New Haven’s boys basketball team let everyone know Tuesday night at Macomb Community College who’s the team to beat in the MAC White Division.
It is the Rockets.
Behind 36 points from Romeo Weems, New Haven easily got by Warren-Mott, 84-50, to move alone into first place in the MAC White.
“It’s not a statement game for us, we just want to come out and play hard,” Rockets coach Tedaro France II said. “Each game we play we want to play like it’s our last game. The kids knew this was for first place and they came out and played hard.
“They showed they’ve been working hard,” France II continued. “Practices have been so tough they get into the games and it’s their time to have fun.”
It took all of five seconds for Weems to show the kind of game was going to have, stuffing home an alley-oop to open the scoring.
“When Romeo comes out and plays like that there’s only so much you can do,” Warren-Mott coach Jeff Olind said. “He’s a heck of a ball player. You game plan for him, he hits some shots and you just have to tip your hat to him.”
Weems also grabbed 12 boards to go with five assists, six steals and two blocks.
“He just leads on the court,” said France II, whose squad lost in the Class B state semifinals last season. “He does all the things you ask him to do. He just a great leader and a great player. He’s a great kid to coach.”
The Marauders (3-1 MAC White, 7-2 overall) responded quite well after falling behind 2-0 as they went on a 7-0 run to go up 7-2.
But that was about the only highlight offensively Warren-Mott had on the evening as the Rockets (4-0, 8-1) went on a 20-0 run from that point to go up 22-7.
Weems finished with three dunks in the opening eight minutes that saw Olind call three of his timeouts.
“When you’re playing New Haven it can go from you’re in the game to you’re out of the game real quick,” said Olind, whose team trailed 30-17 after one quarter. “I didn’t want that to happen in the first quarter.”
Things slowly got worse for Warren-Mott as it trailed 55-29 at the half and then 75-35 to start the fourth.
The 40-point deficit meant a running clock to begin the final quarter.
Also for New Haven, which won the Class B state championship in 2017, Ronald Jeffery III totaled 17 points to go with 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Jamir Farrior tossed in 11 points and added five assists. Brent Wiles grabbed seven boards and chipped in eight points.
De’Jon Gantz led Warren-Mott with 15 points and Dennis Mayfield added eight.