West Bloomfield vs. Clarkston Recap

<p>A red hot Clarkston team came into West Bloomfield on a four game win streak. In their last contest against Lake Orion, they were led by their freshman backcourt of <strong>Keegan Wasilk</strong> and <strong>Fletcher Loyer</strong>. Both guards have a very high IQ and are strong shots. The fab frosh are complimented by 7’0 junior, <strong>Matt Nicholson</strong> who was poised for a field day against an undersized West Bloomfield team. The home team is led by senior forward and Toledo commit, <strong>Donovan Moore</strong> and senior guard, <strong>Robert Johnson III</strong>. West Bloomfield came into this matchup with a record of 3-2 and they are fresh off wins against Warren De La Salle and Troy.</p> [caption id="attachment_630647" align="alignleft" width="200"]<img class="wp-image-630647 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2018/12/bball-LR-7783-701x1052-1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" /> Matt Nicholson (Clarkston Press)[/caption] <p>Right off the tip, Clarkston had instant offense. Nicholson backed down a smaller defender and had an easy layup off the glass. Moore came down and answered with an off balance floater. That was West Bloomfield’s last bucket for a while as Loyer came down with a trey, Nicholson went to work again, and junior guard, <strong>Cole Donchez</strong> hit a triple. Midway through the quarter, West Bloomfield responded with an 11-5 run. Sophomore guard, <strong>Jake Lansaw</strong> hit a pair of rainbow triples and Moore could not be stopped with his lethal floater. After one, Clarkston held a 21-19 advantage. Nicholson led with 13 and Moore led with 11.</p> <p>The first bucket of the second quarter came from Loyer. Loyer does a great job going down hill and getting a nice angle to finish off the glass. Junior West Bloomfield wing, <strong>Chase Glover</strong> showed his touch as he hit a triple and an easy mid. A 5-0 Glover run was answered with an 11-0 Clarkston run. Nicholson was doing it all; Controlling the glass, getting buckets down low, and even showing off his court vision hitting Wasilk for two triples. Wasilk hit another triple minutes later and had Clarkston's crowd fired up. At the break Clarkston held a 14 point edge. With similarly sized student sections, Clarkston ran WBHS.</p> <p>West Bloomfield came out the locker room with fire. 8-2 run in the first two minutes which included a fast break slam from Moore. Two minutes later after a Johnson III pull up jumper, the 14 point deficit was cut to 4. Another two minutes went by and Johnson III hit another pull up jumper. The beautiful Clarkston ball movement freed Loyer and Nicholson for open buckets. At the end of the third, Clarkston was up 53-46.</p> <p>The final quarter was filled with physicality, a lot of jawing between both sides, but not a lot of buckets. Nicholson stayed poised and didn’t let anything get to him. Clarkston held West Bloomfield to four points in the final quarter and won the contest with a score of 66-50. Clarkston was led by their big three. Nicholson had 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 blocks. The freshman backcourt also made a large offensive impact with Loyer scoring 18 and Wasilk adding 16. For West Bloomfield, Moore contributed 27 and Johnson III scored 10.</p> <p>The winning streak has now hit five games for Clarkston. There is no slowing down this Clarkston squad and no reason that this team can't go very far in March. Nicholson is a beast down low and the interchangeable high IQ guards play great basketball together. <strong>Jake Jensen</strong> and <strong>Desmond Millis-Bradley </strong>are two players that don't stuff the stat sheet but they play very smart and very hard. Clarkston basketball is still awesome. </p>