AUBURN HILLS — Avondale finished second in the OAA Red last season, but could’ve split the league with Birmingham Groves if not for being swept by North Farmington.
It’s too early to say how the league standings will shake out this season, but the Yellow Jackets handled business against the Raiders at home on Tuesday night in the form of a 59-46 win.
Coming off a respectable 16-8 campaign (8-4 OAA Red), the win improved Avondale this year to 9-1 overall.
“Honestly, it’s the culture, it’s the people, it’s the players buying into their roles and buying into the team over the individual,” said Yellow Jackets head coach Aaron Fox, who took the reins from Jaret Thomas, who left to become associate head coach for Oakland Community College men’s hoops. “For us, you’ll never hear anyone complaining about how many points they score, nothing like that.
“We’re just trying to play the best that we possibly can as a unit, because we know that we’re going to have five guys competing at a very high level if we want to make a run at the state title, so everyone is sacrificing themselves for that. I think that’s the biggest thing this year. We’re all playing for each other, and we’re very tough.”
The middle quarters on Tuesday backed up Fox’s assessment.
Sophomore Qualaeb Ross knocked down two of Avondale’s three 3-pointers in the first quarter, good for a 14-11 lead, and that might’ve softened up the Raiders’ interior, where the Jackets feasted in the second. Sophomore Da’Kari Fields, a broad, 6-foot-5 forward, presented problems with his frame, but also showed some soft touch around the rim and scored eight of his team-high 12 points in that quarter to help Avondale take a 35-20 lead into intermission.
“I feel like we started off pretty slow, giving up offensive rebounds, so our big message was that we had to have more energy, communicate better on switches, then box out and limit them to one shot,” Fox said. “That was probably halfway through the first quarter, and once we got on them about that, they really turned it up on offense. We know they play a lot of zone, so we had to have quick passes, find the middle, have cutters off it, and we picked it up.
“And yeah, ‘Kari was big. This was actually his first game back — he had an injury to his knee for the last four games, so getting him back was great, and we knew we wanted that matchup with their big (North Farmington junior Connor Brown). But once we moved the ball (better), it opens things up, and we’re just looking for the best pass. They happened to give up the paint quite a bit, so we took what was given to us and Da’Kari did a good job of finding those spots, and once they collapsed, he did a good job of giving them some body and finishing over the top.”
North Farmington senior Quran Creary (2) runs in transition during the second half of Tuesday night’s 59-46 road loss to Avondale. (BRYAN EVERSON – MediaNews Group)
Senior Max Muhl, who like Ross knocked down three triples on the night, hit one of those perimeter shots in an otherwise quieter third quarter from Avondale, who still managed to outscore North Farmington 10-8 in that stanza to maintain a healthy advantage.
Unfortunately for North Farmington, the hole was too deep to dig out of despite some late pushback. Quran Creary’s putback bucket with 4:19 left cut it to 50-38, then Brown’s slam dunk made it a 10-point game, but he was assessed a technical for hanging on the rim afterward.
The Raiders didn’t get much closer after that as Avondale knocked down one of the resulting free throws, then Fields went back to work for two more baskets that prevented the visitors from shrinking the lead to any less than nine in the last several minutes.
“I thought we did a good job of coming back, but didn’t finish possessions with rebounds a few times,” said Raiders first-year head coach Pete Mantyla, who was formerly an assistant under Todd Negoshian. “We didn’t shoot very well in the first half. We forced a lot of stuff.”
Photos of Avondale vs. North Farmington in OAA Red boys basketball action
Led by Fields, six Avondale players scored at least seven points, a group that also included seniors Jaidon Bourgeois and Ja’Kobe Liford, who combined for 16.
Thanks to the pressure applied by Avondale’s guards on their counterparts, Brown, who came in averaging 16.2 points, was held under that average, finishing with 14.
“They did a good job of doubling (Connor) in the post,” Mantyla said. “That made it tough for him to get the ball, and we didn’t a good job of throwing skip passes or finding the man of the guy who was doubling him. We’ve got to be better with that. In the second half, I thought we were a lot better offensively.”
Two years removed from an appearance in the D1 finals, the Raiders, who graduated much of that production that season, are 6-4 this winter, including 2-2 in the Red. Creary also deserves some credit for the steady start. After finishing with 13 points on Tuesday (backcourt classmate DJ Morgan added nine, too), Creary is averaging 15.7 points, including several 25-point outings.
“(Quran’s) done a really good job,” Mantyla said. “He’s best at getting to the basket. He’s got to take care of the ball a little bit better, but he’s a strong kid who puts a lot of hard work in, so I’m happy for him.”
North Farmington should remain one of the contenders for the league, but Avondale has a chance to establish itself as a frontrunner in the coming days. Now 3-0 in the Red, they’re set to play three more league games in a row, including at Ferndale on Thursday, then home against Clarkston, who are tied atop the division standings with the Yellow Jackets, on Jan. 13.
“These next two will be a good test for us, and we definitely had these circled,” said Fox, referring to the threesome of Ferndale, Clarkston and North Farmington. “We knew this stretch was going to be tough coming out of playing in the holiday classics to see where we’re at. Ferndale’s a good team, Clarkston’s a good team, so we’re just excited to compete and see how we stack up.”
Meanwhile, the Raiders have a week off before hosting Ferndale next.