Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart at Breckenridge – – Boys Basketball – – The Bleacher Denizen – – February 8, 2023 – – by Chuck Krafft

Your Bleacher Denizen has spent a couple days in the Upper Peninsula blogging basketball games up north. On his way back home, he was able to stop by Breckenridge High School to see their game with Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart.

In this video from my You Tube Channel, I let the listeners know that you never know where the Red River Valley might lead you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w03AhhNk1M8

One place it does not lead to is Breckenridge, but fortunately, M-46 does, so the Bleacher Denizen was able to make it to the gym to watch the game!!

The Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Irish enter this game with a 10-1 record in the MSAC and are 10-4 overall. Irish Coach Justin Sherlock shared this information about his Irish players.

Josiah Howell is an excellent scorer and rebounder in the post. He is quite skilled and able to shoot with either hand. Aidan Halliday is a strong defender and rebounder in the post. Luke Taylor is a fine three point shooter who plays excellent perimeter defense. Joe McDonald is a quick, athletic perimeter defender.

Noah Zeien is an athletic freshman who runs the point for the Irish. He has a strong basketball IQ and an excellent ball handler who minimizes his turnovers. He has a good midrange shot as well. Jason Boge plays on the perimeter and contributes a lot of athletic ability to the Irish perimeter defense. He rebounds well for a guard and is a threat to slash to the basket. Grady Pieratt is an accurate three point shooter.

The Breckenridge Huskies are 7-5 in the MSAC and 10-5 overall. Coach Jeff Ostrander provided me with this information about his Huskie players.

Jaxon Laubscher is a fine and versatile shooter who can hit from the three point line, from midrange and from slashes to the basket. He also is able to drive the lane and find open teammates for good shots. He is a tough perimeter defender as well. Gavin Long runs the point for the Huskies. He is an excellent perimeter defender and ball handler. He can score from the three point line or on slashes to the basket. Maxx Eastman is a tough defender in the lane or on the perimeter. He scores will in the post and is a strong rebounder.

Isaac Humm plays in the post where he is an excellent defender. Jaden Ostrander is a fine perimeter defender who plays with a lot of heart. Zander Mapes has excellent fundaments. He plays in the post where he rebounds and defends well. Thomas Cochran is an excellent leader. Noah Barr has a nice shot from the three point line or from midrange. He displays a fine basketball IQ.

I got to the gym in time to watch the JV game. The teams battled to a 19-19 tie at halftime. In the third quarter, Sacred Heart’s JVs outscored Breckenridge 19-0 to take control of the game. Sacred Heart won 44-21.

Zander Mapes led the Breckenridge JVs with 13 points. Blaze Snyder scored 4 points. Trey Most and Cadence Gilbert each added 2 points.

Brady Davis led the Irish JVs with 10 points. Luke Hacker and Jim McDonald each contributed 7 points. Ryan Wiggins and Isaiah Greenacre each put in 6 points. Jackson Verleger added 4 points. Wyatt Browne and Aidan Baker each tallied 2 points.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat clear lenses of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to escape church league when he attempted to play basketball in ancient times. Your Bleacher Denizen completed so many passes to the opposing team that his coach accused him of being color blind!

Sacred Heart wins the opening tap. The Irish miss a layup. Josiah Howell hits a putback to give Sacred Heart the first two points of the game. Breckenridge misses a jumper off the dribble from the free throw elbow. Jaxon Laubscher steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for the Huskies to tie the game at 2-2.

Sacred Heart misses a layup. Josiah Howell gets the offensive rebound and passes to Aidan Halliday, who hits a layup for the Irish. Gavin Long hits a layup for Breckenridge to tie the game. Sacred Heart misses a three point shot from he corner. Breckenridge misses a layup. Sacred Heart reciprocates and misses a layup. Aidan Halliday hits a putback; he is fouled on the play and hits his free throw to give the Irish a 7-4 lead with 2:16 to play in the quarter. (Play in this quarter has been very, very deliberate so far.)

Breckenridge misses a twelve foot banked shot off the dribble from the side. Sacred Heart throws a cross court pass out of bounds. Gavin Long drives and hits a layup for the Huskies. Sacred Heart travels on a drive into the lane. Noah Zeien knocks the ball away from Breckenridge and Joe McDonald picks it up for Sacred Heart. Noah Zeien hits a fast break layup for the Irish. Gavin Long passes to Jaxon Laubscher, who hits a fifteen foot shot off the dribble for Breckenridge. Luke Taylor swishes a three point shot from the corner at the buzzer.

After one quarter, Sacred Heart has a 12-8 lead.

Breckenridge inbounds the ball to begin the second quarter. Luke Taylor knocks the ball out of bounds; Breckenridge retains possession. Breckenridge misses an eighteen foot shot off the dribble from the wing. Joe McDonald hits a fast break layup for the Irish. Breckenridge misses a fifteen foot shot from the baseline. Luke Taylor hits a three point shot from the corner to give Sacred Heart a 17-8 lead.

Breckenridge misses a twelve foot turnaround shot from the side of the lane. Sacred Heart misfires on a triple try from the corner. Jaxon Laubscher passes to Maxx Eastman, who banks in a ten foot shot from the side, is fouled and hits his free throw to shave the Irish lead to 17-11 with 4:35 to play in the second quarter.

Aidan Halliday passes to Noah Zeien, who hits a three point shot from the wing for the Irish. Maxx Eastman passes to Gavin Long, who throws in a threeball from the side for the Huskies. Sacred Heart misses a layup. Sam Powell is fouled on a putback and hits one of his two free throws to boost the Irish to a 21-14 lead with 3:27 to go in the first half.

Jason Boge’s tight defense forces a Breckenridge traveling violation. Luke Taylor is fouled on a twelve foot shot in the lane and hits two free throws for the Irish. Breckenridge misses a jump shot from the free throw elbow. Isaac Humm pulls down the offensive rebound for the Huskies. Gavin Long hits a ten foot shot from the side of the lane to trim the Irish lead to 23-16.

Sacred Heart misses a hook/layup. Jaxon Laubscher drives and hits a layup for the Huskies; he is fouled on the play, but misses his free throw. Noah Zeien hits a ten foot shot off the dribble from the baseline for the Irish. Breckenridge misses a three point shot from the wing. Sacred Heart fouls on the rebound. Breckenridge misses a threeball from the wing as the halftime buzzer makes its presence known.

Sacred Heart has a 25-18 lead at halftime. I will go out on a limb and predict that Sacred Heart has a 25-18 lead when the third quarter starts.

Gavin Long has 9 points and Jaxon Laubscher has 6 points to lead the Breckenridge halftime scoring.

Luke Taylor has 8 points and Noah Zeien has 7 points for Sacred Heart.

While some of the fans attempt to hit half court shots to win some pop, let’s play this video of Glow Worm from my You Tube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbyez-hYtDY

I glanced at the scoreboard at the start of the third quarter and will proudly announce that Sacred Heart DOES still have a 25-18 lead.

Sacred Heart inbounds the ball to get the third quarter underway. Aiden Halliday passes to Josiah Howell, who hits a layup for the Irish. Jaxon Laubscher passes to Maxx Eastman, who hits a layup for the Huskies to trim the Irish lead to 27-20.

Jaxon Laubscher gets his hand on an Irish pass into the lane and knocks it out of bounds. Sacred Heart gets another opportunity. Sacred Heart misses a threeball from the corner. Aidan Halliday hits a putback to give the Irish a 29-20 lead.

Joe McDonald knocks the ball away from Breckenridge and Jason Boge picks it up for Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart misses a fast break layup and fouls on the rebound. Josiah Howell blocks a Huskie reverse layup. Sacred Heart misses a layup. Breckenridge misses a driving layup. Jaden Ostrander steals the ball for the Huskies. Joe McDonald’s tough defense leads to a Breckenridge traveling violation.

Maxx Eastman knocks an Irish pass out of bounds; Sacred Heart retains possession. Sacred Heart misfires on a triple try from the corner. Jaxon Laubscher passes to Maxx Eastman, who makes a post move and hits a layup for Breckenridge. Aidan Halliday drives the baseline and hits a layup for Sacred Heart. Isaac Humm hits a layup for Breckenridge. Noah Zeien fires a cross court pass to Luke Taylor, who hits a threeball from the corner to give Sacred Heart a 34-24 lead.

Maxx Eastman passes to Gavin Long, who hits a fifteen foot shot off the dribble from the baseline for Breckenridge. Sacred Heart misses a three point shot from the corner. Breckenridge miscommunicates and throws a pass out of bounds. Sacred Heart misses a jump shot from the free throw line. Breckenridge misfires on a triple try from the side. Noah Zeien passes to Jason Boge, who hits a three point shot from the side to give Sacred Heart a 37-26 lead.

Luke Taylor gets his hand on an Irish pass; Gavin Long darts into the backcourt and retrieves the ball for the Huskies. Breckenridge misses a three point shot from the side. Sacred Heart misses a three point attempt from the side as the buzzer calls a halt to quarter number three.

With three quarters in the books, the Sacred Heart lead is at 37-26.

Breckenridge has the ball to open quarter number four. Jason Boge knocks a Huskie pass out of bounds; Breckenridge retains possession. Luke Taylor gets his hand on the ball, but Breckenridge is able to recover. The Huskies miss a jump shot from the free throw elbow. Aidan Halliday passes to Josiah Howell, who hits a layup to push the Irish lead to 39-26.

Josiah Howell blocks a Breckenridge layup. Gavin Long steals an Irish pass. Luke Taylor knocks the ball out of bounds, but Breckenridge gets it back. The Huskies miss a jumper from the free throw elbow. Isaac Humm gets the offensive rebound for the Huskies. Breckenridge misses a layup. Jaxon Laubscher steals the ball and passes to Noah Barr, who hits a layup for Breckenridge. Maxx Eastman steals an Irish pass. Noah Barr passers to Isaac Humm, who hits a layup to cut the Irish lead to 39-30.

Gavin Long’s defense causes a Sacred Heart dribbler to step on the sideline. Noah Zeien’s defense forces a Breckenridge traveling violation. Maxx Eastman steals the ball for the Huskies. Breckenridge misses an eight foot shot from the baseline. Jaxon Laubscher knocks the offensive rebound to a Huskie teammate who misses a layup. Josiah Howell passes to Aidan Halliday, who hits a layup for Sacred Heart, is fouled and makes his free throw to give the Irish a 42-30 lead with 2:43 left on the clock.

Gavin Long passes to Jaxon Laubscher, who throws in a long threeball from the wing for Breckenridge. Joe McDonald inbounds the ball to Noah Zeien, who hits a layup for the Irish. Jaxon Laubscher hits a three pointer from the side to trim the Irish lead to 44-36.

Noah Zeien is fouled and hits both shots in a one and one opportunity for the Irish. Breckenridge misses a three point shot from the side. Noah Zeien is fouled and hits one of his two free throws to give the Irish a 47-36 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the contest.

Breckenridge misses a three point attempt from the wing. Isaac Humm hits a putback for the Huskies. Noah Zeien is fouled and hits two free throws for Sacred Heart. With 45.1 seconds to go, the Irish have a 49-38 lead.

Noah Zeien gets his hand on the ball for the Irish. Noah Barr makes a valiant effort to save the ball for Breckenridge, but he slides on the floor and is called for traveling. Jaxon Laubscher knocks the ball away from Sacred Heart and Isaac Humm grabs it for Breckenridge. Isaac Humm passes to Jaxon Laubscher, who hits a twelve foot turnaround for the Huskies. Sacred Heart inbounds the ball and the final buzzer sounds.

Sacred Heart wins this MSAC contest by the score of 49-40.

Jaxon Laubscher led the Breckenridge scoring with 14 points. Gavin Long joined his teammate in double figures with 11 points. Maxx Eastman put in 7 points. Isaac Humm added 6 points. Noah Barr tallied 2 points.

Noah Zeien led the Irish scoring with 14 points. Aidan Halliday contributed 12 points. Luke Taylor chipped in with 11 points. Josiah Howell scored 6 points. Jason Boge added 3 points. Joe McDonald put in 2 points. Sam Powell had 1 point.

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