Drohan comes through in clutch to lift Life Summit past Stateline Christian to Eagles Cup title

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

CLARKSTON — Paul Drohan caught his opposition by surprise Saturday afternoon.

The sophomore forward from Sterling Heights Life Summit was left all alone under the basket and Drohan converted with six seconds left in leading his team past Temperance Stateline Christian in the finals of the annual Springfield Christian Eagles Cup.

Stateline Christian, which suffered its first loss of the season, took a 67-66 lead with nine seconds left when 6-foot-4 senior forward Daniel Ellerbrock picked off the ball at midcourt and went in alone for the dunk.

The Patriots got caught celebrating too long.

Junior forward George Vidosh sent a long pass to a streaking Drohan, who converted the game-winning bucket. Drohan scored six points, all in the second half, for Life Summit.

“Everyone was down there after the shot and I just happened to run down the court and nobody went with me,” said Drohan. “I was waving my hands because I was open. I was surprised that I was that wide open.”

Stateline Christian had one last chance to get off a shot, but Mike Kerekes’ shot with one second left was blocked by Vidosh, giving Life Summit its second straight title and fifth in eight years at the Eagles Cup.

“I had one time out left, but as the play developed off the inbounds play (Drohan) is standing down here by himself,” said Life Summit coach Grant Brown. “

“We’ve had a lot of success in this tournament,” added Brown. “We won it three of the four years I played (for Life Summit) between ’04 and ‘07. We found a way to win it again.”

The second half saw three ties and six league changes.

Stateline led 60-57 to open the fourth quarter on a three-pointer from Jordan Sancrant. Life Summit answered with a 9-0 run to go up 66-60 with 3:04 left, led by five points from Casey Johnson in the spurt.

Stateline went on a 7-0 spurt to go up one last time at 67-66. The Patriots could not hold on in the end.

“We were surprised (on the game-winning play),” said Stateline coach Nathan Nash. “That’s not the reason why we lost the game. There were several other reasons why we lost the game. We didn’t shoot very well and I thought we were way too much in love with the three (pointer) in the first half. We took way too many of them where she should have been patient to work the ball around to find a better shot.”

Stateline Christian, which has won the Eagles Cup eight times in the past 20 years, finished 27-for-57 from the floor and made was only 6-for-20 from outside the arc.

The Patriots’ defense held Life Summit to 26-for-64 shooting and just 5-for-17 from the three-point range..

Stateline opened the game with a 9-2 run, led by some crisp three-point shooting by senior guard Todd Gardiner. Five of the Patriots’ treys came in the first half, four by Gardiner, for Stateline Christian, which built a 24-19 lead by the end of the half.

“I think they were really (physical) down low and our guys had a hard time with that,” offered Nash. “We didn’t adjust to the way the refs were calling the game. You have to be able to adjust. I think that caused us to shoot from the perimeter way too much.”

Life Summit, which held a 41-27 advantage on the boards, began to attack the basket in the third quarter, where it used a 23-17 frame to draw even at 57-57. Life Summit outscored Stateline 11-10 in the fourth period.

Vidosh led Life Summit with 20 points and 13 rebounds, gaining Tournament MVP honors for the second straight season. Johnson added 16 points and six rebounds and junior Ethan Mason scored nine with seven rebounds for Life Summit.

“I like the way we fought back in the second half,” said Brown. “We were down by eight points early in the game but we didn’t let that bother us. We kept working hard and played aggressive on both ends of the floor.”

Gardiner scored a game-high 29 points with eight assists, five steals and four rebounds for Stateline Christian. Ellerbrock added 19 points and seven rebounds and Kerekes chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds for the Patriots.

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