With Grand Rapids Catholic Central leading scorer Kaden Brown slightly off with his shot, Cougars senior Jack Karasinski picked his team up scoring a game-high 34 points in an 82-71 state semifinal win over Ferndale on Friday.
"KK (Kaden Brown) scores a lot of buckets,"Karasinski said. "He was a little shaky today. He was off, he's going be back tomorrow but yeah, I kind of took that role and shot those shots."
Karasinksi connected on 11 of the 17 shots he took which included 4-6 from downtown.
"Not a lot of people know this because he won't talk about it, but he had been battling an ankle injury," Cougars head coach T.J. Meerman said about Karasinski. "He missed four or five games throughout the year. He tweaked it a couple weeks ago. I think he has gutted a few performances out. He looked really healthy out there tonight and he just stayed true to what he does just an aggressive player. He took open shots when they were open."
The Cougars led by seven at the half before starting the third quarter on a 17-4 run to take control of the game.
Durral "Phat Phat" Brooks contributed 22 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals in the win.
"It's very exciting but we're going to try not to let all the pressure get to us," Brooks said. "We're just going to try to stay as a team, not worry about all the social media stuff, and just come ready to go back-to-back."
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (25-1) will get a chance to win a second straight division two state championship on Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. when it plays Williamston (26-0) at the Breslin Center.
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