NEW HAVEN 83, FITZGERALD 41
Tavares Oliver made six 3-point field goals and scored 29 points, and Romeo Weems had a triple-double with 19 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists to lead New Haven to the MAC Blue victory. Ashton Sherrell scored 20 points and took seven rebounds as the Rockets improved to 7-0 in the division and 12-0 overall with their 38th straight victory that extended their county record.
JaQuan Coleman led Fitzgerald with 16 points and Carl Pettway had 15. The Spartans, who had nine players in uniform, fell to 2-5 and 4-5.
New Haven honored Eli Sims prior to the game. Sims led New Haven to three consecutive Southern Thumb Association championships and three district titles beginning in the 1968-69 season. He was the first two-time winner of the Macomb County Player of the Year award, capturing the honor in 1970 and 1971.
“Going undefeated (at home) for three years,” Sims said when asked about more significant memories of his career with the Rockets.
He also complimented Joe Barnett, the Rockets’ coach during his sophomore and junior seasons when New Haven reached regional championship games.
“Joe Barnett was a great coach and a great man,” Sims said. “He helped me in the classroom. I had people like him in front of me that took care of me, kept me on the right track, kept me from doing stupid stuff.”
Sims, a sprinter on Rocket track teams, is New Haven’s career scoring leader with 1,849 points.
“It brings back a lot of memories being here,” he said. “When I played, we couldn’t dunk; we didn’t have the 3-point shot. They’ve got an up-level game now, but I had a good time here.”