Wyandotte Varsity Basketball Seniors Send Crowd Home Happy

The Bears boys varsity basketball team has had a season that has shown its ups and downs. On Thursday, they hit a high note, beating the Allen Park Jaguars, 73-43.

The Bears welcomed the Jaguars team that beat them earlier in the season. The game also featured a combination of “parent night” and senior night.” The Bears did not disappoint the crowd that came to support them.

Led by senior guard Michael Holderbaum’s 19 points, the game that saw a total team effort, with 11 players scoring.

Seniors Brandon Heuer and Andrew Kiczenski earned their first starts of the season and made the most of it.

“Tonight was different," Heuer said. "It was a great opportunity for me. This year has been a fun year for me. I’ve stepped up more, but more important after tonight we have a three-game winning streak.”

An electric first quarter began with the Bears scoring first and never looking back. Holderbaum’s solid play on offense gave the Bears a 16-11 lead before the Jags trimmed the lead to two. The Bears led after the first quarter 16-14. 

The second quarter saw the Bears play sluggish at the start.  Allen Park senior Jared Terry hit a 3-pointer that tied the game at 19. Wyandotte coach Dave Cramton called a timeout to calm his team down. Coming out of the timeout, the Bears scored five straight points and never looked back.  

To make matters worse for Allen Park, Senior Austin Zacny picked up his third foul with 3:48 left in the quarter. With Zacny regulated to the bench, the Jaguars played the rest of the quarter like the wind had been taken out of their sails, missing simple lay-ups and committing multiple turnovers. 

The Jaguars became so frustrated that they were committing fouls right in front of referees. Upset with the way his team was playing, Terry received an inbound pass and dug his elbow into Wyandotte senior Jett Cavasos mid-section. Referees whistled for an offensive foul. The foul was unnecessary from the player, but showed the level of frustration that Allen Park was feeling. 

Wyandotte went on an 18-3 run that resulted in a 40-27 halftime lead. Leading the Bears in scoring at the half was Holderbaum with 13 points. Zacny also had 13 points for the Jaguars.

In a third quarter that provided much excitement for the home team, there was one bright spot for the Jaguars. Zacny stole the ball, raced on a fast break, and proceeded to dunk the ball. This capped off a 5-0 run for the Jags.

Less than a minute later, Zacny found himself on another fast break with a chance to dunk the ball again. He went up, but this time the result was different, as the ball rattled in and out. The Jaguars never recovered from that missed play. Wyandotte cruised to a 56-36 lead heading into the final quarter.

Cramton did something that he has been unable to do all season in the fourth quarter. He was able to empty his bench, to give players that normally do not get quality minutes to play a larger role in preserving the victory for the Bears. Wyandotte’s bench outscored Allen Park in the fourth quarter, 17-7, something that Cramton was very proud of after the game.

“As a team, we are really starting to put it together. The team is building chemistry and they are starting to play for each other, and not just for themselves.” 

The Bears will close the regular season on Monday at home against Inskter. Due to the Wyandotte hockey game at 8 p.m., the game has been rescheduled and will start at 6 p.m.