EAST LANSING -- Michael Talley III scored 25 points to lead Melvindale Academy for Business and Technology to a 68-46 win over McBain in a Class C semifinal Thursday at Michigan State.
Talley, who also had eight assists, will lead the Gators (23-2) into Saturday's final against Schoolcraft.
The Gators only led the first semifinal 28-22 at the half, but Talley had 15 points as they outscored the Ramblers 25-12 in the third. Melvindale had a 19-2 run at the end of the second quarter and into the third to lead 43-22 before a Ryan Hoekwater triple ended the bleeding.
Garrett Sterk's jumper with 1:18 left in the first quarter gave the Ramblers their last lead of the game, 14-12.
Sterk scored 14 points and had three steals to lead McBain (23-4), and Hoekwater's 11 off the bench enabled the Ramblers to outscore Melvindale 21-13 in bench scoring. Caleb Sluiter and Trenton Boeve each had six rebounds.
McBain was outscored 36-16 in the paint and shot only 31.9 percent to Melvindale's 44.3 percent. The Gators scored 14 of their 25 third-quarter points off turnovers.
Kevonte Foley added 12 points for the Gators.
Schoolcraft (25-2) beat Montague 63-50 behind 20 points from Kody Chandler.
Schoolcraft used eight 3-pointers to build a 32-15 first-half, but Montague pulled within 43-42 in the final seconds of the third.
Garner Small, though, hit a long 3-pointer at the third-period buzzer and the Eagles pulled away for the victory.
Saturday's state finals will be televised live in Fox Sports Detroit.
Print this story
E-mail this story
