Williamston’s Riley Lewis, center, raises the district championship trophy with teammates, including Frankie Toomey, left, and Kurtis Kodet, right, after defeating Lansing Catholic 70-60 Friday, March 11, 2016, at Fowlerville High School.
FOWLERVILLE – It’s always an event when CAAC White rivals Lansing Catholic and Williamston get together.
But Friday night was different.
There was a district basketball championship on the line. And, more importantly, there was a sea of supporters packed into the gym of Fowlerville High School who had life in perspective, as hundreds of people wore grey to honor Hornet head coach Jason Bauer, who underwent successful surgery Thursday to remove two brain tumors.
Still, in the midst of all the emotion, there was a game played. And a championship won for a coach who wasn’t able to be in attendance.
Class B No. 10-ranked Williamston downed the No. 3-ranked Cougars, 70-60, to grab its first district championship since 2011.
“(Bauer) told me he wanted a district title really bad,” said senior Riley Lewis, who scored a game-high 27 points, of past conversations with his head coach. “Last night he tried to text me, but it didn’t make much sense – it was a lot of scrabble. But I got the message, and I promised him we’d win it and I promised him I’d take him the trophy.”
The Hornets (18-3), who shared the CAAC White title with Lansing Catholic this season, handed the Cougars (19-2) their only losses this season. And they’ll advance to play Wyoming Godwin Heights Monday at Eaton Rapids in the regional semifinals.
The rubber match lived up to the expectations, as there were eight lead changes in the first 16 minutes. However, it was Williamston, which wore black t-shirts that read “Bauer Strong” during warmups, who went into the half with the advantage.
The Hornets held an eight-point lead with about two minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Lansing Catholic senior Tony Poljan bullied his way to a solo 6-0 run to make the score 38-36. Williamston senior Kurtis Kodet, who scored 13 points, ended the half with a bucket to give his team a four-point lead.
Hornet sophomore guard Cole Kleiver scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half.
“I had lots of things to play for,” Kleiver said. “I had my teammates to play for, and to bring the trophy back to coach Bauer.
“I just love playing in these environments.”
Poljan, who scored a team-high 23 points while adding nine rebounds, picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and was forced to sit. That’s when Williamston took over. The Hornets went on to outscore their rival in the quarter, 19-10, which involved a 10-0 run by Lewis.
“At halftime, we knew they were going to want to come and punch us in the mouth, so we punched them first,” Kleiver said. “That’s how we had motivation to get that big lead.”
The Cougars were able to make it a game when Poljan returned in the fourth, however. With his team down, 63-48, senior guard Owen Rush nailed a 3-pointer that was followed by back-to-back buckets by the 6-foot-7 Poljan. Mitchell Burnett, who scored 14 points, connected from downtown before Poljan hit another basket to make it a six-point game with nearly two minutes left. But the Cougars failed to score again after that.
“The ball movement was still there (when Poljan picked up his fourth foul), but we definitely weren’t getting it in the middle as much,” said Rush, who scored 11 points. “He’s a force down there, so we kind of relied on the 3-ball a little bit, and we really weren’t hitting. And then they went on some big runs.
“(Coach) knew they were going to come with emotion, so we tried to go out and match their energy. That was one of our main goals tonight. …It just didn’t happen for us.”
Williamston freshman Sean Cobb added 10 points.
Contact James L. Edwards III at jledwards@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII.