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Charyl Stockwell wins 'polite' boys basketball rivalry game vs. Livingston Christian in OT

Bill Khan, Livingston Daily
·4 min read

BRIGHTON — It’s the only sports rivalry in Livingston County in which both schools share the same zip code.

Andrej Spirko dunks the basketball after blocking a shot, giving Charyl Stockwell a four-point lead in overtime on its way to a 59-52 victory at Livingston Christian on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022.
Andrej Spirko dunks the basketball after blocking a shot, giving Charyl Stockwell a four-point lead in overtime on its way to a 59-52 victory at Livingston Christian on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022.

Charyl Stockwell vs. Livingston Christian in boys basketball may not have the statewide significance of Brighton-Hartland in hockey or Hartland-Howell in softball, but it’s everything to players and fans of the two small schools in Brighton.

“In Brighton, this is what we play for,” Livingston Christian coach Jeff Hollister said.

It doesn’t seem like a fair fight, with Division 3 Charyl Stockwell having 299 students and Division 4 Livingston Christian only 55.

But five-on-five, they compete as equals nearly every time they get together.

The teams went to overtime for the second time in their last three meetings, with Stockwell prevailing 59-52 after trailing by five points in the last 15 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Unlike some rivalries, which can step over the line at times, this one is truly friendly.

“They’re a super polite team,” said Stockwell junior Henry Munkres, who scored a game-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds. “We try to be as nice back. It’s always fun playing against these guys. We always go into overtime. They got us the last couple years. It’s good to come out with the win this time.”

Livingston Christian's Levi Martin (21) handles the basketball while defended by Charyl Stockwell's Henry Munkres on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022.
Livingston Christian's Levi Martin (21) handles the basketball while defended by Charyl Stockwell's Henry Munkres on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022.

Sentinels coach Rick Morgan marvels at how the Falcons are able to compete against a significantly larger school. Livingston Christian has a 14-man varsity roster and a junior varsity team, meaning a high percentage of the boys in the school play basketball.

“The kids know each other,” Morgan said. “That makes it fun. It seems like we win here and they win at our place, so I talked to their coach that this summer we need to have a rubber match. Livingston Christian has 55 students. We’re a small school but, man, they’re a really small school. It’s amazing what they do every year with 55 students. They’re competitive, not only in their own division, but they’re playing up in Division 3.”

The Falcons (5-4) played their first game since Jan. 14 after a two-week mission trip to Alabama taken by many of the school’s students.

The showed no signs of rust, taking the lead midway through the first quarter and holding it until the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

Charyl Stockwell's Christian Hammond puts up a running jumper while defended by Brandon Zimbelman during a 59-52 overtime victory at Livingston Christian on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2022.
Charyl Stockwell's Christian Hammond puts up a running jumper while defended by Brandon Zimbelman during a 59-52 overtime victory at Livingston Christian on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2022.

Livingston Christian led by 11 points early in the second quarter, but Stockwell (4-6) fought back to take a 42-41 lead in the fourth. The Falcons regrouped and appeared to have the game in hand when two free throws by John Harris with 19.6 seconds left gave them a 51-46 lead.

Junior Adam Surowiec hit two 3-pointers to give Stockwell a 52-51 lead, the first with 13 seconds remaining and the second with eight seconds left after a five-second violation by the Falcons on the inbounds pass.

“My teammates really did a great job of helping create open shots, keeping the game flowing in the fourth quarter,” Surowiec said. “It felt great. Our defense always transitions into our offense. We always go into overtime with these guys. Having our shots fall gave us a good feeling.”

Livingston Christian forced overtime when Harris was fouled with 2.1 seconds left and hit 1 of 2 free throws.

Surowiec gave the Sentinels a 54-52 lead with 2:36 left in the four-minute overtime when he made a layup off a long outlet pass by Munkres.

Henry Munkres (10) scored 21 points for Charyl Stockwell in a 59-52 overtime victory at Livingston Christian on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2022.
Henry Munkres (10) scored 21 points for Charyl Stockwell in a 59-52 overtime victory at Livingston Christian on Tuesday, Feb 1, 2022.

Then came the highlight of the night, as Stockwell’s Andrej Spirko blocked a shot, gathered the ball and made what is believed to be the first dunk in school history with 1:53 remaining to give the Sentinels a 56-52 lead. Spirko also had 14 rebounds.

Stockwell would outscore Livingston Christian 7-0 in overtime.

“You just try to keep your head, keep your calm, do what has been working the whole game, because we made the comeback since halftime,” Munkres said. “We knew we could beat them in overtime, because we had momentum and we just wanted to keep that.”

Luke Martin had 13 points, Brandon Zimbelman 12 and Levi Martin 10 for the Falcons.

“It’s hard as a coach to see your team play so well, then at the end a few little mistakes here or there,” Hollister said. “It’s heartbreaking really to see how well we played all game, then at the very end of the game we couldn’t clutch up. A few mistakes really killed us with the free throws. We missed a lot tonight. That’s what we’ll be working on.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Charyl Stockwell boys basketball beats Livingston Christian in OT