ROYAL OAK — Taking a school trip to New York City is a great opportunity, a memory-maker and a way to get the adrenaline flowing. But it also can also pose a great distraction when it comes to the routine of a sports team.
That’s what Royal Oak Shrine’s boys basketball team was up against for the first round of the Catholic League championship tournament. Although 71 members of the school’s performing arts department were excited to travel to the Big Apple for a weekend of singing and sight-seeing, the school’s basketball squad had to come up with a different arrangement while playing Ann Arbor Greenhills.
Second-seeded Shrine moved up its game to Wednesday, Feb. 4 — three days ahead of the other schools in the field — as five of its players (three starters) might have missed the contest if played as scheduled.
Then there was the matter of coach Mike Maryanski keeping his players focused on the task at hand, as the game was mere hours before the school choirs were set to embark via airplane.
But once Shrine’s ballplayers settled in, they were able to turn back Greenhills, 51-30, and advance into next week’s St. Anne Division semi-finals.
“It’s always about the next opponent, next opponent. We knew New York was after this game, so we wanted to stay concentrated on this game,” said senior starter Jack Tisko, who contributed nine points in the win. “We’ve got four days off in New York now? We were just thinking about after all this is said and done, did we want to be disappointed with a loss, or enjoy our win in New York?”
Shrine (11-5, 8-2 Intersectional-1) had already defeated seventh-seed Greenhills (4-13, 1-9) twice this season, including a 69-31 runaway win when the two teams met at Shrine back on Dec. 12.
But Wednesday, the upset-minded Gryphons only trailed Shrine by two points at halftime, 22-20, keeping things close with three-point shots by Ronan Patel, Dylan Shear and J.J. Staebler. That provided the Knights with a wake-up call.
“At halftime we said, ‘That’s not us,’” said Owen Wieniewski (10 points), another choir member. “We just had to do what we do best, and we came out and locked down on defense, and we started scoring. Mostly, our game is just playing defense. We didn’t do it well in the first half. But we held them to two points in the third quarter — that’s great defense. That’s what we do best.”
From that point, it was Greenhills who was singing the blues. The Knights kept the Gryphons off the scoreboard for the first four minutes of the third quarter, and they repeated that feat for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, pulling away and building a lead as large as 25 points.
“Those first three minutes of the third quarter are very important and really decides the game,” Tisko said. “If you come out strong and you come out fast, that really sets the pace. If you come out flat, you’re down for the rest of the game. We came out strong in those first three minutes. That really shows that when we put our minds to it, we can be a good team.”
“It came down to just motivating them to play hard and play smart and play the defense that we play, and just frazzle the other team,” Maryanski said. “That’s what we did eventually, but they were just going through the motions in the first half — they needed to play with some more passion and fire and aggression. I think we saw that in the second half.”
Greenhills coach Thomas Staton said his team had been playing better ball over the back half of the regular season, but seemed to be out of rhythm Wednesday.
“Today we just kind of got caught up in the simple things — we were playing so hard that we weren’t playing smart enough,” he said. “We weren’t executing and doing things like that. That ended up being the detriment. When you’re scoring three points in 12 minutes, it’s tough to come back.”
Shrine will take on the winner of Saturday’s Clarkston Everest Collegiate-Allen Park Cabrini game in the semifinal next Tuesday (Feb. 10) at Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, with the semifinal winners playing for the championship at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at the O’Rena at Oakland University.
That’s just one of six championship tournaments the Catholic League will oversee this month. Here’s a capsule look at all six:
CHSL Basketball Tournament at a glance
BISHOP DIVISION – BOYS
- Playoffs begin: Feb. 7 at Marian High School
- Championship game: 7:30 p.m., Feb. 13 at the O’Rena, Oakland University
- 2024-25 result: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 58, University of Detroit Jesuit 57
- Top seed: Detroit Catholic Central (6-1)
BISHOP DIVISION – GIRLS
- Playoffs begin: Feb. 6, semi-finals played at the top-seeded schools
- Championship game: 6 p.m., Feb. 13 at the O’Rena, Oakland University
- 2024-25 result: Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard 48, Toledo Central Catholic 31`
- Top seeds: Jackson Lumen Christi (East) (7-1), Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (West) (8-0)
CARDINAL DIVISION – BOYS
- Playoffs begin: Feb. 7 at Brother Rice High School
- Championship game: 7:30 p.m., Feb. 14 at the O’Rena, Oakland University
- 2024-25 result: Riverview Gabriel Richard 82, Jackson Lumen Christi 48
- Top seed: Dearborn Divine Child (11-1)
CARDINAL DIVISION – GIRLS
- Playoffs begin: To be announced
- Championship game: 8 p.m. Feb. 21 at Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena, Madonna University
- 2024-25 result: Wixom St. Catherine of Siena 67, Allen Park Cabrini 41
- Top seed: St. Catherine of Siena (7-0)
ST. ANNE DIVISION – BOYS
- Playoffs begin: Feb. 7 at Brother Rice High School* (*Ann Arbor Greenhills at Royal Oak Shrine played on Feb. 4)
- Championship game: 7:30 p.m., Feb. 14 at the O’Rena, Oakland University
- 2024-25 result: Clarkston Everest Collegiate 63, Grosse Pte. Woods University-Liggett 48
- Top seed: University-Liggett (9-1)
ST. ANNE DIVISION – GIRLS
- Playoffs begin: To be announced
- Championship game: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 21 at Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena, Madonna University
- 2024-25 result: Clarkston Everest Collegiate 41, Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett 20
- Top seeds: Everest (Intersectional-1) (6-0), Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (Intersectional-2) (4-0)
