Oakland County's Best Boys Basketball Teams of the 2000s

NO. 5

2009 CLARKSTON WOLVES

This well-balanced Wolfpack team broke the program's 29-year Elite Eight curse and got the Blue and Gold to the Class A final four for the first time in head coach Dan Fife's career. Going 24-2, Clarkston beat league-rival Pontiac Northern for the regional title 42-35 and then Flint Northwestern in the quarterfinals 70-67. Playing a good first half in the semifinals against Kalamazoo Central, the Wolves ran out of gas in the second half, losing 58-44.

The '09 squad was fundamentally sound and exceptionally hard-nosed in its style of play. Leading the way for coach Fife's fireballers were a trio of D1 hoop kings in Brandon Pokley (Western Michigan), Matt Kamieniecki (Ball State) and Thomas Staton (Gardner-Webb).

Pokley goes down as one of the school's all-time best sharpshooters, had unlimited range and was quite Reggie Miller-like in his flair for the dramatic and hitting clutch last-minute daggers. Staton whose dad Tom starred as a prepster at Ferndale and then played at UofM, was a 6-foot-5 point guard that caused serious matchup problems for opposing defenses and routinely got into the paint in the half court set. Kamieniecki, only a junior, played a great inside-outside game and was the team's emotional leader. All three star players were long, rangy and athletic and set the tone for the rest of the team with their tenacious defense.

Augmenting Staton admirably in the Wolves backcourt were Tyler Scarlett, Brandon Verlinden and Luke Prudhomme, each consummate role players that almost always banged home the open shot and/or found the open man. Scarlett is currently playing football at Michigan Tech after leading C-Town to the football final four the following fall.

There is no doubt this was a special group, who found redemption for every team that came before it, going all the way back to the Tim McCormick era.

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