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CURTIS OSTRANDER
DUAINE HARDING
ELEANOR TODD
ELMER "BUD" HAHN
GERVASE KILEY
MARIAN SUTTON
ORLO KIRKUM
SLAVA KOKOTOVICH
Read More...
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Bulldogs earn first Class A
district title since 1989
by RICK DESOTELL
Observer Sports Writer
There is no question that 6-foot-4 Romeo junior Blake Cushingberry has a ton of talent, but what is most impressive these days is the composure with which the multi-talented guard is playing with while leading his team through the MHSAA playoffs.
On Saturday, March 10, at Romeo, Cushingberry, who had no points in the first quarter, started to establish himself in the second and by the end of the game had a game-high 17 points, eight rebounds and eight big assists to lead the Bulldogs to its first Class A district title since 1989 with a 59-39 victory over Troy Athens.
"I don't think, of all the years that I've been coaching, that I have seen someone mature emotionally on the court as much as I have seen in Blake in the last year or so,'' said Coach Dale Teller. "The best part is that he is just not scoring for the sake of scoring, he's been very patient about letting the game come to him and we're a better team for it.''
It was a big win in many ways for Romeo, which has played well during the regular season in recent years only to collapse once the playoffs start. In fact, it was just a year ago that the Bulldogs won the MAC Red title only to lose to this same Troy Athens team in the opening round. Athens was 5-15 at the time.
"It feels great, I'm happy for the kids and the program to get this off of our backs,'' said Teller. "We've worked extremely hard to get here and now we can concentrate on getting to the next level.''
As for the game itself, both teams started a little tight in the first quarter reminding everyone of last year's ugly game between the two schools when neither team could shoot above 30 percent from the floor and weren't much better at the free throw line.
The first quarter ended with the Bulldogs holding an 11-6 lead.
Doug Sharples, who finished with 14 points and three blocked shots, led the Bulldogs with seven first quarter points.
Things quickly changed in the second, however, as both teams started to heat up.
Romeo scored 15 points in the second, six each from Jake Schirmer and Cushingberry including a buzzer beating jumper at the end of the half by Cushingberry that gave the Bulldogs a 26-19 lead at intermission. Schirmer finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for the game.
Romeo turned up the heat in the second half, switching from your basic 1-2-2 zone defense to a more aggressive man-to-man.
That move combined with some clutch free throw shooting, helped Romeo outscore the Red Hawks 17-9 in the third quarter, including an 11-2 run to end the quarter and extend their lead to 43-28 heading into the fourth.
Romeo now advances to the regional semifinal game against Pontiac Northern at 8 p.m., today, March 14, at Troy High.
"Pontiac Northern will be tough because they've been here before,'' said Teller. "But they can be beat. We just have to stay patient and not fall into a run and shoot contest with them and I think we'll be all right.''
To get to last Saturday's game against Troy Athens, the Bulldogs defeated Stoney Creek Tuesday, March 6, and Troy on Thursday, March 8.
If you were fortunate enough to be one of the lucky ones to see both games Tuesday night in the opening round of the MHSAA Class A District at Romeo High, then you witnessed quite a show.
In the opener, Rochester Adams senior Justin Dawson nailed a 10-foot jumper with four seconds remaining to tie the score at 47-47 at the end of regulation and they went on to win in overtime 64-58 over rival Rochester.
And in the second game, host Romeo and Stoney Creek put on a 3-point shooting display combining for nearly 20 long range bombers on the night as Romeo won, 88-70.
But the highlight of the evening had to be the three thunderous dunks by 6-foot-4 senior forward Sharples in the second quarter that brought everyone in the small antiquated gym to their feet.
All three of Sharples dunks were of the two handed variety, but the best had to be dunk number two that came off of a no-look, over-the-head pass from junior guard Nick Kosovich.
"What happened with the dunks is Doug (Sharples) is up at the top of the defense and he gets some chances like that once in awhile in transition,'' said Romeo Coach Dale Teller.
Sharples led the Bulldogs (20-1) with 21 points and 10 rebounds; Cushingberry, who rolled his foot in the third quarter and may not play against Troy Thursday, finished with 19 points including five 3-pointers for Romeo.
"It was a very tough, physical game,'' said Teller. "It's unfortunate that Blake got hurt, especially when it was a hustle play on his part. Hopefully it won't be too bad and he can play on Saturday if we get there.''
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School Sports
Games are home
Varsity schedules
(unless specififed)
varsity schedules unless specified.)
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 1
Golf @ Dakota time tba.
Tennis Stevenson 4 p.m.
JV tennis @ Stevenson 4 p.m.
9th football Dakota 4:30 p.m.
JV football Dakota 7 p.m.
* * * *
THURSDAY, SEPT. 2
Golf @ Fraser time tba.
9th soccer @ Stevenson 4 p.m.
JV soccer @ Adams 5:30 p.m.
Football @ Dakota 7 p.m.
JV football Dakota 7 p.m.
Soccer @ Adams 7 p.m.
* * * *
TUESDAY, SEPT. 7
9th soccer Grosse Pointe North 4 p.m.
9th volleyball Stoney Creek Mch 4 p.m.
JV volleyball Stoney Creek Mch 5 p.m.
Volleyball Stoney Creek Mch 6 p.m.
* * * *
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 8
Golf @ Stevenson 2:30 p.m.
Tennis Grosse Pointe South 4 p.m.
JV tennis @ Grosse Pointe South 4 p.m.
JV soccer @ Utica 5 p.m.
Soccer @ Utica 6:30 p.m.
* * * *
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SPORTS
