Ben Murphy
Sports Scene
The Michigan Lutheran Seminary basketball teams both finished solid seasons recently, as both lost state quarterfinal games to eventual state champions.
The boys had their season come to an end at the Waterford quarterfinal on March 20, losing to eventual state champion Southfield Christian 98-84.
“We were a defensive team all year, so to have a high scoring game like that hurt us,” MLS head coach David Lecker said. “They just had more fire power than we did. They made their threes and could penetrate. They were a good team, but our guys never gave up.”
The boys’ team finished the year 20-5 overall and 13-1 in the Tri-Valley West, winning back-to-back conference, district, and regional championships.
“It’s always hard to see a season come to an end, but on the positive side, these guys played hard and never quit,” Lecker said. “You can’t complain when for two seasons your record is 40-10 overall and 26-2 in the last two conference seasons. I think they were successful because they played hard all the time. They even played hard during practice.
“The other key to our success was our defense,” Lecker added. “Our goal was to keep teams under 40 points, and we did that on a regular basis.”
The Cardinals will be hit with the loss of seven seniors (Todd Brassow, Jesse Lindloff, Austin Head, Luke Morrell, Wes Towne, Evan Lehr, and Isaac Pappenfuss).
“These seven seniors were excellent leaders,” Lecker said. “Next year, I have our second-leading scorer back [Mike Greenwood.] We still have some size with Erich Neumann (6’4”) and Stephen Dietrich (6’3”). We also have some other good shooters back. If these juniors and the incoming sophomores can play defense, we will be all right.”
The girls lost their quarterfinal 38-30 at Waterford Kettering High School to Our Lady of the Lakes, who went on to win the state championship.
“It was tough in that we lost to the eventual state champion,” girls’ head coach Terry Vasold said. “It was the closest game the two-time defending state champs had. We were even in turnovers, rebounds, and free throws. They just made three more shots than we did, and we didn’t shoot well.”
The Lady Cardinals finished the season 17-8 overall and 8-6 in league play, third behind Carrollton and Valley Lutheran. The squad finished 7-15 last year, and finished 13-7 in the regular season this year, so the playoff run came as a bit of a surprise to some.
“The reason for the improvement was that we had everyone back, except for one role player,” Vasold said. “The year of experience, along with the girls maturing as players and coming together as a team, led to our success.
“We got a whole lot better as the season went along,” Vasold added. “The girls started taking ownership, and we began to develop some leadership which had been lacking. A lot of it was just getting more experience.”
Vasold expects another solid run next season, also, despite moving up in class size.
“Basically I lose two starters,” he said. “We were still very young this year, with four sophomores and six juniors. We will be bumped to class C next year, so we have to keep getting better. The experience gained this last postseason was invaluable.”