By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — The Clarkston Boys Freshman Basketball continued the streak of an undefeated season started by the team before them as this year’s Wolves went 22-0 this winter.
“It’s a bit hard to comprehend having two different teams go undefeated in two consecutive seasons like this,” said Jack Cunningham, head coach. “Certainly both teams had to stay healthy for the most part by avoiding key injuries or illness. Both teams achieved that same success, but yet were completely different in their identities and some of their talents. You can’t have success like that without having talented players and both of these teams certainly had that.”
The Wolves wrapped the season with a 59-36 win over White Lake Lakeland, Feb. 20.
Cunningham shared there were many highlights throughout the season including beating a talented Grand Blanc team twice with the first time at the beginning of the season on Dec. 9, 79-67; and a month later on Jan. 8, 63-54.

“North Farmington also had us on the ropes late towards the end of season on the road,” Cunningham said about the 55-41 win on Feb. 4. “Our guys responded by locking down on defense and going on to score the last 11 points of the game in less than two minutes.”
He added it was a close match up when the Wolves played Avondale for the second time in the season on Feb. 13.
“A talented, well-prepared Avondale team had us down early on the road,” Cunningham said. “Our guys just kept battling like they always do and got a big stop to secure a close victory that went down to the very last possession.”
Clarkston finished the game with a 45-41 win.
He shared the players put in effort every day to improve throughout the season.
“I believe all of our opponents look forward to playing us and always give one of their best efforts of the season,” he said. “We play all of our league opponents twice and that second time can even be more of challenge. They may have that extra motivation, and don’t want to lose to us twice. They have usually improved as the season progresses. We also have to improve and work on getting better every day in practice. This team definitely took that to heart and put in that effort to improve every day.”
The Wolves finished the OAA Red as league champions with a 12-0 record.
Cunningham shared the league will prepare the players for the future.
“The OAA Red is simply one of the top leagues in the state with some of the top programs,” he said, adding the talent filters down to the JV and freshman levels for a lot of the teams in the league. “We always tend to see a lot of pressure and some good shooting teams at times which should help these kids know what to expect as they look to move up to the higher levels over the next few years.”
The year’s Clarkston Boys Freshman Basketball team included Connor Bessert, Ryan Ceo, Andrew Davidson, Troy Davis, Parker Foust, Chase Gladwish, Liam Gushen, Miles Mahaffy, Bennett Malys, Grady Malys, Wyatt O’Halloran, Braydon Oguin, Joseph Stubner, Aidan Thierry and Lincoln Weidenback with Cunningham as head coach and Brad Conley as assistant coach.
“This group was some of the toughest competitors who just had that refuse to lose attitude and were willing to work together to come out on top,” Cunningham shared. “They always played hard and competed together on every possession regardless of what the score was. It’s going to be fun to see what this group of kids can achieve during their time as high school student athletes.”
He added the support parents, fans and community is appreciated.
“I can’t imagine a better place to coach than Clarkston. It truly is a privilege. The passion and support we get from our community and parents is like nowhere else,” Cunningham shared. “We have fans that have been coming to our varsity games for years, and at times they will come out to watch and support our JV and freshman teams in a lot of our sports.
“The foundation that Coach Dan Fife laid many years ago lives on through McGrath Basketball and summer Fife camps and our coaching staff from high school varsity all the way down through the middle school works so well together,” he added. “It certainly helps to have all this community support and a great staff to work with that creates such a solid foundation for our kids.”

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