Country Day Defeats Notre Dame Prep 71-55, Heads to Quarterfinals

 IMLAY CITY – The Detroit Country Day boys varsity basketball team finally had to sweat one out.

Until Wednesday, the defending Class B champions had been in cruise control in this year’s playoffs, with an average margin of victory over 47 points going into the regional finals.

But Notre Dame Prep gave Country Day a run for its money in Imlay City Wednesday night. The Yellowjackets needed a 19 point second half from Amir Williams to secure a 71-55 win and move one step closer to back-to-back championships.

With a matchup against Flint Powers Catholic on deck, Country Day coach Kurt Keener wasn’t upset his team had to work for the win.

“Our district was not competitive at all,” he said. “For us to have a couple hard games where we had to make adjustments and come back and play, that’s important for us, it bodes well.”

Notre Dame grabbed an early lead with some hot shooting. It hit three 3-pointers in the opening quarter and opened up an 11-3 lead. Before Williams could establish himself and answer the Fighting Irish’s run, the senior center was called for a second foul. 

Williams went up for an offensive rebound and bumped into a Notre Dame defender and the refs called called him for a push.

“I was frustrated,” Kenner said. “I thought that was kind of a cheap foul.”

Williams went to the bench for the final 3:15 of the first and Keener didn’t even look his way in the second quarter to come back in.

“I knew my team and my backups could go in and play aggressively without me,” Williams said. “I had faith in my team, I knew they could finish strong in the second quarter.”

After the game, Keener said he didn’t want to risk a third foul in the first half for his center. He wanted Williams to be as aggressive as possible at the start of the third.

“We always talk about the first five minutes of the second half being the most crucial in a game,” Keener said. “If we can come out of the locker room at a sprint, then that really puts the other team back on their heels. That was our plan and Amir obviously was fresh, strong and able to dominate inside.”

The strategy paid off and Country Day’s depth helped it get back into the game in the second quarter. Mahesh Umasankar hit two 3-pointers to give the Yellowjackets their first lead of the game at 18-16 with 6:10 left in the quarter. Then a 3-pointer by Austin Price finished off a quick 9-0 run.

Country Day went into halftime up 29-25 and after the break let Williams take over. The Yellowjackets worked the ball inside on possession after possession and it didn’t matter how many defenders Notre Dame threw at Williams. He scored 12 points in the quarter and went to the line six times.

“Coach told me not to let the refs take you out of the game,” Williams said. “He told me they were going to feed me the ball and to watch out for the double teams.”

The double teams led to triple teams and that opened up space for guards like Price and Adam Zavadil. Both finished with eight points in the game for Country Day. 

“It’s a tough match up for teams, not many have a big guy they can use to contain (Williams),” Kenner said. "Generally they have to use two or three people against Amir and that’s going to leave our perimeter shooters open.”

A 10-2 run at the start of the third was enough to give Country Day a 12 point lead and that cushion proved to be enough. The Yellowjackets finished the third outscoring Notre Dame 23-10.

Country Day now has four full days of practice before it plays Flint Powers Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Ferndale. It will be the fourth straight year the two teams meet in the quarterfinals. Country Day won in 2010 63-47, but lost in 2009 (85-81) and 2008 (48-35).  

“Flint Powers is a great team, great program,” Kenner said. “Between the two of us, we’ve been in the state finals the last five years. This is a game we anticipated looking at the tournament. Last year our kids came with a great deal of energy after losing the year before, they will come with that same kind of energy.”