Boys basketball scoring machine Up North reaches 2,000 points the old-fashioned way
Hillman opened the 2020-21 season against Au Gres and Trenton Taratuta scored 16 points, which isn’t shabby for a freshman.
But for the life of him, he can’t remember anything about the first basket he scored.
That’s OK, because the most important basket he scored occurred Thursday when he nailed a 3-pointer that enabled him to top the 2,000-point mark for his career.
It is a basket he will remember for the rest of his life.
Taratuta was behind the 3-point arc on the left side of the court and a teammate set a down screen for him.
“I came off of that, foul line extended,” he said. “My buddy, Brenden Rouleau, got me the ball. It was where it was needed to be.”
And it ended up where so many of his shots have ended up — through the basket.
Taratuta is the 46th player in state history to top the 2,000-point mark.
Through his 83-game career he is averaging 24.2 points, but this was never a goal for the 6-foot-4 guard who is undecided where he will play college basketball.
Both his parents and his three older siblings all played basketball so there seemed to be no other option for him.
“We kind of knew from the third grade on that we had something pretty special,” coach Eric Muszynski said. “In the seventh grade, he started coming in our school, 6 to 7 in the morning, starting his routine. It’s on his own, too.”
Taratuta became a player of consequence as a freshman, when he averaged 16 points.
He father, Tom, scored close to 800 points at Alpena, so there was a goal for him to reach.
“Going into high school, I always wanted to accomplish something like 1,000 points,” Taratuta said. “But I didn’t really start to think about it until I was approaching it halfway through my sophomore year. At the halfway point, I thought I could get it the next year.”
THE RANKINGS: Michigan high school boys, girls basketball state rankings for this week
He reached 1,000 points in the third game of his junior season and then friends began doing the math for him, which led to another goal.
“I never really thought about it, but once I scored 1,000, people were telling me to go for 2,000,” Taratuta said. “I thought I might as well. Then people started telling me the math and all I had to do and it seemed like a possibility.”
It became a possibility because he became even more of a scoring machine, averaging 27 points last season.
Taratuta is a natural scorer, but there was a lot of work that went into him making it look so easy.
“He has a really nice first step,” Muszynski said. “Between pump fakes and jab fakes to get a shot off and the first quick step is something that’s really separated him through the years.”
Although he hit nine 3-pointers in a game this season, Taratuta is not some mad bomber who floats around the perimeter launching deep ones.
He attacks the basket and drives the lane for pull-up jumpers that are difficult to defend. He is also a team playmaker.
“I like his game because he’s kind of got an old school game,” Muszynski said. “He has a great mid-range game. It’s kind of a lost art. Today, it’s usually 3-pointers or layups. He operates within the free-throw lane getting jump shots. It’s kind of nice to see and it’s fun to watch.”
Hillman, located in northern lower Michigan, some 20 miles west of Alpena, is 11-2 and ranked No. 8 in Division 4. Its only two losses have come to Division 1 Gaylord and D-2 Ogemaw Heights, which the Tigers avenged last Tuesday when Taratuta scored 32 to beat Heights.
On the season, he is averaging 31 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists.
After scoring 32 points against Ogemaw Heights, he needed just 16 to reach the 2,000-point mark, but wasn’t keeping track of his points in his head during the game.
“I knew where I was at with the points coming into the game and I knew I needed 16,” Taratuta said. “But once the game started, it was just another game and I was just focused on getting the win.”
He had no idea his 3-point shot was the one that put him in the state record book until the stands erupted after it went in.
“It just felt like another shot to me,” Taratuta said. “It went in and the rest is history, I guess.”
He finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and seven steals, sending him online to search the Michigan High School Athletic Association record book.
He first discovered it a couple of weeks ago and learned that the state’s all-time leading scorer, Jay Smith (2,851) is from Mio, a member of Hillman’s league.
He also recognized the names of Powers North Central’s Jason Whitens (2,062), who Hillman played against a few years ago. He also noted the name Joe Liedel (2,202) of Erie Mason, who he met at a camp.
He remembers watching Foster Loyer (2,325) lead Clarkston to consecutive D-1 state championships a few years ago.
It seemed overwhelming to him that he will be mentioned with those players.
“It means everything,” he said. “There’s so many great players on that list, to be on that with them. I’m just grateful that I have and everyone that has made it possible for me to get to this point.”
The 28 points leaves Taratuta with 2,012 points and with 10 games left this season — even more if Hillman makes a long tournament run — he could significantly move up on the list.
But he was almost speechless when he learned that he is now tied with a guy who scored the exact same amount of points at Lansing Everett — Earvin Johnson.
“I don’t know,” Taratuta said, searching for words. “That’s something else, I’ll tell ya. It’s crazy!”
You might say it’s Magical.
Yeah, but do they bite kneecaps?
Dan Campbell would love the East Kentwood girls basketball team.
"Our team is full of grit,” declared Kentwood coach Eric Large. “We’re just a gritty team that plays hard — nonstop hard — aggressive, make sure we get every 50-50 ball and make sure we lock in on the defensive end.”
Does that sound like the Detroit Lions coach’s type of team?
It was enough to permit Kentwood to pull off a stunning 60-54 victory over the defending D-1 state champ Rockford on Friday.
Kentwood (10-1) battled to a two-point halftime lead and then tried to run the Rams (10-1) out of the gym.
“Coming into the second half I just wanted us to concentrate on making our layups,” said Large. “If we could make our layups and contain their good guards — they have great players and they’re well-coached — we wanted to make them play at a fast tempo to see if they could sustain that for 32 minutes.”
Rockford steamrolled through the first half of the season before East Kentwood showed up and served notice that another state title wouldn’t be a cakewalk.
“I knew we were the only team on this side of the state that can give them a go,” said Large, whose team’s style of play may be a bit unorthodox. “It’s a structured chaos. One thing about my girls, they know exactly what to do and we can counter everything the other team brings to us.”
Harmonie Belton led Kentwood with 19 points, six steals and five rebounds while Makayla Porter added 17 points.
The unsung hero of the game was Santana Eubanks, who didn’t score much, but her defense and scrappy all-out style helped set the tone for the Falcons.
“It’s just making teams play at a pace they’re not comfortable at,” Large said. “That’s the thing. Rockford had won 33. We played them well last year, but we weren’t as deep. So now I can keep fresh legs on the court and we can continue to pressure the ball for 32 minutes.”
The victory over Rockford should be one that Large and his players will reflect on all the way through the state playoffs.
“It just shows my girls that hard work really does pay off,” her said. “They’ve been in the gym year around and seeing the fruits of their labor in the time they’ve been spending in the gym, showing that pay off and we can beat the No. 1 ranked team was just great for us and now we can build on that.”
Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him @mickmccabe1. Order his book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hillman's Trenton Taratuta: Scoring machine reaches 2,000 points
