North Farmington vs. Clarkston Recap

<p class="p1">This Thursday night contest of Clarkston at North Farmington is filled with two of the more successful programs in the area. The past three class A state championships have had either North Farmington or Clarkston in it. Both schools have also sent multiple players to the division 1 level in the past three years so there is a lot of history in this game. Both schools come in to the contest with a record of 6-2. Clarkston is on a 6 game winning streak while North Farmington recently took a loss to a strong Canton team. Clarkston is led by freshmen guards, <strong>Fletcher Loyer</strong> and <strong>Keegan Wasilk</strong> accompanied by 7’0 junior, <strong>Matt Nicholson</strong>. North Farmington is led by 6’9 senior big <strong>Yusuf Jihad</strong> and junior <strong>Justus Clark</strong>.</p> <p class="p1">Just like the JV before, varsity started off in a high intensity 1-3-1 defense, but strong ball movement by Clarkston freed up Wasilk for an open trey. The next possession down a wide open layup for junior guard, <strong>Cole Donchez</strong> forcing North Farmington to call a time-out and switch defenses. North Farmington responded with an 8-0 run which included to buckets down low for Jihad. The teams traded buckets to end the half as the bank was open for a Clark mid range jumper, Nicholson finished down low, and a pretty Clark up and under to close out the first quarter. North Farmington held a 14-13 edge.</p> <p class="p1">North Farmington came out with fire to open up the quarter with an easy 6-0 run in the first 1:25. Another Wasilk trey gave Clarkston their first bucket of the quarter. Clark’s leadership was impressive as he made sure everyone knew where Clarkston’s shooter were on defense and also set up their offense with poise. A 3 point play from Clark gave North Farmington a 7-point lead, their largest lead of the game. A Donchez triple brought the deficit to 4 and closed out the half.</p> <p class="p1">The second half started with chippy and sloppy play as Nicholson and Jihad were continuously getting tangled up and loose balls had players all over the floor. Wasilk got a steal off the inbound and took it coast to coast which was followed by a Nicholson slam. With two minutes left in the third quarter, a Loyer fastbreak floater gave Clarkston their first lead since the first quarter. Clarkston got hot as a deep contested Loyer three was followed by a fast break layup from senior guard, <strong>Desmond Millis-Bradley</strong>. Clarkston ended the quarter with a 12-2 run and a 34-30 lead.</p> <p class="p1">The first score change of the final quarter was a pair of free throws from Loyer which was followed by a pair of free throws from Wasilk on the other end of the floor. Clarkston looked very much in control of this game. North Farmington turned it on when they needed to as junior guards, Clark and <strong>Jamal Hayes</strong> got to the rack and finished with ease. The Clarkston lead was brought to one with a Marshall Miller three. The North Farmington student section was on their feet. Minutes later, a Miller up and under knotted the game up at 39. Loyer knocked down another triple but that was answered with a Jihad hook shot. This game was bound to come down to the last minute. Another Clark mid range jumper brought the game back within a point but Millis-Bradley knocked down two free throws on the other end to bring it to three. But Clark wasn’t done, he took the ball to the bucket on the next possession down giving Clarkston the ball and a one point lead with 14.1 seconds remaining. After Wasilk split from the charity stripe, North Farmington could not capitalize on multiple opportunities down low.</p> <p class="p1">Clarkston’s winning streak was extended to 7 games with the 47-45 win. Loyer and Wasilk led with 14 points and 7 rebounds each and Nicholson added 9 points and 12 rebounds. For the home team, Clark led with 19 points. Despite his short stature, Clark is a player that should not be overlooked by college coaches. He is a strong floor general and solid scorer. He’s been getting minutes at the varsity level since his freshman year and has showed a lot of progression since then.</p>