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Flowers scores 33, leads Southfield past West Bloomfield at Motor City Roundball Classic
Harper Woods – The final game of the 21st annual Motor City Roundball Classic featured two of the top scoring teams from the OAA, and after a low-scoring first quarter, both teams found plenty of success scoring the ball.
Behind a game-high 33 points from junior Mike Flowers, Southfield survived a fourth quarter push from West Bloomfield to earn a 70-64 win.
Southfield coach Mike Avery said that he felt that the difference for his team in Wednesday night’s game was the defense, which was able to slow down the Lakers at times.
“We came out with a gimmick defense and I think that kind of stunned them a little bit,” he said. “That worked to our favor and kind of slowed them down. Our guys stuck to the game plan and executed pretty well.
Entering the fourth quarter with a 55-50 lead after Flowers drilled a 30-foot 3-pointer late in the third quarter, Southfield saw its lead cut down to 62-61 late in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer from Kevin McAdoo for West Bloomfield with just 1:52 left to play.
Reme Torbert would knock down a pair of free throws and Flowers would add another basket to extend the lead to 66-61.
But with just under 20 seconds left to play, Michigan State football commit Trishton Jackson buried a 3-pointer to cut the deficit down to 67-64, but Southfield would seal the win behind three late free throws.
“That was just tremendous guard play from West Bloomfield,” Avery said of West Bloomfield’s ability to stick around late in the game as Southfield tried to pull away. “Jackson and McAdoo are two good guards and if you give them an open look, they’re going to knock it down.”
Jackson finished with 26 points to lead West Bloomfield.
Torbert finished with 18 points to help lead Southfield, while Flowers also recorded six points and six assists to go along with his 33 points.
Avery praised the play from his guards as they scored 51 of Southfield’s 70 points on the night.
“I thought that we were able to control the tempo of the game,” he said. “I thought we took care of the basketball real well tonight and we shot well from the free throw line.
