During Livonia Stevenson’s 79-40 win Jan. 6 at rival Churchill, Max Williams shouted, “Hey! Hey!” until teammate Tyler Hill finally hit him with a pass for an open 3-pointer.
On the next possession, the senior yelled “Hey!” again and buried another one from deep.
Williams finished with a career-high 18 points, going 6-for-7 from 3-point range and drilling three straight during a 14-2 run that helped the Spartans (4-4, 2-0) pull away early from the Chargers (2-7, 0-3).
The fact the shooting guard had the confidence to call for the ball and let it fly seven times shows how much he has grown since coach John Mackson took over before the 2024-25 season.
“The nice thing about Max is he’s much more confident about who he is and where he fits in now than where he was a year ago,” the second-year coach said. “We ran him at the point a lot a year ago, and it wasn’t a comfortable fit for him. I think he feels more comfortable in what he’s doing this year.”
Williams sure looked comfortable against Churchill, and a breakout like that couldn’t have come at a better time.
Stevenson’s goals this winter are pretty simple: Win the City championship, contend for the KLAA East title and bring home a district championship. Beating the Chargers moved the Spartans to 2-0 in the league, tying them with Wayne Memorial and Dearborn, and gave them an early edge in the City standings.
Their top two returners, Hill and fellow senior Jack Woods, already made them a threat. But the growth from the rest of the roster should make this season run a lot smoother.
They’re getting real contributions from seniors Brady Amin, Reece Williams and Finn O’Reilly and juniors Donte Owens and Jackson Stoops, among others. Now that Max has taken a jump, too, don’t be shocked if Stevenson trips up a few opponents as a team on the rise.
“I think being a senior defines my role a lot more,” Max said. “I have to bring the younger guys up, and it brings me a lot more confidence, knowing that having has trust in me as one of the older guys on the team.”
Max credited his pregame routine for helping spark his big night. He naps, eats chicken and rice and prays before every game.
But what probably mattered more was the work he put in all offseason, improving his shot and building chemistry with his teammates. This year’s team prides itself on defense, and that showed at Churchill. The Spartans scored six times in transition, most of them off turnovers near midcourt. The Chargers’ guards struggled just to get the ball up the floor.
That energy on defense bled into the offense. Once the team found its rhythm, Max found his behind the 3-point line.
“That was the No. 1 key for us tonight coming in,” Mackson said. “We wanted to have good energy on the defensive end of the floor. When we’ve played well defensively, we’ve played good offensively. When we’ve struggled to play defensively and struggled to bring that energy to the floor defensively, we haven’t been as good offensively.”
Churchill also focused on taking away Stevenson’s top scorer, Woods, who was held scoreless in the first half and finished with six points.
With Woods locked up, Max got the open shots. And he didn’t miss many.
“He’s a good shooter, there’s no doubt about that, but he doesn’t always get those looks,” Mackson said. “He had a lot of really good looks, and his teammates did a good job of looking for him for the first couple. That’s nice when your teammates have a lot of faith in you, and he’s got a lot of faith in himself as a shooter. We trust he’ll make that shot when he’s given that opportunity, and it really paid off.”
And it should keep paying off. The Spartans are still in control of their season and chasing every goal they set. With the seniors stepping up and settling into their roles, all of that feels within reach.
“Being our last time all playing together, and we’ve played together our whole lives, we want to leave a statement on the program,” Max said. “We want to win a district. We want to win that city championship, and we want to accomplish anything we possibly can.”
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on his new X.com account at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Williams’ career night helps Livonia Stevenson down rival Churchill
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
