This could not be exclusively the Ja’Hion Bond and Sam Dillard show.
The Fenton Tigers need more if they were to brush by Brighton and push through to their second straight district final.
The Tigers needed to get down and dirty. They turned from blue bloods to blue collar. Instead of putting up massive offense numbers Fenton relied on its defense and grit to beat a tough as nails Brighton team 55-41 in Wednesday night’s District 26 semifinal at Hartland High School.
“This is the first time we’ve gone blue collar all season,” beamed Fenton Coach Todd Schroeder.
Fenton bigs Jadon Burnau, Jack Coleman and Chris Piwowarczyk kept the Bulldogs off the offensive glass. This game did not turn into a track meet, but the Tigers got enough fast break points to turn a close game into victory.
Fenton needed every bit of muscle inside. The real inside muscle came from 6-foot-4 forward Jadon Burnau who pounded for 12 points and nine rebounds. He stood toe to toe with Brighton’s 6-8 enforcer Vincent Salmon, who plays angry and brutish.
Dillard (18 points) and Bond (14) were the straws that stir the drinks as usual. But they got a lot of help from Burnau who was nasty inside and battled everything within eyesight. He also hustled down court to receive entry passes from Bond and Dillard when the Bulldogs cut off their path to the basket.
The reward for Fenton (17-6) is a Friday night district final match up against Milford (16-7), which thumped Howell 56-47 in the earlier semifinal.
Coach Schroeder was thrilled to see some grit from his team. He did not see that same effort a week ago when Fenton lost for a second time against Lake Fenton. Burnau refused to let that happen again and fought his way to the center of attention.
“He’s been our rock all year down low,” said Schroeder. “He’s our steady force down low. We don’t always look to pass him the basketball, but he’s always been there for our defense and rebounding.”
Fenton didn’t turn on the burners until the second half after baskets from Gage Graham and Burnau. This game at times looked more like a WWE cage match than basketball game as both teams’ pushed buttons of desperation and grit.
Burnau said the intensity of win or go home post season boosted Fenton’s effort.
“We did not want to go home,” he said.
Trevor Viau led Brighton with nine points and sophomore guard Ty Lagenderfer scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter. It was a devastating loss for Brighton, which had won eight of its last 10 games and was playing its best basketball.
The Bulldogs were confident of winning despite losing 87-68 at Fenton earlier this season.
Fenton is a team that loves to push it and outscore folks without too much thought of playing defense. But the team knew that mindset wasn’t good enough to beat Brighton a second time.
A week ago the Tigers refused to dive for loose balls and lost for the second time this season to Lake Fenton by nine points at home.
“We thought we could outscore everybody,” Christensen said. “But that’s not always the case.”