FARINA — Landen Keck channeled his inner Steph Curry to help the Dieterich boys basketball team win its first regional championship in seven years.
The Movin Maroons senior guard hit five three-pointers and scored a game-best 28 points in Dieterich’s 69-49 win over North Clay in the Class 1A South Central Regional Finals.
“I credit our experience,” head coach Brent Bohnhoff said. “First, you have to be in big games to get the experience and we’ve done that. I know it’s frustrating that we’re 26-7 and sometimes, it doesn’t feel like it. Sometimes, it feels like we can do better than that, but you have to play good teams and experience losses and overcome things to become a championship team.
“I think we’ve learned how to win.”
The Movin Maroons got off to a slow start, trailing 16-5 toward the end of the first quarter before a couple of late buckets only had them trailing by six at the break.
Lucas Westendorf started the game with a three-pointer after the Cardinals (24-10) knocked down a pair of free throws.
Mason Byers hit a three-pointer for North Clay to put them ahead by two. He then added a layup to push the margin to four points with 5:15 left.
Westendorf hit a baseline jumper to cut the lead to two. Cody Zimdars followed with a layup and then a rebound putback that made it a six-point contest.
Gavin Hosselton converted a layup with 1:51 left to make it 13-5. Lane Wolfe then hit a three-pointer that pushed the lead to double-digits.
“We had a lot of respect for North Clay and knew they were a very powerful offensive team,” Bohnhoff said. “They were a hot team, also, and probably playing their best basketball of the season. We knew they were going to be coming out of the gates strong and that’s what happened.”
Keck hit a three-pointer with 32 seconds left to end the run and push Dieterich to within eight points of the lead. He then made a layup with 12 seconds remaining.
“We kept our composure,” Bohnhoff said. “We’ve been in these games a few times and I think our experience helped us.”
Those five points at the end of the period led to more points in the second.
The Movin Maroons scored the next 14 points to take a 24-16 advantage with 2:33 left before half.
“We felt like our defense took over the game,” Bohnhoff said. “That was the No. 1 thing we talked about before the game — defense wins championships. Once we locked in defensively, I felt that we took a few things away that they were comfortable with. We got momentum from our defense.”
Brock Niemerg hit a shot in the paint and drew the foul for a three-point play. Keck hit a floater. Westendorf made a reverse layup. Niemerg and Keck hit two three-pointers back-to-back and Westendorf made another layup.
Zimdars ended the run with two free throws with 2:10 left.
Westendorf then hit a three-pointer. Byers hit a post shot before Keck ended the period with a layup and a free throw to make the 30-22 halftime tally.
Dieterich shot 38% in the first half to North Clay’s 28%.
“Our shots were fine,” Bohnhoff said. “We were moving the ball and once a couple of shots go in, everything gets easier.”
That number was inflated in the second half.
The Movin Maroons shot 50% in the final 16 minutes, making 13 of their 26 attempts.
Bohnhoff understood what the Cardinals might do to adjust and prepared accordingly.
“We knew they were going to come out and switch defenses and try something different,” Bohnhoff said. “We expected man, zone, or trap. We talked about spacing and weak-side cuts. We were really focusing on that and I felt that our weak-side cuts were really good. They left the middle open and we attacked that several times in the second half.”
Attacking the middle of the floor was one thing that Dieterich didn’t do the first time both teams met.
“We made a focus on putting Lucas or Bryce [Bohnhoff] in the middle,” Brent Bohnhoff said. “We weren’t attacking the middle like we should [in the first meeting] — we did a lot of standing. We wanted to make sure the kids weren’t standing and the kids were cutting and trying to post the middle up. If we got the ball to the middle, good things happened.”
The Movin Maroons outscored the Cardinals 25-18 in the third quarter and 14-9 in the fourth.
Westendorf flirted with a triple-double. He finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
“He held his composure all night and had some really big rebounds and assists when we needed them,” Brent Bohnhoff said.
The chemistry between Westendorf and Keck was excellent all night.
Late in the fourth, Westendorf wrapped a pass around his back to Keck for a layup.
The “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers would have been proud.
“When Lucas and Landen get in the open floor, good things normally happen,” Brent Bohnhoff said. “We’re probably playing, offensively, our best ball of the season. The kids seem to be free and the shots have been going in the last couple of weeks. Some of it’s just relaxing. Once you see the ball go in a couple of times, it makes it easier for the next guy.”
Keck was the primary guy on this night.
“It couldn’t happen to be a better person,” Brent Bohnhoff said. “The work that he’s put in these two years; he’s the best defender that I’ve ever coached and he’s worked really hard on the defensive side. We were setting some flares for him. He had a lot of open shots, but a lot of that’s giving credit to your teammates, too.”
Keck added three rebounds and one assist.
Niemerg had 12 points, five assists and six rebounds.
“The second half of the season, he’s been our floor general,” Brent Bohnhoff said. “He took over the point guard duties. Early in the season, it was him and Landen and the second half of the season, we turned that job over to Brock and he’s done a really good job, especially vocally and just getting us into the spots we need.”
Bryce Bohnhoff had seven points, four rebounds and one assist. Jaxon Funneman had four points and six rebounds. Tanner Will had one point, five assists and three rebounds and Ezra Cook had one rebound.
Zimdars led North Clay with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Byers added nine points and four rebounds. Hosselton had nine points, one assist and three rebounds. Carder Walden had nine points, two assists and four rebounds. Kade Atwood had three points, two rebounds and two assists. Lane Wolfe had three points, two rebounds and two assists and Lucas Griffey had two points, two assists and two rebounds.
The Movin Maroons return to the floor today against Tuscola in the Class 1A Bridgeport (Red Hill) Sectional Semifinals at 7 p.m.