George Pohly, The Macomb Daily

New Haven puts extra emphasis on the first five minutes of the first and third quarters.

It showed Friday in the Rockets’ 63-49 MAC White basketball victory over visiting Romeo.

Junior Emmanuel Hunter made a 3-point basket to cap a 9-0 start to the game, and Brent Wiles had a pair of baskets during a 10-2 start in the second half as the Rockets squared their season series against the Bulldogs.

Wiles finished with 18 points and Hunter 17 to help New Haven pull into a tie for second place in the division.

“We talk about the first five minutes of the third quarter and the first five minutes of the third quarter,” New Haven coach Tedaro France II said. “Games are won and lost there. So having a great start in the game and having a great start to the second half is key.”

Romeo, down 21-10 after one quarter and 25-14 early in the second, rallied to within two points and trailed by only four, 29-25 at halftime.

But Wiles made a steal and drove for a hoop, Tyree France banked in a 3-pointer and Wiles scored off an offensive rebound as New Haven established to a 39-27 lead.

“That kind of shifted the moment to us,” coach France said. “At the half they had it, and we took it back.”
Keyondre Gamez made two 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the third quarter, and New Haven scored eight of its last 10 points of the game on free throws to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

“When we got back in it, everything came out of a set,” Romeo coach Marvin Cushingberry said. “We’ve got to stay in a situation where we run sets. When we do that, we’re a pretty good ball team because we’re big and we get the ball inside and it’s tough for teams to handle it.

“But once they get the tempo going and put a little pressure on our guards, we got moving and we didn’t get the ball back to the top.”

Cushingberry, like New Haven coach France, thought the opening minutes of the second half were crucial.
​
“That’s the winning quarter,” Cushingberry said. “New Haven’s young and … they get after it.”
Josh Fowler, a senior guard, led Romeo with nine points. Josh Skelly, a junior guard, added eight. Tim Kewley, a 6-6 freshman forward, contributed seven.

Both teams are 4-3 in the division. So is Ford, which defeated Warren-Mott.

Romeo, New Haven and Ford are looking up at division leader Grosse Pointe South.
Wiles, a junior, had a double-double that included 10 rebounds. He also made five assists.

Hunter contributed five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Romeo won the teams’ first meeting in overtime.

“We got out-toughed,” coach France said. “We got pushed around.

“We wanted to come out tonight and play with more toughness.”

“I think we came out with better energy against them,” Wiles said. “I think we were more focused than when we played there. We thought we were just going to walk in and win. We came more prepared tonight.”


​

Brandon Folsom, Port Huron Times Herald
The junior was key in New Haven's win over Warren Mott a week ago.
Brent Wiles is the Blue Water Area Athlete of the Week as voted on by the Times' Herald readers. 
Last week, the 6-foot-4 forward was pivotal in the New Haven boys basketball team's nail-biter victory over Warren Mott. 

The Rockets won 59-54 behind the junior's 22 points and 17 rebounds. He also threw down a dunk during a stretch of the third quarter where he scored nine points. 

With only a handful of players on this year's squad with extensive playing experience, Wiles has been one of the leaders that coach Tedaro France has leaned on. 

"Brent has been having a great year for us," France said. "He's a great leader. He gotten better in the off-season, and he played a key role for us the last two years. Now he's stepping into that No. 1 spot." 

The Rockets (4-3) visit Utica Ford tonight. 

David Goricki, The Detroit News

State Super 20

1. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (6-0)
2. River Rouge (6-1)
3. Ypsilanti Lincoln (3-1)
4. Clarkston (6-1)
5. Flint Beecher (6-1)
6. Grand Rapids Catholic Central (5-1)
7. Grand Blanc (6-1)
8. Benton Harbor (7-1)
9. Detroit Cass Tech (7-1)
10. Detroit Douglass (6-1)
11. Ann Arbor Huron (5-0)
12. Warren De La Salle (6-0)
13. Grand Rapids Christian (6-0)
14. Waterford Mott (3-2)
15. Detroit King (7-2)
16. Muskegon (3-1)
17. Flint Carman-Ainsworth (4-2)
18. Detroit Edison (5-2)
19. Mt. Pleasant (6-0)
T20. East Lansing (6-0)
T20. Williamston (7-1)
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Detroit

1. Detroit Cass Tech (7-1)
2. Detroit Douglass (6-1)
3. Detroit King (7-2)
4. Detroit Edison (5-2)
5. Detroit Loyola (8-0)
6. Detroit Renaissance (4-3)
7. U-D Jesuit (4-3)
8. Detroit CMA (7-1)
9. Detroit Mumford (5-4)
10. Detroit Western (3-3)

North

1. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (6-0)
2. Clarkston (6-1)
3. Waterford Mott (3-2)
4. Ferndale (3-2)
5. North Farmington (7-2)
6. Southfield A&T (6-0)
7. Howell (5-1)
8. Southfield Christian (4-2)
9. Troy (5-2)
10. Oak Park (4-3)

East

1. Warren De La Salle (6-0)
2. Macomb Dakota (5-2)
3. Grosse Pointe South (6-2)
4. New Haven (4-2)
5. Sterling Heights Stevenson (4-2)
6. Hamtramck (5-2)
7. Macomb L’Anse Creuse North (5-1)
8. Eastpointe (5-1)
9. Harper Woods Chandler Park (4-2)
10. Chippewa Valley (3-3)

West

1. River Rouge (6-1)
2. Ypsilanti Lincoln (3-1)
3. Ann Arbor Huron (5-0)
4. Ann Arbor Skyline (5-1)
5. Saline (3-2)
6. Canton (4-1)
7. Northville (6-0)
8. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep (6-2)
9. Dearborn Divine Child (5-1)
10. Belleville (3-2)

Matt Schoch, The Detroit News

​Michigan’s reigning Mr. Basketball is helping to wake up a Chicago sleeping giant.

Though the DePaul Blue Demons have seemingly hit the snooze button to start 2020, there are signs Romeo Weems is sparking a real revival for Chicago’s biggest college basketball program.

The former New Haven star also checks crucial boxes with the three magic words for NBA wings: Three and D.

Weems might be hitting a midseason freshman wall, but his 2019 success elevated him up mock NBA Draft boards.
“I feel like there’s a lot of learning, but it’s fun though,” Weems said Thursday. “Of course the NBA is where everybody wants to be. That motivates me. If my name is on there now, it’s probably not that high.”
His name is rising though, much like his ascending program after many years of obscurity.

It’s been decades since coach Ray Meyer had the Blue Demons among the nation’s best programs, attracting top Chicago talent like former Pistons Bad Boy Mark Aguirre, who would lead DePaul to the 1979 Final Four.


Aguirre's pro career ended in 1994 though, seven years before Weems was born. In recent times, DePaul has been an afterthought, eventually moving to the Big East to become the storied league’s doormat.

But the program moved in 2017 to Wintrust Arena, shiny new mini-NBA digs in South Loop, a huge step up from playing in Rosemont prior to that. There, players and students would fight about an hour’s worth of Chicago traffic from the Lincoln Park campus to play and — mostly not — attend games at Allstate Arena.

Now a Red Line L-train ride away from campus and downtown, DePaul has lively crowds and an exciting basketball team to boot.

After starting 12-1 and beating regional rival Northwestern 83-78 on Dec. 21, DePaul’s awakening was one of the big non-conference stories in the sport.

“At this point in time, I’ll take it, it’s been really good,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. “The university, and the community, and the city has embraced it, which is kind of what we thought and knew what would happen because of our past. Now that we’re drawing attention to ourselves, it becomes more difficult to build on it, maintain it and grow into something that we believe will be very successful this year, next year and years beyond.”

DePaul (12-4) is trying to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004 and was very nearly ranked for the first time since 2000.

However, the Blue Demons lost 74-67 on Saturday to St. Johns in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, and since the Northwestern win, have lost all three games to start the Big East season.

Weems was scoreless Saturday and played just 13 minutes because of foul trouble. The 6-foot-7 freshman came into Big East season averaging 8.7 points per game but is netting 4.0 points per conference game. 

“There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs and a lot of adversity, but me and my teammates and the coaching staff are taking it day by day,” Weems said. “Try to get better every day. Working really hard, trying to figure everything out.”
Weems was a DePaul starter from day one and made a name first for himself defensively, as fellow NBA prospect Paul Reed and experienced guards Charlie Moore and Jalen Coleman-Lands supplied the bulk of the scoring.

“I feel like that’s what I am. My defense is who I am,” Weems said. “I don’t feel like it was my focus, I feel like it just happened like that. I feel like I’m a competitor, I work hard.”

His offense has been tantalizing though, knocking down 41.4 percent of his 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 17 points in a November win at Boston College. 

With efficient play, Weems is showing he deserves whatever piece of DePaul’s scoring pie lands on his plate, which could increase as the Blue Demons try to get back on track.

“I think that’s a little bit of a hard thing, for a young guy especially, to do because he knows there’s some weapons out there that he may not be, as he’s always been, a primary option,” Leitao said. “But at the same time, he as an option is a good one. There’s trust because he puts himself in the right position.”

DePaul was a curious choice for Weems, especially as Michigan and Michigan State were among his suitors. Weems was Michigan’s 39th Mr. Basketball and 26 of them moved on to Ann Arbor or East Lansing.

“Romeo, by virtue of being an independent person and an independent thinker in high school and here in college, chose to go against the grain in his decision making, and the way he goes about his business,” Leitao said. “That different mentality, people probably disagree with or challenge. But it’s gotten him in a really, really good place now as a freshman and it will as he continues his career here. 

“And futuristically, he’s going to play this game for a long period of time and I think by and large, a lot of it was because he didn’t succumb to somebody else’s thought process about who he should be, what he should do, where he should go. He was going to make an independent decision for himself.”

Weems is trying to lift the DePaul program like he did at New Haven, where he helped the Rockets to their first state championship in 2017 as a sophomore. He later became Macomb County’s first Mr. Basketball.

He could be DePaul’s first drafted player since Benton Harbor’s Wilson Chandler was selected 23rd by the New York Knicks in 2007. Chandler also chose DePaul after winning Michigan’s Mr. Basketball in 2005.
​
“I’m trying to be a lottery pick one day maybe, or first round, so I’m just going to keep playing no matter what people think,” Weems said. "Just keep playing.”

Brandon Folsom, Port Huron Times Herald

NEW HAVEN — There was under 10 seconds left, and New Haven's JaQuan Kincaid sailed an inbounds pass down the floor, and no Rocket was there to collect it. 
​
Warren Mott's Dorian Chaney grabbed the loose ball, drove to the hoop and drew a trip to the foul line. Then the senior trimmed the Marauders' deficit to three points.

Tyree France made a pair of free throws with under one second left, and New Haven (5-2) managed to run out the rest of the clock, but its home crowd wasn't too pleased with how the Rockets snuck away with a close 59-54 win. 
They led by as many as 19 points in the second half and entered the fourth quarter leading by 16. 

A collapse like that isn't how you'd want to open Macomb Area Conference-White play either, but New Haven coach Tedaro France was excited to use that tight finish as a teaching moment. The Rockets have only two starters with significant experience on the roster. The rest of the players are relatively new to the lineup. 

That's why France kept his players in the locker room for an extended skull session after the game. He wanted to teach them exactly how not to fumble a big lead late.

"Those are things you've got to learn — time management, clock management," coach France said. "You've got to know the situation. ... I think it's OK to make mistakes as long as we learn from them. I don't care if we make 10 mistakes as long as we don't make the same one twice. We want to play in these types of games so we can learn how to finish."

Brent Wiles totaled 22 points and 17 rebounds, while France and Trevon Jeffery each scored 10 points apiece. 
After a back-and-forth affair early in the first quarter, the Rockets couldn't have looked much better while they put together that 19-point lead. 

Late in the first, France sank a 3-pointer, and then Michael Williams Jr. knocked down back-to-back 3s in the corner to give New Haven a 16-11 advantage entering the second quarter. 

Jeffery and Wiles accounted for all 13 of New Haven's points in the second, ensuring the Rockets a 29-17 halftime lead. 

Wiles scored nine straight points in the third, including a thunderous one-handed dunk on a breakaway, to push the Rockets' lead to 19. Brandon Lisco sank a trio of free throws to ensure they'd carry a 16-point advantage into the final eight minutes. 

But that's when the collapse started for the Rockets, who want to continue learning from their mistakes as the season goes on. They visit Romeo for another division game on Tuesday. 

"We can practice, we can watch film," coach France said. "But with our young team, the more games they play, the more experience they get. You've got to go through it in order to get better. You've got to learn how to finish. The way you learn that is by playing in these types of games."

Kevin Lozon, The Macomb Daily

New Haven nearly had one get away from it on Wednesday night.

The host Rockets held a 44-28 lead over Warren-Mott after three quarters, before watching the Marauders rally to within three points with four seconds left. However, two free throws by Brent Wiles with a second to go capped a 59-54 MAC White Division-opening win for New Haven.

“We have to learn how to finish and the only way to learn that is to play in these games,” New Haven coach Tedaro France II said. “For the most part, we played great at times, and not so great at other times. We fought and stayed strong and got the league win.”

For three quarters, New Haven was in control, racing to 16-11 lead after one quarter, extending it to 29-17 at halftime, and 44-28 after three periods. But, Warren Mott caught fire and made the Rockets sweat a little in the fourth quarter.
“We don’t have quit in us,” Mott coach Jeff Olind said. “Our problem all year has been getting out of the gate. We get down early and come storming back.

“I want to know in those first three quarters if our shooting percentage or number of turnovers was higher,” Olind added. “I will watch the film and find out.”

In the fourth quarter, the Marauders’ Dorian Chaney scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the period. His steal and layup with 1:38 left cut the Rocket lead to 53-48, before his free throw with four second to play cut the deficit to 57-54.
“He’s a senior,” Olind said. “He’s the smallest kid in the gym, but the toughest. He goes so hard on both ends of the floor and works his butt of every day in practice. It’s great to see.”

Wiles and Tyree France are two of the more experienced Rockets and they led that way in this one, with Wiles finishing with 22 points, 17 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists, while France finished with 10 points, four boards and four assists. Trevon Jeffery also had 10 points for New Haven.

“Wiles and France have been our guys with the most experience,” France said. “They’re great players and leaders. They have been patient with the young guys. Brent Wiles is having a great year for us and got better in the off-season.”

Another area where Mott struggled at was from the free-throw line, making good on 11-of-28 attempts in the game.
“We shoot them every day and will shoot a lot more of them now,” Olind said. “The disappointing thing was that there were seniors who were missing them at the end. They’ve been here before and should have that ice water in their veins.”
Besides Chaney’s 19 points, the Marauders also received 10 points from Dennis Mayfield, and seven points from Alex Estephan. The loss dropped Mott’s record to 3-3 overall, 0-1 league.

New Haven improved to 5-2 overall, 1-0 league. France said he knew his young team would have its work cut out for themselves against the Marauders.
​
“It’s a league game against a very well-coached team at Mott,” France said. “They work hard, and we know every game against Mott is going to be tough. For us and our young team, we can practice and watch film, but the more games we play, the more experience they get, we have to go through this type of game to get better.”