Lahser Cruises by West Bloomfield in MHSAA Basketball Districts

It won't be easy for the Lahser Knights to repeat as district champs, but any doubts about the team's ability, focus, and depth should be erased following a 73-34 drubbing of West Bloomfield Monday.

Aggressive defense and near-flawless execution on offense spurred Lahser for the entire game, which was played before a large contingent of Knight faithful.

The convincing victory kicked-off a busy week of playoff basketball at Andover High School, host of the MHSAA's 27th District. The Knights (15-6) advanced to Wednesday's showdown with Brother Rice (8-11) at 5 p.m. at Andover. The Warriors drew a first-round bye.

The Knights, co champs of the OAA Blue, jumped out to an 18-10 lead after the first quarter and had total control of the game by halftime, punctuated by two electrifying dunks by junior center Yante Maten in the final minute. He finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks in somewhat-limited playing time due to the lopsided 60-24 lead late in the third quarter.

Junior guard Armand Cartwright also shined with 16 points and 5 assists, and junior guard Khalil Gracey stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 7 steals. Unfortunately for West Bloomfield, there wasn't much dropoff in play when Lahser's talented-trio was out of the game.

“We were very focused tonight,” Lahser head coach Duane Graves told Miprepzone.com. “These guys knew they had a job to do and they went out there and did it. What was most impressive about the win to me was that every time we brought in our reserves, we expanded the lead."

The team finished with 25 assists and outrebounded West Bloomfield 38-22.

The only sore spot for Lahser was what appeared to be an ankle injury to senior captain Andrew Gikas, who crumpled to the floor in the second quarter and didn't return to play. His status for Wednesday is unknown.

The Knights defeated the Warriors 56-44 in the opening round of district playoff action last year. They also won 55-46 at Brother Rice earlier this season powered by an explosive 17-2 run in the opening quarter on Dec. 21, according to Maxpreps.com. Cartwright led the Knights with 12 points and Gikas finished with 9 points and a team-leading 9 rebounds in that contest.

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