KALAMAZOO – The Pewamo-Westphalia boys basketball program made it its mission to get back to the Breslin Center after falling in the state semifinals last season.
After capturing district and regional titles, the Pirates would once again have to get through Schoolcraft in the Division 3 quarterfinals to accomplish their goal.
And while last year was a narrow victory, this time around saw P-W dominate in a 70-47 rout on Tuesday, March 10, earning a a semifinal spot at Breslin for the second consecutive year.
“It feels amazing, we’re thrilled and excited, and our guys are hungry,” P-W coach Dominic Schneider said. “We are playing our best basketball right now. When we need stops, we get them. When we need to hit shots, we hit them. They are on a mission right now and we have a championship mindset.”
P-W senior guard Grady Eklund had 29 points, eclipsing the 2,000 career points mark on his last bucket in the fourth quarter. Eklund did not have a 3-pointer, scoring at will near the rim and efficiently from the free-throw line.
“I did not think I’d get that this year after I broke the scoring record, I wasn’t even looking at 2,000,” Eklund said. “To be the first person at this school to do it, it’s pretty cool. It’s a great feeling, growing up you dream about getting to 1,000, you never even think about 2,000. It’s just something you dream about.”
P-W forward Trent Piggott added 15 points and drew three fouls in the first half on Schoolcraft’s top player, Jimmy Miller, who wound up fouling out early in the fourth quarter after scoring just eight points.
“We know how this feeling is, and we knew we had to come into this game and do our job to get back to the Breslin,” Piggott said. “I knew I was going to have a tough matchup, but getting some shots to fall right away helped our energy so much tonight.”
P-W (25-2) will play in the Division 3 state semifinals against Flint New Standard Academy (21-4) at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 12, in East Lansing. New Standard Academy edged Onsted, 55-53, in overtime in their quarterfinal on Tuesday.
Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on X @Nathaniel_Bott
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Pewamo-Westphalia boys basketball heading back to Breslin after quarterfinal win
Reporting by Nathaniel Bott, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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