January 29th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
The leading scorers in Monroe County Region boys basketball were all in action Monday and things got even tighter among them. With his 40 point effort Monday, Whiteford’s Josh DuPree has passed Flat Rock’s Devon Crain in the scoring race and Ryan Winningham of Carlson fell to third. Nick Jobe of Ida had another steady 20 point night. The scoring champ probably won’t be decided until the last basket of the season falls. It could end up being one of the tightest scoring races in years.
Here’s the top four through Monday:
1. Josh DuPree, Whiteford, 13 games, 307 points, 23.6 average
2. Devon Crain, Flat Rock, 14 games, 329 points, 23.5 average
3. Ryan Winningham, Carlson, 13 games, 309 points, 22.1 average
4. Nick Jobe, Ida, 11 games, 212 points, 19.3 average
DuPree went from 3rd to first, Winningham from 2nd to third and Crain 1st to 2nd. I expect it to change like this throughout February.
More later on some of the closest scoring races in region history.
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January 28th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
In high school sports, every athlete dreams of playing one more game. Unless the season ends in a state championship, there’s always something more that could have been done. There’s always one key moment that the players want back.
With Whiteford’s Josh DuPree passing the 1,000-point mark the other day and Ryan Winningham of Carlson about to do the same, I thought I’d put up a list of players who just missed 1,000 points. One more game and players like Cy Baker from Airport (995), Tom Nieman of Summerfield (990), Dan Hobbins of State Line Christian (986), Ed Blair of Bedford (982), Rex Plasters of Milan (967) and Bill Busch of Dundee (966) might have put up enough points to make it. Corey Simpson of Whiteford (965) missed four games of his senior season or he might be on the list. Flat Rock’s Jim Hehl (958) and Terry Nelson of Erie Mason (951) also were within 50 points of the milestone.
The list, as published in the Region Basketball 2008 Guide, is not yet complete. I’d like to find out more region players who just missed 1,000 career points. Drop me an e-mail if you were close or know of someone who was close. doug@monroenews.com.
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January 25th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
When Whiteford’s Josh DuPree scores his 1,000th career point, he will join his father Everett on the list of 1,000 point scorers in Monroe County Region. I believe they will be the first father-son duo to score 1,000 points in boys basketball in the region.
In girls basketball, Norm Weyher scored 1,281 points for Dundee in the 1950s. His daughter, Nikki, scored 1,301 points for Dundee in the 1980s.
Some other family history: State Line Christian brothers Todd, Dave and Dan Weber each passed 1,000 points as did State Line Christian brothers Jon and Dave Dalton. Monroe High School’s duo of Rosie and Jeff Barnes both passed 1,000 points as did Marlene and Chris Dietrich of Jefferson and Leslie and Rae Koppelman of Whiteford. Rhonda Bates and E.J. Bates of Milan are the only brother-sister 1,000-point duo.
I can’t think of any other family combinations of 1,000 point scorers. If you know of any, let me know (doug@monroenews.com).
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January 25th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
Josh DuPree could become the fifth boys basketball player in Whiteford history to score 1,000 career points tonight. Josh needs 23 points to reach the milestone.
Here’s a little info about the others:
Eddie Sharpe (1995-1998) scored 1,693 points in his three-year career. In 64 games, he was never held below 15 points, was All-State twice and was the leading scorer in Monroe County Region history when his career ended. He scored his 1,000th point at Whiteford against Summerfield as a junior.
Brad Nieman (1985-1988) scored 1,208 points in his four-year varsity career. He played on three District and two TCC championship teams and scored his 1,000th point at Whiteford vs. Sand Creek.
Josh’s dad, Everett DuPree, (1981-1984) moved up to the varsity as a freshman and scored 1,041 career points. He reached the milestone at home against Whitmore Lake.
Gary Carter (1981-1983) was the first Monroe County Region player to reach 1,000 points before his senior year. He had 1,044 points in his three-year career before transferring to Toledo Scott for his senior season. His miletone 1,000th point came at home vs. Madison.
So, tonight, Josh DuPree will try and become the fifth Bobcat player to reach 1,000 points — and all four previous Bobcats did so at home.
Incidentally, there is a section in the Region Prep Basketball Book about each of the 1,000 point scorers in Region history.
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January 24th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
Want to catch some of SMCC’s alumni on the court again? The third annual Alumni Weekend for the St. Mary Catholic Central boys basketball team will be held Feb. 8-9. ll former players are invited to the Feb. 8 game against Riverview where they will be recognized for their contributions to the program. he 5-on-5 alumni tournament will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 9. The deadline to register for the tournament is Monday. For more information call 241-0663 ext. 124.
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January 23rd, 2008 Doug Donnelly
Madison ended Whiteford’s bid for an undefeated season Tuesday, beating Whiteford 66-63 on Whiteford’s home floor. Whiteford was ranked No. 6 in Class C in the most recent AP poll. Incidentally, 30 years ago next week Whiteford went to Madison and beat the No. 9 ranked Trojans 53-38 for one of its biggest wins ever.
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January 22nd, 2008 Doug Donnelly
There are four weekly, statewide prep basketball rankings I look at reguarly.
The Associated Press (published weekly in The Evening News), the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News and now MLive’s basketball bulletin. This week, Whiteford (10-0) is ranked No. 6 by the AP, No. 7 by the Free Press, No. 7 by the Detroit News and No. 9 on MLive.
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January 21st, 2008 Doug Donnelly
Did you happened to catch the last couple of paragraph’s of Ron Montri’s coverage of State Line Christian’s boys basketball game from Friday night? The Patriots not only won its home game against Springfield Friday — it also beat Plymouth Grace. How did that happen? The Plymouth Grace squad showed up at State Line a week early. They were supposed to play at State Line next week. But, instead of sending them home, State Line decided to play that game after they played the scheduled game with Springfield. So, they took two wins Friday night.
By the way, there are some big games coming up this week for Region boys basketball teams. Ron has a preview in today’s basketball advance that will be posted online about noon. The biggest has 10-0 Whiteford hosting 9-1 Adrian Madison Tuesday. It’s the third time ever, incidentally, Whiteford has been 10-0. The first time was 1979-80 when they won the first 10 games, cracked the Associated Press state rankings, then lost two in a row. The second time was 2002-03 when they won the first 23 games of the season.
Here are the latest records for boys teams in the Region:
Whiteford 10-0
Ida 8-1
SMCC 8-3
Lutheran South 5-3
Dundee 6-4
Jefferson 6-5
State Line 9-6
Airport 5-6
Carlson 5-6
Flat Rock 5-6
Erie Mason 3-8
Monroe 2-9
Summerfield 2-9
Huron 1-9
Milan 1-10
Bedford 0-11
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January 17th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
Which local basketball teams have won the most District championships?
Good question. The Prep Basketball 2008 book covers that topic and has several mentions of area teams to make long tournament runs. As for District titles, Dundee (23) and Milan (20) lead the list for region boys teams with Ida (17) and Monroe (9) have the most for girls teams.
Which teams do you think have the best shot at District titles this year?
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January 15th, 2008 Doug Donnelly
I just heard from a friend of mine, Scott, who lives in Texas. He passed along a note that his 22-year-old cousin was killed in Iraq. It was a shock to say the least.
I met his cousin, a baby at the time, when I was a senior in high school. Scott was headed to spend spring break at his cousin’s house near Akron, Ohio. For some reason, a spur of the moment thing, I packed a bag and tagged along. I had never met his cousins, but that didn’t matter to him or them. I was along for the ride.
It was an enjoyable, relaxing week for sure as the family was very kind to me and made me feel very welcome. Besides how strange it was to feel so welcome in the home of complete strangers, the thing I remember the most is the amount of basketball my friend and I played. We played for hours and hours at night. The family had a basketball court with an overhead light that we could play on into the wee hours of the morning. We played some baseball, too, which is where the cousins who lived there (Nick, Stevie and Ben) came in. They were young (all under 10 I think) but loved baseball.
As for the basketball, we watched on TV as Danny Manning had one of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all-time and led Kansas to the NCAA championship over Oklahoma. Manning was my favorite player so that made it even better. After the game ended — probably about 11:30 p.m. — my friend and I went outside and began playing hoops. With the light shining on the court, we must have played for two hours. It was probably the funnest pick up basketball game I had ever played. It was a couple hours of intense, yet fun, basketball, and I remember it to this day. It’s one of my best basketball memories.
Anyway, I just found out that the youngest of the children who lived in that home (Ben) was killed in Iraq. Army Corporal Benjamin C. Dillon was an Army Ranger. Scott says he had enlisted right out of high school and had served several tours. I searched on the Internet and found some pictures and stories from other newspapers about it once I heard. It mentioned that Ben played baseball and basketball in high school. For some reason, that makes me pretty happy. May he rest in peace.
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