North Farmington uses quick start to grab MHSAA boys basketball Division 1 finals berth

EAST LANSING — North Farmington High School and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s are only seven miles apart, yet they will meet, roughly 70 miles to the west, to determine basketball supremacy across the entire state in Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 final.

North Farmington (24-2) grabbed the second berth by disposing of Zeeland West on Friday afternoon at Breslin, 58-39. It's the second finals appearance for the Raiders, with the other coming in 2016 (a loss to U-D Jesuit).

North Farmington wasted no time Friday, in their first trip to Breslin Center since. The Raiders quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead by converting on four of five possessions, featuring a pair of long 2-pointers by Tyler Spratt.

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But after being held scoreless for the first four minutes, Zeeland West (20-8) answered over a 90-second span to take an 8-7 lead. Lukas Baker finally broke the scoring drought with a layup, then added a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game. Myles Steffen split a pair of free throws to give the Dux a short-lived lead — which turned out to be their only advantage of the game.

But then North Farmington resumed doing what it does best — working the ball around, mixing up defensive rotations and generally leaving opponents wondering what was coming next.

Back-to-back 3s by Landon Williams and D.J. Morgan spurred North Farmington to close out the first quarter up 15-11.

“I’m a guy who tries to get going and get my teammates going and get our confidence up,” Williams said. “The biggest thing I’ve learned in my four years is that the work is going to happen, but it’s that confidence, that mental aspect and that IQ that’s really going to win games — the close ones, the heated ones — so mentally, those runs are big for us and give us momentum going into the next quarters.”

The first six minutes of the second quarter didn't offer much, but North Farmington closed out the frame strong. Spratt scored North Farmington’s next eight points on a pair of free throws and consecutive 3s from the top of the key to open up a nine-point Raider lead.

Behind Spratt and Morgan, North Farmington continued on a hot streak in the third quarter, outscoring Zeeland West, 23-14. Spratt’s baskets on back-to-back trips enabled North to stretch its lead to 37-23, and Morgan had two 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds to set the score at 50-33 with a quarter to play.

“My objective was to get my guys in the right spot and do my part to help them close out,” said Williams, who had five assists to go with his 12 points. “Obviously Tyler was hot in that first half and I tried to get him the ball. Closing out that third quarter, D.J. had been hitting all night. I was looking for my own shot, but I’m always looking for my teammates as well. The way that we work together is a blessing.”

Despite the lead, North Farmington was actually outshot by Zeeland West over that span, 55.6%-47.6%. Still, North was able to clamp down defensively and force the Dux into taking 3-pointers; they hit just five of 20.

“Credit to North Farmington — they play a style that is very difficult to go against,” Zeeland West coach David Klyn said. “They create chaos and they’re really good at it. It’s a different defense that I’ve never seen before, and when you get down to them, it makes it so hard to come back. You can’t really run sets against it, you can’t really run plays against it because it’s constant trapping.

North Farmington loaded the box to neutralize Mr. Basketball finalist Merritt Alderink. The Indiana State-bound senior managed just three free throw makes — and no field goals — over the first three quarters of the game. After hitting three fourth-quarter shots, Alderink finished with a team-high 9 points before checking out with 1:14 to play.

“I think a lot of that is the type of basketball we play,” North Farmington coach Todd Negoshian said. “Our trap, it kind of takes big kids out of it, and makes your perimeter kids really have to play well. (Alderink) is a talented kid and we knew we had to focus on him. If we were going to lose today, it had to be by somebody else. Once he gets going, he’s hard to stop.”

Spratt had a game-high 19 points for North Farmington and Morgan finished with 9.

Despite Friday’s loss, Zeeland West can look back on several program firsts this season, including its first district title, first regional championship and first trip to Breslin. The Dux earned their trip by knocking off heavily-favored Muskegon — a 2023 finalist — 53-52 in Tuesday’s quarterfinal.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA boys Division 1 semifinals: North Farmington zaps Zeeland West