YELLOW JACKETS TAKE CARE OF TROJANS, LET THEIR PLAY SPEAK VOLUMES

 

The Birmingham Detroit Country Day boys basketball team made a huge statement on Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd in its home gymnasium. Playing without starting point guard Chris Fowler, the Yellow Jackets put forth a near flawless effort in dispatching fellow perennial hoops powerhouse Saginaw 98-81 and with it told the entire state they could wind up being better than last year's state title squad.

Displaying its depth and prolific long-distance marksmanship, Country Day expanded on a 10-point halftime lead by erupting for 44 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half to claim stake to a commanding 25-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

The Yellow Jackets banged home 11 3-pointers and got scoring contributions from 11 players. Four Country Day players reached double-figures, led by all-state senior center Amir Williams (Ohio State), who put up 24 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Fellow seniors Adam Zavadil and Lee Bailey (9 asst) scored 17 and 10 points respectively and freshman Maury Diane helped significantly filling the void left by Fowler in the backcourt by pumping in 14 points off the bench, to go along with four assists and three steals.  

Fowler – out with an ankle injury suffered in a late preseason scrimmage – is expected back at full capacity by the end of the month.

Saginaw got a game-high 31 points from all-state senior swingman Tommie McCune, inked to play his college ball for Bob Huggins at West Virginia starting next year.

The impressive victory improves the Yellow Jackets overall record to 2-0. In the team's opening-night win on the road at Southfield-Lathrup, Country Day drained 14 3-point shots. 

Head coach Kurt Keener is seeking his and the program's ninth state championship this year, coming off a season where the 'Jackets  went 26-2 and romped to the Class B state crown by winning their eight state tournament games by a 23-point average margin of victory . Keener's talented bunch gets back to work on Tuesday when it faces Ann Arbor Pioneer at home.

 

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