Determined Pioneers Answers the Call

Davian Phillips (Kalamazoo Loy Norrix/Kalamazoo, MI.) scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Pioneers men's basketball team to a 97-72 win over Mid-Michigan Community College.

The Pioneers came out the gate with an impressive 21-9 lead after the first ten minutes of the game.  From the beginning of the game it was evident that the Pioneers wanted to score early and often in the paint, which was lead by the strong play of Travon Cotton (Heritage/Saginaw, MI), who scored 8 of his 14 points during the first couple possessions. 

Mid-Michigan fought back with a pair of three pointers that cut the lead down to 5 points.  The Phillips show began mid way through the first half when he began to assault the rim with a barrage of 3 pointers totaling 4-4 in the half.  Pioneers went into the locker room with a 43-31 lead at half. 

Opening of the scored half the Pioneers opened with a solid basket by Markell Bradshaw (Saginaw/Saginaw, MI.) who finished with 12 points and 9 assists on the night.  The Pioneers pushed the lead up to as much as 17 points with 9 minutes left in the game before Mid-Michigan stormed back.  Mid-Michigan was lead by their dynamic scorer in Eric Layton who scored a game high 32 points for the Lakers.  With momentum on their side the Lakers, TJ Johnson went down court for a big dunk, which cut the lead down to 9 points.  Davian Phillips came out for his second act by hitting 2 free-throws than hitting back to back 3 pointers which pushed the lead back up to 15 points.  Davian Phillips finished the night going 6-6 from behind the arc, while going 4-4 from the free-throw line as well. 

The Pioneers had five guys in double figures including standout sophomore Julian Henderson (Saginaw/Saginaw, MI.) who had a career high 20 points with 4 assist, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.  Justin Person (Flint Carman-Ainsworth/Flint, MI.) finished with 10 points, 3 steals in his second start of the year to also score in double figures.  The Pioneers finished the night shooting 62% from the field, but 66% from long distance. 

The Pioneers look to finish their non-conference schedule on 12/23/14 at Muskegon Community College at 3:00pm before preparing for the Conference season in January.