Bittersweet Surrender

Vinales Has Epic Night, Raiders Fall At Buzzer

It was a bittersweet outing for North Farmington's Kyle Vinales on Tuesday night. On one hand, the high-octane 6-0 senior guard went bongos on an athletic and spry Melvindale ABT defense, touching-up the twine for an electrifying 40 points. On the other hand, the host-Raiders lost to visiting the Gators 63-62 on junior guard Marcel Smith's 5-foot runner in the lane at the buzzer.

Vinales (Grand Valley State) has a nose for the hoop like few others in the state. He can score from anywhere on the court. And he's clutch as can be too.

Take Tuesday's heart-wrenching loss to a stacked Melvindale ABT squad, littered with D1 recruits. Trailing 61-60 with under 10 seconds remaining, the coldblooded Vinales sank an 8-foot fade away-jumper in the lane to give North Farmington the lead late. 27 of his 40 points were registered in the nip-and-tuck second half where the Raiders' stormed back from a nine point halftime. Coming out of the break deadly-determined in spirit and lethally-accurate in performance, he scored his team's first 11 points of the second half North Farmington to within two, at 37-35 midway through the third quarter. His 3-point play with 3:48 left gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 57-54.

In the head-to-head battle with the Gators top player, Michael Talley, Jr, Vinales came out on top, outscoring the Duquesne-bound point guard by 26 points. Talley Jr, fouled out of the game at the 3:41 mark of the fourth quarter with 14 points. Smith finished with 26 points to lead M-ABT.

If this kid was four or five inches taller, he would without a doubt be a big time D1 recruit – that said he passed up several mid-major scholarship offers to sign with D2 powerhouse GVSU in November. The kind of talents and instincts he possess on the court are rare and can't be taught. I'm going to start calling him, "The Natural," because his game is as fresh as the cool winter air and because he's, well……, a natural at dropping mad bombs on opposing defenders.

After averaging 25 points per game last season as a junior – tied for most in the county with Southfield's Carlton Brundidge (a UofM commit as of September) – Vinales hasn't missed a beat starting off his senior campaign. He scored 35 in his team's opening night win over Academy of Oak Park and then 14 in last Friday's demolishing of crosstown rival FH Harrison in only a quarter of work due to the game getting out of hand so quickly.

Watch for KV to continue busting up opponents in the stat sheet and to possibly go for 50 – yeah, Burney said it, a big finsky – before the year is out.