By the end of the evening Whitmore Lake faithful were able to savor a satisfying 73-52 non-league boys basketball victory over Brighton Livingston Christian. Despite the appearance of the blowout – which it was – this victory came with some scary moments and critical teaching lessons by head coach Steve Ewald.
The biggest lesson is to respect opponents, even if they look like the last guys picked at the local YMCA gym. During a frenzied break after the first quarter, in which Whitmore Lake (15-7) trailed, Ewald read his team the riot act.
“He told us that this team came to compete with us,” guard Landon Livingston said. “We have to do what we do.”
He reminded players that Livingston Christian (13-9) came to cut their hearts out, that they were a sneaky team that steals passes that lead to easy transition baskets. Yes, this team that did not have a player over 5-foot-11 could beat them.
Livingston Christian is made up of a group of soccer players who run with the same intensity as former Detroit Piston Rip Hamilton.
Whitmore Lake trailed 13-12 at the time but ripped off a 12-2 run by becoming more aggressive on defense and being less careless with the ball. The Trojans lackadaisical play allowed Livingston Christian players to strip them of the ball in the open court and to outrebound their taller opponents.
“We got better on defense,” Whitmore Lake sophomore Derrick Lewis said. “We have good chemistry. We trust our teammates. I trust them and they trust me.”
The Trojans turned the game around by respecting their opponent and not falling into the same defensive traps that doomed them. In the second and third quarters Whitmore Lake outscored Livingston Christian 49-19 and led by as many as 33 points (60-27) thanks to runs of 12-2 and 20-2.
“We thought it was going to be a little easier,” Livingston said. “But we saw they can compete. We saw that they are a high-level team.”
By the third quarter Whitmore Lake had zapped the zip out of Livingston Christian. Bruisers Nolan Collins, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, and 6-3 senior Isaac Fair wore down Livingston Christian, which played the night before during a 10-point win over Fowlerville.
Fair capped off an evening in which he signed his letter of intent to play football at Michigan Tech.
Livingston led WL with 14 points, mostly from long distance, and sophomore Derrick Lewis added 13 points by pounding the boards looking for put backs. Collins added 11 points.