Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Boys Basketball State Semifinal Preview.

Written Wednesday March 13th at 2:15 PM

The North Farmington Raiders are back at Michigan State.

It has been since 2016 that the Raiders are in the Division One Final Four.

North Farmington will get that opportunity to get back to the Division One State title game when they play Zeeland West in the Division One State Semifinals on Friday at 2 PM.

The Raiders beat the Dux 66-57 on December 16th.

North Farmington has relied on their big three of Tyler Spratt, Landon Williams, and Robert Smith all season long. Spratt who is a Cleveland State commit had a big night scoring 25 points in their 62-51 win over River Rouge in the Division One State Quarterfinals in a very chippy game. Williams who is a Niagara commit had six points while Smith added 11 points.

Zeeland West is coming off an amazing run in the tournament which saw them upset Grand Rapids Northview (44-41), Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (56-51), and Muskegon (53-52.) The Dux are a senior heavy team led by Merrick Alderink, Khi Anderson, Orion Yant, and Luke Bakker. Alderick was a finalist for Mr. Basketball and is an Indiana State commit. He had 18 points in the win over Muskegon while Yant made the winning layup with 5.6 seconds left in that game.

If the Raiders win over Zeeland West then they could rematch against Orchard Lake St. Marys, the team that beat North Farmington 56-44 in the regional final last season after some controversy surrounding that game. I know North Farmington and especially Coach Todd Negoshian hasn't forgotten that game. The Eaglets play Ann Arbor Huron in the first Division One State Semifinal game.

It should be a very interesting game at the Breslin Center between the Raiders and the Dux on Friday afternoon.

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