Lumberjacks flying high after win earns a trip to the Breslin Center for MHSAA semi finals Friday

Grand Blanc, Mi

Walled Lake Central's boys basketball team had a logical game plan for its Class A quarterfinal matchup with Arthur Hill H.S. The plan was to minimize the scoring of Mr. Basketball runner-up Eric Davis who is averaging 26 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals per game for the Hillites. Davis -a University of Texas commit- was held to just 14 points. However, the Vikings' decision to key on Davis ultimately opened the door for a pair of sophomores to lead the Hillites to a 78-59 win in Grand Blanc Tuesday.

We Are Fam-ily!

Former Arthur Hill, MSU – and current Philadelphia 76ers NBA star- Jason Richardson has at least three very good reasons to follow this years MHSAA tournament. Richardson's daughter Jaela Richardson started as a freshman for the Heritage girls basketball team that reached the Class A semi finals at the Breslin Center last week before losing to DeWitt. J-Rich is also uncle and cousin to Lumberjack sophomores Willie Rodgers and Brian Bowen respectively. Rodgers and Bowen combined to fill the scoring void created by the defensive attention to Davis.

Rodgers, a 6-foot-5 210 pound post player for the Lumberjacks started getting attention from Div 1 football coaches on the summer football camp circuit after his freshman season. He's heard from football coaches at Eastern Michigan, UofM, Tennessee, Ohio State, and he's visited MSU. Rodgers recorded a double-double Tuesday. He scored 12 points and added 10 rebounds, and was an amazing 8-for-9 from the freethrow line.

“Tugs”

Bowen, also known as “Tugs” is a 6-foot-7 super sophomore who is being recruited by the top NCAA programs in the country. According to the recruiting website 247.com Bowen is considered the No. 1 recruit in Michigan for the class of 2017, the No. 3 small forward recruit in the country for the class of 2017 and he's had unofficial visits to Kentucky, Duke, UofM, Boston College, Iowa State, Louisville, and MSU. Of those schools; he has received offers from Louisville, Boston College, Iowa State, and MSU.

Bowen dropped 30 points on the Vikings Tuesday night, including 5 three's. He was also 3-for-3 from the freethrow line. He led a couple different important runs at various opportune times for the Lumberjacks last night. Each time Walled Lake started to make it a game, Bowen would put his team on his back and go on a scoring run. Late in the second quarter the Vikings tied the game at 23-23 and Bowen scored the next 8 points to give his team the momentum and the lead heading into halftime.

The Lumberjacks will now make the trip down to the Jack Breslin Student Events Center on the campus of MSU at 1 p.m. Friday afternoon. It will mark the first time the Lumberjacks have been to the Final Four since winning the MHSAA Class A state championship back in 2006.

The No. 6 ranked Hillites will take on No. 9 Lansing Everett H.S. and star player Trevor Manuel who finished No. 3 in the Mr. Basketball voting. Manuel and his team took down defending state champion Muskegon Big Reds and Mr. Basketball Deyonta Davis. Manuel was motivated to take on Mr. Basketball last night and he seems to be looking forward to a similar matchup against Eric Davis and Brian Bowen Friday.

“With him (Deyonta Davis) being who he is,” Manuel said while talking to MLive.com's Chris Hauler after last nights game. “That give me my motivation right there, and that's why I played my best game against him.”

“This is win or go home,” Manuel continued on MLive.com. “They(Muskegon) were the Title holder and we took that from them (tonight). Hopefully we're going to win us a Title now.”

I am thinking Eric Davis, Will Rodgers, Brian Bowen and the rest of the Arthur Hill will also be ready to go and get a title as well. It should prove to be a great day of basketball Friday afternoon.