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THE BEAT GOES ON: Jets Earn Third Trip To MSU
 SAULT STE. MARIE---If this incredible multi-year ride is going to end, one way or another, it's going to happen on Michigan high school basketball's biggest stage. The North Central High School basketball team kept its dream for a third straight state championship alive Tuesday night with a 74-61 win over the Hillman Tigers in the MHSAA Class D state quarterfinal game at Sault Ste. Marie High School.  The Class D state semifinal game will be against Southfield Christian on Thursday. "I'm very excited," NCA senior Jason Whitens said. "The opportunity to go down to Breslin, and either way, I'm going to play my last game on the Breslin floor. So, us seniors are going to make the most of it, and we have a great group of juniors to back us up." "Watching film this week, we knew that they ran a 1-2-2 press, full court," NCA senior Marcus Krachinski said. "So we tried to formulate a game plan so that we could try to break that." North Central led, 20-16, after the first quarter, and 34-29 at halftime. They never could quite put away the Tigers, but the third quarter was a turning point. The Jets allowed just four points during those eight minutes, taking a 46-33 lead into the final quarter. Hillman (24-2) closed to within six points in the fourth quarter, but Krachinski sank a long three-pointer to effectively put the game away. He scored 18 points.  Dawson Bilski had three triples in the first quarter and finished with 11 points. He was named to the Class D All-State First Team on Tuesday. NCA Coach Adam Mercier was named the Class D Coach of the Year by the Associated Press. North Central will have its greatest challenge on Thursday: a Class D state semifinal game against Southfield Christian, a powerhouse private school from suburban Detroit that moved down from Class C to play in Class D this season. The Eagles have a 21-5 record, but have lost to larger schools like River Rouge, Ann Arbor Pioneer, Detroit Country Day, Southfield A&T, and University of Detroit Jesuit. The Radio Results Network has you covered for the NCA Jets game on Thursday. It will be broadcast live on five radio stations and four web streams on-line.  On the Internet, tune in here on RRNSports.com, or on the Eagle, Yooper Country, and Maverick pages at radioresultsnetwork.com. The pre-game show will start at 5:30 ET/4:30 CT, with the tip-off scheduled for 6:05 ET/5:05 CT. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Kelly Grondine and Bill Krachinski, and to listen to post-game interviews with Marcus Krachinski and Jason Whitens.  |
