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Henry Ford uses big second quarter to roll past Cadillac and into first Class B state final
East Lansing – While Detroit Henry Ford didn’t get off to the best of starts on Friday night, that was about the only thing that didn’t go right for the Trojans in the Class B semifinal against Cadillac.
Henry Ford put together a dominant second quarter effort and rolled to a convincing 64-38 win over Cadillac to advance to the program’s first state championship game.
Henry Ford coach Ken Flowers said that he just told his team it needed to calm down after its slow start and once things got going in the second quarter, Henry Ford settled in and began pulling away.
“Just to settle down,” he said. “They were so anxious in the first quarter, they just needed to settle down and let the game come to you and stop pressing the issue. Once we did that, we stood in the moment and kind of just turned them over.”
In the Class B championship game, the Trojans (21-5) will face Wyoming Godwin Heights (25-1), which topped defending champion Milan earlier on Friday, back at the Breslin Center on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
After falling behind early, trailing Cadillac 9-4 after back-to-back buckets by way of Ethan Myers, Henry Ford turned it on as the Trojans erased a five point deficit to send the game into the second quarter in an 11-11 tie thanks to five points from Antaun Carter.
In the second quarter, Henry Ford senior Josh Davis, who was cold in the first quarter, followed up a pair of James Towns baskets with back-to-back dunks, the second being an alley-oop from Towns that pushed the Henry Ford lead to 20-13.
Davis said that he wasn’t patient enough in the first quarter, but added that his dunks in the second helped get him going.
“In the first quarter, I had to let the game come to me,” said Davis. “I had to find a rhythm with my shot. I’m still a little shaky, but I’m going to come in tomorrow with a better rhythm with my shot and let the game come to me, that’s going to be my focus on tomorrow’s game.”
From there, the Trojans didn’t look back from there as they would close out the frame on an 8-0 run, capped off by a Davis 3-pointer that gave Henry Ford a 34-17 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, Cadillac (18-9) would cut the deficit to 38-23 on a basket from Myers, but Henry Ford would respond as the Trojans would go on a quick 7-1 run finished by a Towns basket that would put Henry Ford up 45-24 midway through the third.
Towns finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting to lead Henry Ford, while Davis, a Western Michigan-commit, finished with 17 points in the win for the Trojans.
Towns admitted he was a bit nervous to start the game, but said he settled in after hitting his first couple of shots and was able to not only able to create for himself, but his teammates as well.
“I came out a little nervous, I had never played on a college floor before,” he said. “After the first few shots in the first few minutes, I started getting comfortable in my rhythm and I started getting my teammates involved too and that’s what I think I should be doing. Lead my team and be a coach on the floor.”
Both Henry Ford and Godwin Heights will be playing for their first state title on Saturday night in the Class B Final.
