Schoolcraft was the underdog Thursday against Flint Beecher in the division three boys basketball state semifinal game at the Breslin Center, but the Eagles made 9-12 from three point range and used a zone defense to contain the explosive Buccaneers in a 55-39 win.
"Playing with a chip on our shoulder," senior Ty Rykse said. "We knew anybody is beatable in tournament time and we knew what it took to win this game and it was just about if we could come out and do that and we did a pretty good job of that today."
Sophomore Shane Rykse scored a game-high 21 points connecting on four of five from deep.
Schoolcraft 55, Flint Beecher 39 - Final
— FOX 17 Blitz (@FOX17Blitz) March 24, 2022
Shane Ryske (S) 21 points
Tyler DeGroote (S) 13 points
Tu Rykse (S) 12 points
The Eagles will play Menominee Saturday in the Division 3 State Championship game pic.twitter.com/D3ESpZQWrw
Seniors Tyler DeGroote (13 points) and Ty Rykse (12 points) used their size advantage on both ends of the court to help Schoolcraft advance.
"Going into the game we didn't want to think of them as so much better than us," DeGroote said. "We knew that we could come in and stick to our game plan and go out and execute we knew that we that we would give ourselves the best chance to win as long as we trusted inn our coach. Our coach is an amazing coach and I am thankful to have him for the past four years."
Beecher shot just 32% from the floor including 5-19 from three point range.
"I thought they were better than we were on the perimeter so I didn't think we could guard them man-to-man," Eagles head coach Randy Small said. "I didn't want them to spread us too thin, I wanted to keep my bigs in the paint and just take my chances with them on the perimeter with them hopefully missing some shots."
The Eagles (24-2) will play Menominee in the division three state championship game on Saturday at 4:30 at the Breslin Center.
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