By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Clarkston Boys Varsity Basketball fans cheered as senior Cavanaugh Diton made a basket to end the tie with Old Redford Academy with 30 seconds left on the clock in the Wolves’ home opener last Thursday.
The Ravens attempted a 3-point shot and it bounced out. Junior Desman Stephens caught the rebound.
With 8.3 seconds remaining, Stephens was sent to the free throw line for two shots. He made the first one, putting the score 52-49.
Old Redford made one final shot as the buzzer sounded, with the ball missing its mark and the Wolves taking the win.
“It was a good toughness win,” said Tim Wasilk, head coach. “That’s as much as you can grind out a game as you can.”
He added Old Redford is a pretty good team.
“They lost to Oak Park by a few points then they beat Troy Athens the other day. They have good guards, good shooters that penetrate,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a tough match up tonight. We didn’t play our best offensively by any means, and we still found a way to win. It’s encouraging this early in the season. We have a long way to go for sure.”

The Ravens opened the game with a 3-pointer and a basket to grab the lead.
Diton hit both of his free throw attempts with 3:42 left in the first quarter to put the Wolves one point behind Old Redford, 7-6.
Junior Brody Kosin followed it shooting a basket after a pass from Stephens to put Clarkston into the lead by one point.
Senior Brayden Wiley was next to score with a 3-pointer putting the score, 11-7.
The Ravens caught up with one minute left in the quarter and had a 15-12 lead by the time the buzzer sounded. They held onto the lead throughout the second quarter and finished the first half with a 31-27 lead.
“We were really out of sync offensively,” said Wasilk. “They pressured pretty well. We struggled a little bit to find some continuity. I think we were a little tired from Tuesday night as well. We spent a lot of energy at Lake Orion, had a tough practice yesterday and then played today. We were really good tonight when we went inside. We kept preaching that all game then we started going inside and getting a lot of good inside out action. That’s where we need to be good if we want to be successful.”
Clarkston opened the second half with two points from Wiley and a 3-pointer from sophomore John Kaul. Wiley and Kaul also closed the quarter with two points each to give the Wolves a 41-38 lead going into the last stanza.
Old Redford started the fourth quarter with four points to take the lead after ending the third three points behind Clarkston.
A basket from Kosin as well as a basket and one-point shot from Stephens put the Wolves up 46-44 with five minutes remaining. Kaul added to the lead with a 3-pointer to further the lead by five points.
Kaul had 16 points with three 3-pointers. Kosin had 11 points and Stephens had nine points.
“Brody did a really good job of going inside out,” said Wasilk. “John had some big shots with three 3s. I was really proud of Desman,” said Wasilk. “He struggled from the free throw line on Tuesday and he came out tonight and hit three in the second half which was huge and a few down the stretch.”
He added they made some defensive plays which helped.
“We held them to 49 points which is pretty good but at the same time we still made some mistakes,” Wasilk said. “The last two possessions they got two really good 3-point looks and it’s just communicating on screens and switching those. We are making some mental mistakes. We did that Tuesday as well. We’ve got some new guys, new goals and we are trying to figure things out. Once the game slows down for them a little bit and they start to understand those things defensively and offensively it’s going to be a lot better for us.”
Clarkston opened the week with a 38-35 win over Lake Orion on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Kaul led with 14 points and had four rebounds. Stephens scored ten points and had ten rebounds, four assists and four steals. Wiley scored seven points. Kosin had six rebounds and scored four points.
The Wolves opened this week against Birmingham Groves.
They host Flint Carman Ainsworth this Friday at the Dan Fife Fieldhouse. JV plays at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.
The Wolves host Utica Eisenhower. The varsity team plays at 5:30 p.m. The alumni game begins at 7 p.m.

  Boys Basketball