FeedsEagles sink River Rats, 68-53
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Romulus junior guard Dominique Buckley shoots a jumper over Belleville defenders in the district semifinal on Thursday night in Romulus. He scored 21 points, including two free throws with zero time left to secure the, 66-65, victory.After an emotional district semifinal bout with Belleville on Thursday, the Romulus Eagle basketball team continued to soar as they beat Ann Arbor Huron, 68-53, at home on Saturday night to win the district championship.
There were no last-second free throws or buzzer-beating shots to put the game away.
To the contrary, the game was actually quite flat. The Eagles led by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter and were never threatened by the River Rats.
“We’ll take one like this after the couple close ones that we’ve had,” said Romulus Coach Nate Oats.
Romulus led 14-9 after one period of play. Huron senior Brandon Drake drained a triple to get the River Rats to within three, 17-14, but that would be as close as they would get. Romulus finished out the half ahead, 32-25.
The second half wasn’t any different. In the third the Eagles flew ahead by 20 points, with an 11-point rally. Senior center Devin Searcy scored eight of the 11. Huron whittled the lead to 50-35 at the end of three. Sophomore Filmore Bouldes nailed a double to put the Eagles up by 21 points, 60-39, as Romulus eased into the victory.
“Coming into the game we thought we were going to press them like we did the first couple months of the year but they handled it better than we thought and got a couple of layups early,” Oats said. “So we decided to just match up and guard them man-to-man and see if we could do a better job defending their stuff. I thought we did.”
As if Romulus hadn’t already proved that they are a threat going into the regional tournament, the Eagles showed even more reason why they should be.
Depth, although always present, was showcased on Saturday.
Romulus is loaded with weapons. There’s Dominique Buckley (10 points), Devin Searcy—who led the team with 17 points and dominated the boards with 13 rebounds—Mario Crawford and Rod Walker that are all headline grabbers. Even sophomore Valdez Green proved that he can shoot the lights out, too, leading the team with 19 points (five triples) in Romulus’ 83-62 victory against Ypsilanti last Tuesday.
Against Huron, little-known junior forward Martell Anderson came in and knocked down 13 points and reeled in eight rebounds. And Bouldes, a sophomore guard, contributed with nine points. Both are prolific passers and shooters that can break up zone coverage, said Oats.
The roster seems endless.
“We have 14 guys that—and I’ve said it all year and tonight kind of showed it—we can pull any of them off (the bench) and, on any given night, come through like tonight,” Oats added. “We’re just so deep and it depends on what the other team is doing and what we need. I think it’s a testament to our kids to have 14 guys and some times don’t even play and they stay with it and stay with it. It just says a lot about the character of our team.”
