By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
MILFORD — The Clarkston Boys Varsity Basketball team closed out the season against Grand Blanc in the MHSAA Division 1 Regional 7 semifinal on March 5, 47-32.
“We ran into a good Grand Blanc team,” said Tim Wasilk, head coach for the Wolves. “They are really athletic. They are long. They forced a lot of turnovers on us which did not help our cause. It’s hard to win when we had that many turnovers, and we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well either. From three-point range, we were 1-for-17. It’s tough to win games when you shoot like that. A combo of not taking care of the basketball and poor shooting got us.
Credit to Grand Blanc, they are a good team and well coached. Some of it was on us but some of it was on what they did. It just wasn’t our night.”
Sophomore Hayden Flavin led the night with ten points and sophomore Cole Charter had nine points.
Clarkston finished the season with an overall record 14-12 and 3-9 in the OAA Red.
“We started out 6-2,” said Wasilk “We had a tough middle stretch in the season. We had a great district run, winning three games last week in five days.
Our kids got better. We only had two kids who plays last year for us with big time game experience.”
He added there was a lot of growth in the young team, especially in the league.
“Our conference is one of the toughest in the state,” Wasilk said. “It’s great we play in it because it gets us ready for playoffs, and we play really good basketball teams. To be the best, you have to play the best. I think our kids realize that. Even though we took some lumps in the OAA Red this year it has definitely helped us in the long run. We will continue to get better. We already have kids getting back into the gym. We are excited about the future of our program.”
Clarkston graduates four seniors – Aidan Barnes, Peyton Fitzsimonds, Matthew Pflieger and Matthew Taverna. Pflieger was a three-year player on varsity while Barnes, Fitzsimonds and Taverna were on the team for two years.
“Tough kids,” said Wasilk. “They were all business when they came to practice, which was great. It set a good example for the younger kids on what needs to be done on a daily basis, not on the court but off the court as well. They did a great job.”
He added there are a lot of players returning to the team next season as well as a lot of players coming up. The Clarkston Boys JV Basketball team finished their season 17-5 and the freshman team was undefeated.
“We have a pretty strong classes coming up,” Wasilk. “Whenever you can get multiple kids within a class hat are pretty good basketball players it definitely helps the program. Then, when you have back-to-back classes that are pretty good definitely in the long run it’ll help out. We had four sophomores on varsity this year and three played extensively throughout the course of the year. It helps strengthen our program. During off season, they make themselves better and make their team better. I look forward to see what comes in the future.”

  Boys Basketball, Clarkston Athletics