Eric Williams Jr. named Player of the Game with a great performance! Helping his Ducks to a 74-71 league victory on the Road over Washington. Great job E!
Former Rocket Basketball Superstar Eric Williams Jr. Named Player of the Game After a Nail Biter12/13/2020
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Rocket Basketball Superstar Brent Wiles was selected to be on the Blue Water Area 1st-Team12/12/2020 By: Brandon Folsum
Here's hoping the COVID-19 delay to the start of the boys basketball season can end sometime in the near future. Last week was supposed to be the first slate of games, but a partial shutdown order by Gov. Whitmer's office in late November has the MHSAA scrambling for when they can finally give basketball teams the OK to begin tryouts and practices. It'll likely be a shortened season, like many of the fall sports just endured, but when the players finally take the hardwood for the season-opening tip, it should start what we think will be another awesome winter in the greater Port Huron area. The Times Herald asked every boys basketball coach and media member in the Blue Water Area to submit a ballot for who they think will be the top-15 players this season. Almost a dozen ballots came back, and, after tallying them up, the pre-season All-Blue Water Area team that follows shows where each player landed in the voting. A player needed to receive at least one vote to be eligible for the team. An impromptu pre-season Player of the Year poll was hosted on Twitter and voted on by fans. There were no surprises in how that poll turned out, as Croswell-Lexington senior Hunter Soper, considered the top college prospect in the area by many coaches and media members, won the poll in a landslide over the likes of Marysville senior D'Marco Singleton, Port Huron Northern sophomore Tyler Jamison and New Haven's Brent Wiles. FIRST TEAM Tyler Jamison, Port Huron Northern (146 points, four first-place votes) Hunter Soper, Croswell-Lexington (125, five first-place votes) Brent Wiles, New Haven (118) Tyler Johnson, Croswell-Lexington (105) D'Maro Singleton, Marysville (96) Rocket Alumni Eric Williams Jr. puts up a double double as he and Oregon defeat Eastern Washington12/7/2020 Eric Williams Jr. puts up a Double Double with 17 points and 10 rebounds helping Oregon to a 69-52 victory over Eastern Washington. Great Job E!   Rocket nation, be ready to cheer on our very own Romeo Weems as he and the Blue Demon's take on Iowa State.  The new @TheShootAWay Gun 10k Midnight Edition arrived today. Kids are going to be excited to get on it when we get back! The old Gun 8000 treated us well since we got it in 2012. A lot of shots up on that machine, great memories & a lot of Championships. Brent Wiles had a great showing at the Bank Hoops All State Mini-Camp proving he is one of the top players in the state. Coming off a solid junior year averaging 18.1 pts, 10.7 reb, 2.1 ast and 1.9 stl. Brent is going to have a special senior season.  Happy Birthday Eric, and here's to many more great things to come!!!  Burney gives you a fabulous FIVE PACK of ballers heating up in July:
Brent Wiles (New Haven 6-5 Sr. G/F.) — Maybe the most underrated player in the MAC, a “Mr. Do-It-All” swingman with a nasty streak. David Hughes (Detroit Edison 6-6 Sr. F) — High-flyer in the post who’s arsenal of jackhammer dunks shake the earth every time he throws one down. … Plays much bigger than his size. Tyler Stezowski (Hamilton 6-1 Sr. G) — Tough-as-nails out of the backcourt, crafty, a true leader. Kentrell Pullian (Benton Harbor 6-0 Sr. G) — Could be the most undervalued floor general on the west side of the state. Drew Barrie (Midland 6-5 Jr. F) — A star-in-the-making on the wing, dogged competitor. ——-- Lobsinger lands at Western Flintstone “Big Lob” recently made quite the big decision. Flint Powers senior forward Owen Lobsinger committed to Western Michigan last week. The 6-foot-8 Lobinsger plays on the wing and crashes the boards hard. He started as a sophomore on a Powers club that made the Division 2 Sweet 16 in 2019. Last winter, Lobsinger battled injuries but still averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds per night in limited action. Dangerous from deep, he shot over 45 percent on his 3-point attempts. Central Michigan and Toledo were also in the hunt for his services. Powers went 11-11 in 2020 and was preparing to defend its district title when the state tournament was cancelled because of the pandemic. Lobsinger’s set-up man the past two seasons, point guard Noah Baylis, heads to the NCAA DI ranks this fall as a freshman at the University of Denver. ———-- Farewell, my friend The Metro Detroit prep basketball world shed a tear and gave a heartfelt goodbye to longtime assistant coach Phil North earlier this month. North, a colorful and beloved presence on the local sidelines for decades, died suddenly of a heart attack at 66. North coached at Roseville the past three seasons and before that held assistant stints at Dearborn Fordson and Westland John Glenn. — SCOTT M. BURNSTEIN Blacktop Day with the FAMILY. Rockets hold summer workout at New Haven Village Park. #WintheDay7/1/2020 www.themacombdaily.com By George Pohly  They do yoga instead of weight lifting, and they play outside on blacktop rather than indoors on hardwood. They run hills instead of baseline to baseline, and their vital equipment includes a thermometer and sanitizer rather than a rack of basketballs. This is New Haven summer hoops in the era of COVID-19. Different atmosphere. Unconventional schedule. Unusual priorities. But there's a spirit that’s true to one of Macomb County’s more successful programs. “We’re here on a mission,” senior Manny Hunter said. “We’re trying to get better, better every day. “I love these guys, they’re my teammates. We’ve really become a family here.” The coronavirus pandemic and construction at New Haven High have dislodged the Rockets for the foreseeable future, so they make due in different locales. One afternoon they’re at the New Haven Community Park. On another, at a park in New Baltimore or the beach at Lake St. Clair Metropark. They meet in small groups with coach Tedaro France II, who takes everyone’s temperature before anything else happens. “If anyone’s temperature is over 100, they have to leave,” France said. A session at New Haven Community Park featured drills to improve ball handling skills and defensive techniques, but not before the players finished several minutes of yoga. “It’s important to take care of the body, first and foremost,” France said. “Our priority now is to have fun, take it slow and not try to make up for lost time. “Kids think they’ve got to get everything back right now, but they’ve been off for so long. That’s why we’ve got the yoga.” In a normal year, France’s team would have been to multiple team camps and played dozens of games by the time June expired. But the Rockets, like prep teams throughout the state, went on indefinite couch duty when the coronavirus crisis emerged in mid-March. In-person classes were finished. So were team gatherings, workouts and any thoughts about camp. Only in recent weeks did schools get the go-ahead to bring athletes together for outdoor training sessions. “I’m just happy to see them,” said France, the Rockets’ coach for more than a decade. “It’s been so long since we’ve been able to be a group. “It's kind of cool to be outside and not in the gym. The kids are happy to be outside and back to something that’s kind of normal. This is a chance for them to get off the couch, the (video) games, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, whatever they’ve got now. "The gym, and now here, for a lot of kids is their safe place. They want that escape. It's very important." France has a bottle of sanitizer at workouts. Equipment is cleaned regularly. “We take our time,” France said. “We take a lot of breaks. “We try to keep it as safe as possible.” It’s not what a basketball team is accustomed to during the long, hot daylight hours of summer, but then, what has been normal in a high school student's life since spring started? “We make most of our gains from March to June,” said France, who led New Haven to a state championship in 2017. “That’s when we evaluate the kids’ strengths and weaknesses. We missed that key time.” The way France sees it, if players learn to adjust to circumstances away from the game, perhaps those lessons will serve them in tight situations when competition does resume. “The kids are seeing that this game can be a guide to what’s next in life,” France said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now. We talk in meetings about adversity, struggle and hard work. “I enjoy this, working the kids out and seeing the gains they make. We’re in no rush. There’s no rush to jumping back into playing games. Safety’s first.” New Haven has a new football coach. His name is Larry Porter. He has taken over a program that has averaged more than one new head coach a year for more than a decade. “We’re trying to split (workout) time with the football coach,” France said. “I’m going around his schedule. He missed a lot of time, too. “We need our football program back and these kids need to play multiple sports for our school to be successful in multiple sports.” |
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