John Raffel
Sports Scene
Lansing Everett was hoping to contend for its first state title since 2004 when it entered the Class A semifinals on March 25 against North Farmington at the Breslin Center.
But the Cinderella story ended for a boys basketball team that was 10-10 during the regular season and 6-0 in the postseason prior to the 60-48 loss to North Farmington.
After taking a 61-48 district title win over Okemos, Everett posted impressive regional wins over Kalamazoo Central 56-49 and East Lansing 54-48. They survived Hudsonville 63-54 in overtime in the quarterfinals.
The Vikings trailed North Farmington only 20-17 at halftime but fell behind 38-29 after the third quarter.
“Obviously, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” Vikings coach Desmond Ferguson said. He gave a lot of credit to Jackson and another senior, LeeAndre Wright.
“I’m so proud of these two young men, being starters last year and coming back,” he said. “We struggled the early part of the season and to have a great run like we did these past two weeks, no way would we have this run if it wasn’t for these two guys. They’re two of the winningest players we’ve had at Everett.”
Everett was unable to stop North Farmington guard Bill Thomas, who scored 26 points and forward Alex Darden, who grabbed 14 rebounds.
Jamyrin Jackson had a solid game for Everett with 27 points although he was 9-of-23 from the floor. His team was 17-of- 52 in shooting.
“We had some guys who weren’t used to the Breslin floor,” Jackson said. “I guess it was too much for them.
“We’ve had slow starts all season,” he continued. “That’s something that’s plagued us all season. We’ve been winning games in the third and fourth quarters.”
Ferguson has been Everett’s coach four seasons.
“Everett was 10-72 the previous four years before I got the job,” he said. “When I got the job, these guys were freshmen. It’s important we have sophomores on varsity to keep the program going. We’ve been to the Breslin two years in a row and that doesn’t happen often. These guys have left their legacy and their mark on the program that will be remembered for many years.
“We play defense like we’re supposed to. We still never really put together four quarters. We had comeback wins like being down 12 or 14 to Kalamazoo Central and being down eight to 10 against East Lansing. Defense enabled us to knock off some of those teams, and score some easy buckets. We didn’t have as many scorers as previous years. So we had to score in transition or off our defense. We had to turn things up defensively.”
But the Vikings struggled offensively against North Farmington.
“I knew that if we got down, it would be a tough ride,” Jackson said. “It’s the Breslin. Everyone wants to win a state championship. Being down at halftime, it was hard.”
North Farmington was 18-of-22 in free throws compared to 7-of-16 for Everett.
“It was teamwork and coming together,” Jackson said. “We knew we couldn’t do it individually.”