WHITMORE LAKE — For one team, this was the elusive goal, one that managed to slip away again.
For the other, who’d been here before, it was just a pit stop on the way to bigger goals.
It took Allen Park Inter-City Baptist a quarter to figure out where the cracks were in the Clarkston Everest Collegiate defense, but once the No. 4-ranked Chargers did, they pulled away from the No. 5 Mountaineers, claiming a second-straight regional title with a 58-41 win at Whitmore Lake High School on Thursday.
“Well, I mean, this is a step to our goal. Our goal is to be the last team standing. This is just a step. And I mean, that’s one step. We’re going to keep going, until we’re the last team standing,” said Inter-City Baptist’s Ethan Esse, who had 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second and third quarters.
“We always have the next game. Like it’s one game at a time. No matter how good or how bad the team is, one game at a time. Ultimately, we know we have a goal down the road, and that’s what we keep our eyes on.”
The win sends the Chargers (23-3) on to next Tuesday’s quarterfinal at West Bloomfield, where they’ll take on Kingston (18-6). It is the same opponent from last year’s quarters — a 58-46 win for ICB — and the last barrier standing between the Chargers and a return trip to Breslin Center for the semifinals, where last year’s season ended with a 51-33 loss to Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart.
“We want to get one more shot at it,” ICB coach Mark Kraatz said. “Honestly, we don’t talk about (the end goal). We talk about a process, and the process is what is right in front of you today. Every coach will say it, but honestly, that’s what we say — practice, the next game. Here’s what we’ve got to do now. We will say at times, if we want to get to someplace, these things have to be adjusted, but we don’t, every day go ‘That’s our goal.’ We’re process-oriented.”
The process in Thursday’s game was to find ways to get inside the defense of the Mountaineers (24-2).
For the first quarter, those cracks weren’t apparent, though.
After scoring 35 in the district final, 29 in the regional semifinal, Esse was held to just two points in the opening quarter, but he did set up Josh Hamilton’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to tie things up at 13-13.
Then things started to open up.
“We knew they were going to come in heavy gap (defense). But really at the end of that, you’ve just got to get in the paint, get in the paint, get into the paint, opens up the shooters, and you still got to be consistent, even if they’re playing heavy gap,” the 1,000-point scorer said. “And you just have to, create your own gaps. And I mean, you just got to stay consistent with what we’ve done all year.”
The Chargers scored six straight out of the quarter break, and led 21-15 with 4:53 left in the half. Esse notched a three-point play with 4.8 seconds left before the half, giving ICB a 10-point lead on the Mountaineers, 28-18.
“Mason (Kowalski) came alive early in the first. I always say he’s the best player no one’s ever heard about the State of Michigan. He’s good. He’s struggled the last couple games, but he can do that. Ethan is Ethan. He’s just special. It’s worth the price of admission, and Carlos (Jackson) did his thing, and Josh (Hamilton) just played well,” Kraatz said. “They (the Mountaineers) are a good team. They are a really good team. They’re well-coached, so it was 32 minutes of having to play hard basketball.”
But once the Chargers got ahead, they were able to dictate tempo, slowing it down, holding the ball for better and better scoring opportunities, as well as the last shot in each of the first three quarters.
“Ethan’s a great player and puts a lot of pressure on the defense, but also their defense, I think, was probably what was impacting the game more than anything. They were able to get some stops, force us to take some tough shots, and then in turn, they were able to get out and run, and we were unable to set our defense, and they were able to get some stuff going. And so credit really to their defense, I thought was what set the tone for their offense,” Everest coach Richie Cross said.
“We wanted to control tempo, for sure, and unfortunately, they were the ones who had the cushion and were able to dictate tempo and shorten the basketball game. I wish we were in that position to shorten the basketball game, but they did a great job.”
Esse’s putback of his own miss at the third-quarter buzzer left the Chargers up 42-29 headed to the fourth, where ICB never let the Mountaineers get any traction, making 9 of 13 free throws.
Kowalski finished with 15 points, while Isaac Cross led Everest with 16.
For Everest, it’s a fifth straight season that ends in a regional game, although the last four were in regional semifinals. Since 2009-10, the Mountaineers have won seven district titles, but have yet to take the next step.
Thursday’s loss snapped a 17-game win streak for Everest, as well.
“You're never ready for it. We didn't want it to end, of course, and there's only one winner — we understand that,” Richie Cross said. “So happy to go out with this group.”
