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Thursday, March 1, 2017 | BataviasBest.org
Tomorrow night at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, the Pembroke Boys Basketball team will look to cap-off their undefeated season with a win in the Section V Class C1 Championship game. Here is a brief preview of tomorrow night’s game:
#1 Northstar Christian (22-1) vs #2 Pembroke (22-0)
Friday, March 2nd, 2018 – 5:00 pm @ Blue Cross Arena
How They Got Here
Northstar Christian
– Beat #16 North Rose-Wolcott in pre-Quarterfinals 88-24
– Beat #8 East Rochester in Quarterfinals 99-69
– Beat #5 Marcus Whitman in Semifinals 66-42
Pembroke
– Beat #15 Holley in the pre-Quarterfinals 59-37
– Beat #7 Gananda in the Quarterfinals 67-58
– Beat #6 Avon in the Semifinals 65-50
Key Players
Northstar Christian
Northstar team photo via Section V Boys Basketball website.
Miles Brown (5’9″, Junior): Miles averages 30.6 points per game. He’s scored over 40 points several times this season, and is an electrifying off-the-dribble player, who does a lot of his scoring from inside the three-point line.
Trayveon Roberts (5’9″, Senior): Tray transfered to Northstar Christian after spending his freshman season at Wheatland-Chili, and since then has been a solid contributor for his team. He can score from inside, but is a also major three-point threat.
Matthew Medeiros (6’10”, Senior): Matt is one of the Knights’ top-three-point shooters, and against the Pembroke help side defense, I expect there will be plenty of opportunities for Medeiros in this game. He averages 13 points per game on the season.
Michael Brown (5’9″, Junior): Mike averages just over 12 points per game, and is another talented scorer for this team.
Pembroke
Pembroke team photo via Section V Boys Basketball website.
Reid Miano (6’4″, Senior): Reid has the capability to score from the outside, while also being able to put it on the floor and get to the basket. He averages 15 points per game for the Dragons, and serves as their primary offensive threat.
Lucas Kohorst (6’1″, Senior): Lucas averages 12 points per game for Pembroke, and is a major factor in their transition game. His ability to run the floor and score on the break has been big for this team all year. He can also hit the three.
Jamil Marable Jr. (5’10”, Senior): Jamil is the Dragons’ floor general. He has done a solid job setting the pace for his team all season, while averaging 11 points per game. He is also one of the team’s top-defenders.
Zach von Kramer (6’1″, Senior): Zach von Kramer is the emotional leader of this team, with a competitive edge which is difficult for opponents to match. He is a force on both ends, and averages 10 points per game.
Ethan Stone (6’5″, Senior): Ethan has really come on strong this season. He gives his team an interior option offensively, and has also done a solid job defending the other team’s big guy throughout the season.
Game Outlook
Despite many around Section V giving the Dragons no chance to win this game, Pembroke is ready to pull the upset. They just played one of their best games of the year in the semifinals, and have proven that they are capable of winning big games against good teams.
However, if they are going to shock the world on Friday night, it surely won’t be easy to pull off.
The Knights come into the Class C1 Finals as a top-ten Section V team, and have recorded wins over Class D1 Finalist Clyde-Savannah, A2 semifinalist Leadership Academy, AA’s Bishop Kearney, and Section IV AA’s Corning-Painted Post to name a few.
Miles Brown, the team’s leading-scorer, is probably the most-exciting player in Section V Boys Basketball this year, with more than a couple 40-point performances during the regular season. He has already eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for his career – and he is ONLY A JUNIOR (no typo). That’s simply unheard of.
With all that being said, I truly believe Pembroke will have as good a chance as any Section V team to knock off the Knights. The Dragons’ man-to-man defense, and the effort which they put forth on that end of the floor rivals that of any squad in the section, and I expect their defensive style to be a major factor when it comes to deciding this contest.
Although, despite it being one of the Dragons’ strengths, something to watch out for is how the Pembroke’s style will play into the hands of the Northstar shooters – who will have numerous chances to knock down open three-pointers in this game.
That in my mind will be the X-factor in this one: whether or not the Knights three-point shooters knock down their open shots.
Brown will get his points, that’s a given. Pembroke just can’t let him run wild for 40.
On the other hand, something which the Dragons can control in this game will be the production from Northstar’s secondary scorers – who do most of their work from the three-point line. Closing out on the weak side will be extremely important for Pembroke tomorrow night.
Defensively for Northstar they’ll have to place their focus all over the floor as the Dragons come at you in waves. They don’t have a scorer who averages more than 15 points per game, but have several players who are capable of going off for 20+. Miano, Kohorst, Marable Jr., and von Kramer have all eclipsed that mark on more than one occasion throughout the past couple of years.
Prediction
In the end, although Northstar is my pick to win the game, I expect this one to be more-competitive than many think.
Northstar 62 Pembroke 56 FINAL
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Tune in on Twitter beginning at 5:00 pm tomorrow night for LIVE updates from the action.
Other articles you may like:
Section V Boys Basketball – 2017-2018 Tournament Semifinal Update
Section V Boys Basketball – 2017-2018 Tournament Quarterfinal Update
