Lansing Eastern High School and the Don Johnson Fieldhouse was the location for the 2008 Mustang Showdown.  Michigan’s elite players showcased their skills in the three day event with a field of 50 teams that were spread out over three age divisions.  Teams came from Michigan, Ohio, Canada, and even a team from Los Angeles, CA flew in.

17-under

The big boys spent Friday and Saturday battling through pool play.  On Sunday the top two teams from each division advanced to the playoffs.  The Michigan Mustangs overwhelmed their pool by winning all three games by more than 30 points.  Other pool winners were the Central All-Stars and the Los Angeles Stars. 

Pool “A” took most of the attention as Team Detroit, Reach Legends, Common Bond, and the Detroit Fire battled it out.  Team Detroit and the Detroit Fire advanced into the playoffs while Reach was on the outside looking in, Reach featured guards Dion Sims (OLSM) and Keith Appling (Pershing) but the star-duo couldn’t produce enough magic.

Detroit Fire overcame the Central All-Stars in one semi-final while the Stangs topped Team Detroit in the other semi-final.  The Team Detroit/Mustang match-up was one to see as Trey Ziegler (Mt. Pleasant) single handily kept Detroit around.  With the score close late in the game Drew Valentine (Lansing Sexton) and Duke Mondy (Grand Rapids C.C.) took over, by hitting some big shots, to help the Stangs advance.

The 17-u championship game was hard fought as both the Mustangs and the Fire wanted bragging rights.  Fire was able to keep the game close with the guard tandem of K’allante Miller (Oak Park) and Sam Burton (Det. Central).  The Mustangs just wore down the Fire with their depth, but credit the Fire because they never went away.  The Mustangs continuously built the lead to 10+ points but every time the Fire cut it back to single digits. 

Doug Anderson (K-Zoo Central) also stole the championship spotlight with an array of powerhouse dunks.  11 of Anderson’s 12 field goals in the final game were dunks and his performance was good enough to award him the MVP trophy.          

16-under

The Mustang 15-u team decided to play in the 16-u division and the talented team still found easy success by beating Team Detroit and the Detroit Stars by 20+ points.  The Mustangs got their usual play from the starting five but guard Ray Tillman and 6-8 center Darren Washington gave the Stangs big minutes off of the bench.    

The 16-u Mustangs weren’t going to be outdone by their younger brothers, as they won their first four games by 30+ points.  The 16-u Stangs got solid guard play out of Dedo Jackson (Buena Vista) and Sultan “Showtime” Mohammad (Grand Rapids C.C.), while LaDonte Henton (Lansing Eastern) and Jon Horford (Grand Ledge) handled the inside work.   

Unfortunately for both Mustang teams, their runs were stopped by a very good CBIZ team.  CBIZ was able to slow the ball down and hit some big 3-pointers as they beat the 15-u Stangs in the quarter-final and the 16-u Stangs in the semi-final. 

CBIZ was led by Nick Kellogg, son of Clark Kellogg, and 6-7 wing Eric Lefeld.  CBIZ met up with the Detroit Fire in the 16-u championship game and cruised to a 30 point victory.           

15-under

When looking at the 15-u division you could tell it would come down to Common Bond and the Detroit Fire.  The two matched up in the championship game with Common Bond surviving a back and forth game.  Wing AJ Mathews looked good for Common Bond as he took home the MVP honors.  Team Basketball and the Ohio Gators also looked solid in the 15-u field but both were bounced in the semi-final.