The Best Around

WILLIAMS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE FOR LUMBERJACKS, ANCHORS HIGH-SCORING DCD VICTORY OVER GUESTS FROM SAGINAW

There is a good reason why Birmingham Detroit Country Day's Amir Williams is one of the nation's best prep basketball players. The Yellowjackets 6-foot-11 senior center showed that reason on Saturday night, leading Country Day to an 86-68 defeat of visiting Saginaw Arthur Hill by destroying the Lumberjacks defense for 32 points, 20 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Following the fast-paced, up and down affair, Yellow Jackets head coach Kurt Keener wasn't afraid to heap the praise on when asked to comment regarding his star player's monumental effort.

"That's probably the best I've ever seen Amir play," he said. "When he's focused on the task at hand, there aren't many better than him in the post. He physically dominated the opposition tonight. It was a fantastic outing for him."

As a junior last season, Williams was named first-team all-state while helping guide Country Day to a Class B state title. Recently selected as a McDonalds All-American, he will continue his playing career in college at Ohio State. This season he is averaging 23 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks per contest.

Williams' 10 quick points in the opening five minutes of the game sparked Country Day to an 18-2 lead out of the starting block. His tip-in bucket in the final seconds of the second quarter put the Yellow Jackets ahead, 39-26 at the break.

After Arthur Hill (10-9) scratched its way back to even, tying the game at 56-56 heading into the fourth, Williams further imposed his will on the Lumberjacks and spearheaded a 19-6 run that allowed Country Day to put things away down the stretch. When senior point guard Chris Fowler fed him for a monster slam dunk with just a little more than four minutes left to play, the Yellow Jackets were up 75-63.

"The team feeds off my energy and I had a lot of it tonight when it counted," said Williams of his evening on the hardwood. "I'm just happy I could help the team get this win. There are no egos with this team. If I need to score 30 for us to win, that's what I'll do. If I need to score 10 and go and get 20 rebounds, I'll do that too. I want to do whatever it takes for us to win and for me to keep getting better."

In addition to Williams' heavy duty performance, the Yellow Jackets also got big games from a host of other players. Fowler continued his superb play coming off a knee injury that kept him out a full year by scoring eight points, handing out 10 assists, grabbing six rebounds and making four steals. Junior forward Jodan Price scored 15 points, while Lee Bailey, Fowler's backcourt partner, scored 12 points, including a pair of critical second-half 3-pointers and senior Kenny Knight, who will be playing football in the Big Ten next fall at Illinois, had 11 points and five rebounds.

Country Day, the state's No. 1 ranked team in Class B, improves its record to 17-2 and will faceoff with Class A powerhouse Romulus on Thursday to wrap up the regular season.

 

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