The Ile Camera
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Playoff stunner!
Shorthanded Grosse Ile bows out of state basketball tourney
By Scott Held, The Ile Camera
PUBLISHED: March 9, 2007
Grosse Ile didn't need to be ashamed of lamenting its bad luck after Wednesday's 54-47 loss to Monroe Jefferson in a Class B district semifinal.
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But it had to give the Bears credit, too.
Jefferson, which gave the Red Devils two tough tests during the season, took advantage of the absence of Huron League most valuable player Lonnie Pugh to eliminate Grosse Ile from the state playoffs at Flat Rock.
Pugh injured his elbow in Monday's district opener and was hospitalized with an infection when the Devils took the court Wednesday.
School officials were not sure of the nature of the injury or Pugh's status after the game.
"That's not the story," Grosse Ile Coach Vic Bechard said.
"The story is that team came out and turned it up a notch and played a great second half."
The loss snapped Grosse Ile's 18-game winning streak and sent Jefferson to tonight's district final against Carlson.
The Bears (12-9) trailed 24-22 at the half but were red-hot in the third quarter. Jefferson was 7-for-9 from the floor in the first five minutes of the period and outscored Grosse Ile 16-2 to take a lead it never lost.
Brad Sassack's layup cut the lead to 41-40 with a minute to play in the third quarter, but the Bears answered with seven straight points.
Grosse Ile (20-2), whose starters appeared tired in the closing minutes, never got closer than three points the rest of the night.
"During the season, most of the time our starters were out of the game by the end of the third quarter," Bechard said. "We haven't been down with four minutes to go many times this year."
Jefferson also killed the Devils on the offensive boards, where Erik Gromacki had myriad second chances en route to 12 points.
Kevin Doyle led the Devils with 18 points. Pat Crowley and Jeremy Heyler, each of whom were constantly double-teamed in the second half, finished with 16 and eight, respectively.
Bill Gromacki had 14 points to lead Jefferson, which also got a dozen from Cory Evans.
The Devils got to the semifinals by rolling past Trenton, 61-38, on Monday.
Grosse Ile scored the game's first six points and had runs of nine and seven points later in the opening half to take a 29-15 lead at intermission.
Pugh had 21 points and eight rebounds for Grosse Ile, which also got 16 and nine from Heyler. Crowley made two three-pointers and finished with 12 points.
Graeme Sprague (seven rebounds) and Jeff Smith each had eight points for Trenton (4-17).
The Devils say goodbye to seven seniors, including Huron League first-teamers Crowley and Heyler, this spring.
"I thanked these guys," Bechard said after Wednesday's loss. "This group gave me everything they had this season.
"They played hard and were great people to be around."
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