Balanced effort leads Adams to draining of Stoney Creek

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

Dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

ROCHESTER HILLS — After reaching the Class A Sweet 16 for the first time in school history last March, expectations are high for Rochester Adams this season.

The Highlanders have lived up to those early expectations, making rival Rochester Stoney Creek its third victim of the young campaign. Adams raced out to a 13-0 lead in the first 3:24 and never looked back in posting a 71-45 OAA crossover boys basketball victory over the Cougars.

Adams forced Stoney Creek into 26 turnovers — 15 in the first half — and to only 35 percent shooting (14-for-40) in the contest.

“I’m really pleased with their effort. We’re learning and getting better everyday,” said Adams coach John Hall, who still has three sophomores and eight juniors on a 14-man roster. “They are playing hard. Right now our strength is that we can play 10 or 11 guys in a game and we can keep a really good pace up and wear other team’s down a little bit.

“We do have a lot of experience, but we are still young,” reminded Hall. “We only have three seniors. We have a lot of room to grow.”

Adams spread the wealth around with 10 different players reaching the scoring column and five players scoring between eight and 16 points. Adams’ all sophomore backcourt of Akhemji Williams and Press Kampe were too much for the Cougars to overcome and instigators of the 26-point win.

Kampe had nine points, five rebounds and three steals, while Williams had a fine all-around game with 16 points, seven steals, six rebounds and five assists for the Highlanders.

Senior forward James Berger was 6-of-9 from the floor, including draining four 3-pointers, for 16 points, junior Drew McBride added 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals and junior Zack Littleson followed with eight points for Adams, which finished 25-for-54 from the floor (46.3 percent), including 6-for-12 from three-point range (50 percent).

“That’s what we talk about. We’re better as a team than the sum of our parts,” offered Hall. “If you took us individually and matched us up to another team, if may not look favorable. We play so hard and we play so well together and the kids buy into the offensive and defensive systems that we play. They just help and support each other son well. It’s fun to watch them.”

Stoney Creek cut the lead to 21-15 with 5:39 left in the second quarter on a jumper by Derek Willis (eight points). Adams responded with a 11-3 run, including three-pointers from Littleson, Kampe and Berger within a 35-second period, to push the lead up to 32-18 with 4:52 left in the second period.

Adams led 38-27 at the half and used a quick 6-0 run to start the third quarter to push the lead up to 17 points at 44-27 with 6:25 left in the frame. Stoney Creek could not close the deficit down to under 12 points the rest of the way.

Adams led 54-36 entering the fourth quarter.

“Our biggest concern is there is no sense of urgency with our team right now,” offered Stoney Creek coach Steve Norgrove, whose team graduated its top three scorers from last year’s team.  “We don’t have that urgency to improve now. Our guys are looking ahead and thinking that we’ll get better over time, that it will just happen. We need to have that sense of urgency that it needs to happen now. Our leaders aren’t leading and our seniors need to lead by example. That’s just not happening right now.”

Stoney Creek (0-3) stayed within striking distance in the first half by making 12-of-20 foul shots. The Cougars only attempted 15 field goals compared to 20 from the charity stripe in the opening 16 minutes to go into the break down 11.

Adams outscored Stoney Creek 33-18 in the second half.

Junior Stephan Makowski scored 3 with seven rebounds, Ben Temrowski added 12 points and six boards and Patrick Mertz chipped in with six points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Cougars (0-3), who were 15-for-29 overall from the line.

Tags: Basketball, featured, girls basketball, OAA Boys Basketball, Rochester Adams Girls Basketball, Rochester Stoney Creek Girls Basketball

Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester Adams, Rochester Stoney Creek