Photos

Will Marlow led Saginaw High with 18, Mike Green and Daniel West had 16 a piece while Courtney Washington continues to fill into his starting role nicely and added 10.  While losing Draymond was a blow, Daniel West continues to be the engine driving Saginaw High with terrific ball  handling and outstanding defense.  The Trojan subs also proved valuable in relief, keeping the press on.

Photos

Photos

Latreze Mushatt led the Jacks with 20 points and 11 boards, while floor generals, Maurice Jones and Tyrie Wooten had 14 and 13 points respectively. 

East Lansing - With his team playing in an arena that was bigger than any they had ever played on before, Frankenmuth coach Tim Crawford wondered how the backdrop would affect his team's shooting.  Then he remembered he still had Brad Redford on his team.

Redford, who showed that he had no problem in the larger venue, scored 37 points in leading his team to a 66-48 win over Leslie at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University in the Meijer Holiday Hoops Invitational on Thursday.  Redford, who was averaging 36.8 points per game entering the contest, hit 5-of-13 from beyond the three-point arc, made 9-of-17 from the field and nailed all four of his free throws in a game that many who have seen the 6-0 senior guard have come by now to expect.

"Weird things can happen in a gym like this," Crawford said. "But when Brad gets warmed up, he can really score some points. When that happened, we started to distance ourselves so that the game just got out of reach for them.  "We just created a lot of turnovers that we ended up taking advantage of."

Frankenmuth (7-0) forced the Blackhawks' guards to turn the ball over 31 times, which in turn led to 29 Eagle points, and the weak play of the Leslie guards was something that Crawford knew about going into the game.

"We scouted Leslie pretty good before this game," Crawford said. "We knew that they play a physical game and their guard play was pretty weak. This team is bigger than we are and we wanted to use our quickness to force them to run.
"That led to some sloppy play on their behalf."

Right from the onset of the game, it was obvious that playing on a bigger floor made no difference to Redford.  The Xavier-bound senior scored 12 points in the first quarter, nailing two deep three-pointers after missing on his first three attempts. He ended up with 16 first-half points as he powered his team to a 26-12 halftime lead.

"Our team knows that Brad can score a whole lot of points in a hurry," Crawford said. "Our offense centers around Brad...when he scores, we know that we have a great shot at winning the ballgame."

In the third quarter, Redford took over and put the game completely out of reach for Leslie.  Redford dropped in 16 points in the third, most of those coming courtesy of a few circus-like lay-ups due to the fact that the Blackhawk defense was forcing Redford to drive the ball instead of just allowing him to square up for another attempt from three-point land.

With just four minutes left to play in the game and with Redford sitting on 37 points; talk around the media area began to center on whether or not Redford would have a chance to break the Holiday Hoops scoring record of 44, which was set by Saginaw High's Anthony Roberson in 2001. But with his team holding onto a thirty-point lead, Crawford opted to give his star a much needed break.

"I didn't even know about the record," Crawford said. "That would have been nice, but Brad got enough shots today where he could given the record a run.  "Most importantly, we're just glad to get out here with a win."

Frankenmuth's Jeremy Warnemuende also finished in double figures, ending with 10 points.

Leslie was led offensively by Charlie Snow, who had 15 points, while Kyle Corts had 13.  Crawford spoke after the game about the experience of having his team play at the Breslin Center and what it just might mean to his team.  "This is a great experience for our guys," Crawford said. "We thought that maybe, someday we would have a holiday tournament in Frankenmuth. But the chance to play here, at the Breslin...this is a great win for us."

Frankenmuth: Gray 1 1-2 4, Keith 2 0-0 4, Shelton 0 1-2 1, Kirkpatrick 0 1-2 1, Redford 14 4-4 37, Aurenhammer 1 0-1 2, Krafft 0 0-0 0, Cramer 0 0-0 0, Warnemuende 4 2-4 10, Zink 0 2-2 2, Bender 1 0-0 2, Deshaine 0 1-2 1, Cormier 1 0-0 2. 3 Point FG: Redford (5), Warnemuende (2), Gray. Totals: 24 10-14 66.

Leslie: Corts 5 3-3 13, Knox 0 0-0 0, Snyder 0 0-0 0, Chapman 2 0-0 4, Page 5 0-0 10, Snow 6 3-5 15, Craft 0 0-0 0, Crowe 1 0-0 2, Jansen 2 0-0 4, Stern 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 6-10 48.

Frankenmuth 16 10 28 12 - 66