By John Raffel
It was a fun boys basketball season for the Fulton Pirates, although it had a disappointing ending at the Class D state finals.
The Pirates were humbled in the title game by eventual state champions Powers North Central from the Upper Peninsula 64-23.
North Central had a 28-0 season. In the game against Fulton, North Central couldn’t miss and was 17-of-25 from the floor for 68 percent and 4-of-9 from 3-pointers for 44.4 percent in the first half. For the game, North Central was 25-of-42 for 59.5 percent.
Jason Whitens was 9-of-15 from the floor and scored 23 points while bringing down 10 rebounds. Morgan Coss was 6-of-6 from the floor for 12 points and had five boards. Whitens also dished out five assists. As hot as North Central was, Fulton was cold. The Pirates were 3-of-23 for 13 percent shooting in the first half and 7-of-42 for the game for 16.6 percent.
North Central was up 18-4 after the first quarter and 41-9 at halftime. It was 57-15 after the third quarter.
Colton Antes, who had a huge season for Fulton was 2-of-11 from the floor and scored only six points.
Fulton ended its season at 19-7.
But there were still plenty of memorable highlights for Fulton. The Pirates defeated a 24-2 Bellaire team, 51-41, in the quarterfinals. Antes scored 16 points and had seven rebounds and four assists to help the Pirates make the semifinals for the second straight year. Caleb Waldon had eight points, two rebounds and two assists and Cole Blair had eight points and two assists.
Fulton was able to win its second straight regional title with a 60-46 win over Big Rapids Crossroads Academy at Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
Fulton downed Baldwin 66-54 in the regional semifinal CCA (14-10) was making its first appearance in a regional final.
Crossroads had a solid first quarter offensively and led 15-11. The Cougars struggled in the second quarter and trailed 25-19 at halftime.
Antes drove for a layup and 54-41 lead at 1:45 as the Cougars ran out of time. He wound up with 22 points and three 3-pointers.
“I thought defensively we were really good,” Fulton coach Todd Walden said. “We did a pretty good job of taking them out of what they like to do. I thought we did a decent job on the boards. We were a little out of sync offensively. But defensively and on the boards, I thought we were really good.”
The Pirates canned 10 3-pointers in the semifinals and followed that with eight against CCA.
“It feels just as good as I remember from last year,” Walden said. “Coming out of the district, we didn’t have a chance to catch our breath with three games last week and Monday and Wednesday of this week. I’ll take some time and enjoy this.”