Detroit Cass Tech boys making the most of their unknown stars

Detroit Cass Tech was supposed to lose four starters from last year’s Division 1 boys basketball state championship.

But then sophomore Darius Acuff, easily Cass’ best player a year ago, decided to split and is now a junior at IMG in Florida.

That left the Technicians with absolutely no one most fans had heard of, but Cass coach Steve Hall didn’t seem worried.

All that mattered was that he had heard of guys such as Derrick Miller and Lee Harris.

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Friday night, Miller and Harris each scored 23 points as Cass recorded its ninth straight victory, an 88-85 double-overtime win over rival Detroit Renaissance.

Last March, Miller played only 6 minutes in the championship game; he missed the only shot he took, so he didn’t seem like a standout waiting his turn to shine.

But that is exactly who he has become.

“I anticipated him having a breakout senior year,” Hall said. “He had a good summer and he stepped up. It’s been a little bit of a pattern with guys in our program, later in their careers they come through, and he’s the latest one.”

Don’t let his performance in the state championship game fool you. Miller used the regular season to catch Hall’s eye.

“We played 29 games last year so he had a chance,” Hall said. “He was impactful in some of those games, too. He wasn’t just somebody who was serving an apprenticeship and wasn’t playing. He was instrumental in our state championship.”

Harris, 6-5, didn’t even play in the title game and was behind Trevon Cooper, who was last year’s surprise senior who appeared to come out of nowhere to set the Detroit Public School League on fire.

In addition to his 23 points, Lee grabbed 12 rebounds and more importantly, made nine of 11 free throw attempts.

“Lee was a force on the interior,” Hall said. “He rebounded, he finished and he made big-time free throws. He hasn’t always been a great free throw shooter, but he’s worked hard at it and he put us in position to win with some clutch free throws.”

Renaissance (8-4) is a dangerous team featuring a pair of dynamite players in junior Lance Stone and sophomore Jordan Sigmon.

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“They’ve got a two-headed monster over there,” Hall said.

Despite scoring only six points in the first half, Stone hit five 3-pointers and finished with 26 points; Sigmon added 22.

“We place a huge emphasis on holding people down offensively,” Hall said. “I don’t feel good when somebody has a big day against us offensively, win or lose. Lance is a competitor and he’s a player. He made deep shots that we contested.

“I thought we did a good job, but he made big plays at crucial time.”

In all, Cass started a senior, a junior, two sophomores and a freshman against Renaissance.

Corey Sadler, the football all-stater who played so well in last year’s basketball state tournament, was a factor again at the point, contributing 17 points, six assists and four steals.

As he showed a year ago, Sadler is a demon on defense, continually making life miserable for opposing point guards. He can also hit open shots and rebound when needed.

“Corey’s a force defensively,” Hall said. “He gets into the paint, he makes plays, he’s tough, he finishes. And he does a good job finding shooters.”

Hall’s son, Stevie, is one of the state’s top freshmen and he doesn’t shrink in important games. He added 12 points and nailed a couple of 3-point attempts.

“He’s another shot-maker,” said his father. “He extends the defense. Ironically, he has some of his best games in our bigger games. He’s competitive and that’s a good trait.”

Another good trait is expecting to be competitive each and every year no matter the roster.

That is why Cass is ranked No. 3 in Division 1 and hopes to end the season back in East Lansing again.

“It’s the standard, it’s the expectation,” Hall said. “We have five new starters, but I’ve said all along I’m pointing to the end of January for when I want us to be hitting our stride.

“We were prepared for Renaissance. We place a huge premium on preparation. We’ve still got to get better. We’ve got a long way to go.”

A return to glory for Canton girls?

Kayla Bridges earned a degree in kinesiology at Wayne State and then earned a master’s in public health.

Forget the degrees, though: Above all else, Bridges wanted to be a coach.

“I always had a strong passion for basketball in general,” she said. “I was in love with the sport growing up. I think every college athlete gets to that point when their career is done, they don’t really want to let it go.”

So Bridges didn’t let go. She took a job as the junior varsity coach at Plymouth Salem.

“I just liked teaching, connecting with the youth, she said. “I kind of dabbled in it a little when I was still playing. I really liked the impact that you can have on young adults and help guide them, teach them different lessons through the sport. It’s a unique way to kind of bond and be a mentor to the kids.”

After coaching at Salem, Bridges was an assistant at Plymouth before completing the triangle at the Plymouth Canton Educational Park and returning to her alma mater, Canton, as the varsity coach.

It had to be the draw of coaching at her alma mater that proved too strong to ignore because it would have been easy to ignore the program.

The Chiefs were coming off consecutive 1-21 seasons before Bridges took over four seasons ago.

The reclamation process wasn’t easy, but Bridges, who is also a volunteer coach for the women at Wayne State, was determined.

“When I took the program over, my main goal was try to get a little better each year,” she said. “This year we’re playing our best.”

Canton won six games that first season, followed by eight the second. Last season the Chiefs went 11-13, which set the stage for this outstanding 8-0 season heading into Tuesday’s home game against Howell (6-3),

Bridges was part of the glory years at Canton, advancing to the Class A state semifinals as a junior and senior.

Playing for head coach Brian Samulski and assistant Bob Blohm left an indelible impression on the way Bridges approaches the game and her coaching technique.

“The style changes a little bit every year based on your personnel, but I’m a defensive-minded coach and the players that I have really bought into to it,” she said. “They’ve really fell in love with making it tough to score on.

“We’ve got a bunch of offensive weapons, but as soon as we were able to adapt that defensive mentality and making teams be as uncomfortable as they possibly could be, that’s when we really started to beat the best.”

Bridges doesn’t remember Canton having many offensive plays to run when she played. Instead it was the defense that created the Chiefs' offense.

She has stuck with that philosophy, which makes Canton unique in the KLAA and a pain for opposing teams to plan for.

“There’s a lot a shooting teams in our league — a lot of heaving guard play — over at Canton we’re the opposite,” Bridges said. “I was a post player myself, and I have some really, really good post players than can go inside and out. I really like to play the inside-out game, making sure we get our paint touches, get some easy baskets to get us going early and then it trickles out to everybody else.”

The 6-foot-1 Justice Tramble recently committed to South Carolina State; from the post position, she leads Canton in scoring (18.5 points) and rebounding (13.5).

“She is a three-level-type player,” Bridges said. “She does a lot of things for us. She can handle the ball, break down presses for us. She can shoot the 3. She’s a force inside. She’s a real tough matchup for the teams we’re playing.”

Marisa Crabari is the point guard and she is a legitimate threat from beyond the arc. Maya Joiner is the “glue guy” who provides terrific defense and excels at the top of the press.

The Chiefs are receiving a boost from 6-3 freshman McKinsey Berlin, who can shoot the 3 but also has outstanding footwork inside and is a legit shot blocker.

At 5-10, Bridges was an undersized post player/power forward in high school and that experience made her a student of the game, which has made her an outstanding coach.

“It forced me to get a little bit creative and just look at other ways to use things to my advantage, she said. “It made me think a lot.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @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: Detroit Cass Tech stars won't be unknowns for long