Game 39: Pleasant Plains vs. Midwest Central (Boy's Basketball)

Game 39
(12/28/09)
Pleasant Plains vs. Midwest Central (Boy's Basketball)
Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament

I had the entire morning to myself, nary a broadcast until the 1:00 tipoff between the Raiders and Cardinals. Many people asked me throughout the morning how many broadcasts I had planned for day one at Western Hall, and I replied..."only three today". I guess its a small number in comparison to the five, six, and seven broadcast days I have had in the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament.

Living and formerly working in Macomb, there are so many familiar faces that I love to run into. Its my thinking that my broadcast setup is the best seat in the house at Western Hall, just a hair across the center court line on press row. It's been a staple for my broadcasts since I began covering the tournament in 2003. Of course, it was a hand-me-down from Chris Smith, the webmaster for www.holidaybasketball.com, the tournament's website. He was Sports Director for K100 & WLMD prior to me taking that position, so I have inherited the prestigous broadcast location. Chris is right at half court, taking care of the website duties, which have increased year after year. Thanks technology!

Prior to tipoff of this first game of the afternoon session, I made my way up to the hospitality room. Steve Hensley takes care of the grub, taking over for Stan Prentice. Not as magnificent as recent years, the hospitality room is still pretty nice. I grabbed a spicy chicken sandwich (Hardee's) and a couple small Subway sandwiches and sat with McDonough Voice sports writer Mitch Worley.

I took off for press row, talking with Midwest Central head coach Kevin Burks for a minute and getting his Raiders starters. Nearly had a catastrophe with the IHSSN broadcast of the game, as my Windows Media Encoder asked me for user name and password, which I didn't have handy. Fortunately, just at tipoff, it came up and I was able to log in.

Midwest Central had some hot shooting to start the game, behind five three-pointers in the first quarter. Brandon Fisher dropped three of them, and Zach Schmidgall added two more. The Raiders led 19-10 after eight minutes.

My buddy Rodney was in the Network1Sports chat room. Rodney is a 2001 graduate of Midwest Central, so he was able to provide some broadcast gems throughout the matchup. The Raiders came in with a (4-3) record, while Pleasant Plains (7-3), had won six straight games, and held a (7-0) record against 1A/2A competition.

The teams each scored 12 points in the second quarter. Midwest Central added a pair of three-pointers in the second eight minutes, one by Nick Rademaker, the other by Fisher. Pleasant Plains had a nice second quarter from Logan Harris and Lucas Studach.

Pleasant Plains slightly chipped in to start the second half, winning the third quarter (18-17). The fourth quarter was all Cardinals. Slowly chipping back into the game, it was tied at 60-60 with 0:06 to play and Plains had posession. The Cardinals were able to set up for a nice three-pointer to tie, but the shot would rim out at the buzzer, and Midwest Central prevailed 63-60.

Brandon Fisher scored a game-high 20 points, while Zach Schmidgall added 18 points. Michael Berg added 9 points. Pleasant Plains was led by Logan Harris with 18 points, and Lucas Studach added 16 points.

The Quest File Notes
Game 39
Date: 12/28/09
Result: Midwest Central holds off Pleasant Plains 63-60
Miles: 2