The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Hornets win first district title in 28 years, lose in Regionals
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 6, 2008
Entering Friday night's district final against Lincoln, the Saline boys' basketball program hadn't won a district championship in 28 years.
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Next year, it will have been just one.
Saline's Tyler Bagbey scored to tie the game with 16 seconds remaining in regulation and the Hornets prevailed over the Railsplitters 68-66 in overtime, advancing Saline to Monday's regional semifinal against Romulus and giving the Hornets their first district title since 1980.
"I'm really proud of our kids," said Saline head coach Jay Plitzuweit. "This is something we need to build on, something that hopefully can help inspire kids in Saline to work hard and see that it's special to play basketball here."
Saline trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half before mounting a second-half comeback behind Kyle Larsen, who finished with 29 points and 13 rebounds, and Bagbey's career-high 21.
"I don't even have the words for this," a jubilant Larsen said afterward. "It's amazing. I was a little nervous at the start of the second half, but we knew we could come back. We made some adjustments and hit some open shots."
"After I hit my first three, I knew it was going to be a good night," Bagbey said. "We just stayed focused and came out strong in the second half ... I can't even explain what this feels like."
Larsen's basket with 1:35 to play in the regulation gave Saline its first lead of the game at 54-52. But Lincoln answered with a basket, a steal, and a free throw to retake the lead, 55-54.
Larsen was whistled for an offensive foul with 49.7 seconds remaining after rebounding the missed second free throw and the Railsplitters would add two more at the line with 30.7 seconds to play.
Lincoln would then send Larsen to the line with 16.6 seconds remaining. The senior hit the first and missed the second, but Bagbey was first to the rebound and put it back to tie the game at 57. Saline stole the ball from the Railsplitters with three seconds remaining and the game went into overtime.
Lincoln would score first in the extra frame, but Bagbey would answer with a three. The Railsplitters retook the lead on their ensuing possession, but Larsen would score with 2:55 remaining to put Saline ahead 62-61 and into the lead for good.
After baskets by Larsen and Bagbey (the latter coming on another rebound of a missed free throw), Lincoln would score to make it a one-possession game at 66-63 and had two chances to tie after a Saline turnover and a pair of missed free throws by Cord Trott. But the Railsplitters couldn't capitalize on either opportunity and two free throws by Larsen with nine seconds to play sealed the victory.
"Our kids showed a lot of toughness and togetherness tonight," Plitzuweit said. "They kept their composure down the stretch.
"In the first half we were maybe a little tentative, a little afraid to shoot. In the second half, we made some big shots and that opened things up inside."
Following Larsen and Bagbey on the scoresheet were Jake Santure with eight points, Jacob Fosdick with six and Eric Braham with four. Santure also grabbed eight rebounds, while Fosdick continued his strong all-around play with a team-high five assists, three steals, and three rebounds.
But no Hornets' contribution was more unexpected or arguably bigger than that of Bagbey, the junior guard who had gone scoreless in the district semifinal win over Adrian.
"Tyler has spent a lot of extra time in the gym working on his shooting, so to see that pay off is exciting," Plitzuweit said. "We've been real happy to see the improvement he's made over the course of the season."
Saline started the game with four turnovers in five possessions and Lincoln shot a scorching 58 percent from the field in the first half, helping the Railsplitters to a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 31-15 advantage with three minutes left to play in the first half.
Saline would cut the lead to 36-23 at the break and outscore Lincoln 18-10 in the third quarter to close within 46-41. A Bagbey three to open the fourth brought Saline within two, but Lincoln would push the lead back to 52-45 with 4:18 to play before a Santure three-pointer kickstarted the 9-0 run that gave the Hornets their first lead of the game.
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