnovers.”