Once again this year the Saginaw Valley League North is jam packed with talented teams in boys varsity basketball. Not only are the teams talented as a whole, but a lot of teams have star players. So far the conference play has been competitive and rigorous and will continue to be all year.
Midland High: Last year’s Class A district champions are off to a strong start this year with a record of 3-1 including wins over Bay City Western, Traverse City West and Saginaw Heritage. The Chemics as a team have had a lot of success on offense averaging 45 points a game. Leading the team in scoring thus far has been senior point guard Will Williams. Williams has already scored 70 points this season and has scored at least 11 points in each game. MHS has also been solid on the defensive end only allowing their opponents to score more than 42 points once this season.
Midland Dow: After dropping their opening game of the year to Flushing, the Dow Chargers have bounced back nicely and currently have a record of 4-2. Even though the Chargers don’t have any returning starters from last year’s team they are having no trouble on the offensive end. The Chargers have a very balanced attack on offense. They have had four different players lead the team scoring in each game this year. Coming on strong for the Chargers has been senior Evan Marquardt. He has led the team in scoring the last three games and has scored a total of 54 points in that span. While Dow has excelled on the offensive end their defense has struggled at times allowing the other team to score on average 49.5 points a game.
“We have some new members to the team and it took some time to see how we play with each other but I think we are starting to figure it out” senior Austin Deiters said.
Mount Pleasant: The Oilers are off to a terrific start this year with a record of 4-1. While the Oilers have dropped a game this season they remain undefeated in the SVL with wins over MHS, Saginaw Arthur Hill and BCC. Mount Pleasant has a very dynamic offense and so far scored on averaged 61.8 points per game. One reason why Mount Pleasant’s offense is so successful has been because of the play of senior forward Jaleel Hogan. Hogan has already had three double- doubles this year and has scored a team high 82 points along with 51 rebounds.
Saginaw High: After winning their first three games of the year the Saginaw High Trojans have lost their last three games and are 3-3 on the season. All of the Trojans victories have been against SVL North opponents and their average margin of victory in those three games was 42 points. On offense the Trojans have two primer scorers in point guard senior Keyon Addison who has scored 65 points this season and Algevon Eichelberger who has netted 64 points. Eichelberger is also very good on defense and is number one on the team in rebounding with 61 boards.
Arthur Hill: The l Lumberjacks are off to another great start this year and currently have a record of 3-1 with its only defeat coming on the road at Mount Pleasant. Arthur Hill got off to a very fast start this year crushing BCC 100-14 in its season opener. Scoring a majority of the team’s points this year has been junior Eric Davis. Davis, a 6’3 shooting guard, has been the catalyst on offense scoring in the double digits in each game this year, as well as putting up a total of 92 points on the year.
Saginaw Heritage: Saginaw Heritage picked up its first victory of the year in their last game versus Linden improving their overall record to 1-3. The Hawks have yet to win a game versus an SVL opponent and have really struggled on offense when facing a team in their own conference. Saginaw Heritage has only scored an average of 34 points on offense in their three losses. Their struggles on offense in those three games has also extended to the defensive side of the floor as well as the Hawks are giving up on average 57 points a game. One of the only bright spots on the Hawks offense has been sophomore Quinn Erway. Erway has scored in the double figures in each of the last three games and also led the team in scoring in those games.
Bay City Central: The Wolves are currently tied for last in the SVL North standings and have an overall record of 0-5. BCC has only had one game where their margin of lose was in the single digits. In the three conference games they have played their average margin of defeat has been 58.3 points. BCC has struggled to stop anybody on offense and have given up an average of 69.6 points a game. Along with a bad defense BCC has put up a lot of points on the offensive end only averaging 30.8 points per game including only scoring 14 points total against Saginaw Arthur Hill.
Bay City Western: Winning their last game the Warriors improved their overall record to 2-3 on the year. All three of BCW’s losses have been against SVL teams including Arthur Hill, MHS and DHS. Even though they have struggled scoring against SVL teams they have had a different player lead them in scoring in each of their conferences games. BCW has struggled on defense as well, especially in conference play. In conference play, the Warriors are giving up on average 61.6 points a game.
