Boy’s Basketball: Chemics advance to district semifinals with win over Western

by Jason Wolverton

Chris O’Brien scored 24 points and Midland High survived a second quarter Bay City Western scoring barrage Monday as the Chemics defeated the Warriors 66-53 in the opening round of districts at Western High School.

Midland led 18-8 after one quarter of play, but struggled in the second quarter as Western shot its way back into the game from behind the arc to take a six-point halftime lead. The Chemics regained their composure in the second half, though, to secure a matchup against Mount Pleasant Wednesday night.

“Western is dangerous,” said Midland coach Eric Krause. “They already beat us on this court [earlier in the season] and it was not a fluke. They beat us fair and square and they could have easily beaten us tonight.”

A Western win seemed improbable in the first, though, when Midland went on a 12-2 run to open an early lead. Chris Sims tipped in an Eric Dawson miss at the buzzer to give the Chemics the 18-8 advantage after one.

But the second quarter was a whole different animal for Midland as the Warriors’ Chad Jasman brought Western right back into it.

Just over a minute into the quarter, Jasman drained a 3-pointer and was fouled on the follow through to get the ball back for Western. The ball went right back to Jasman on the inbounds and he promptly stuck another three to cut Midland’s lead to six in just four seconds.

Jasman’s hot shooting sparked Western’s 17-5 run the rest of the quarter, which was capped off by a desperation 3-pointer by Paul Ramseyer at the buzzer which gave Western a 31-25 lead at the break.

“They are a very good shooting team,” Krause said of Western’s comeback. “In transition and on some mix-ups on our press they had some open threes. So really it was some communication errors and some mental errors that let them, not only back in the game, but back with a six-point lead.”

O’Brien made sure that lead didn’t last for long, though, as he promptly put the Chemics on his shoulders in the third quarter. He scored 11 points in the third, including a bucket down low with 3:05 to go that tied the game at 39-39. O’Brien would give them the lead with 1:58 to go, and Midland would eventually increase that lead to three before Jasman struck again with another 3-pointer to tie the game heading into the final quarter.

Foul shooting was the story from there as the Chemics managed to score 18 of their 22 fourth quarter points at the line to seal the victory and advance to the district semifinals.

Colter Roberson had 11 points for Midland, while Wakeman chipped in with 10. Jasman led the Warriors with 24.

The Chemics will take on the Oilers at 7:30 Wednesday evening at Western High School. Krause says his team will have to bring its A-game if they are to have a shot at beating the Oilers.

“I want to see us get a little more fluid on offense,” he said. “Make sure that we continue to play solid man-to-man defense and just hunker down and play solid. But it’s going to be some offensive execution, too. We’ve got to score points, and we’ve got to make sure that we make them earn everything.”

To view the photos from Monday’s game, click on “Photo slideshow” in the top right corner of this article. The photos are also available for purchase by clicking the “Buy photo reprints” link.

And if you haven’t done so already, please remember to enter our MidlandSports.com Giveaway. You can enter by clicking the advertisement on the MidlandSports homepage. Wednesday is the last day to sign up for a chance to win free stuff from the Wackerly Road Quiznos and Blockbuster!

Photos by Jason Wolverton