HSBB: Emoni Bates, Julian Lewis shine in regular season finale
The Huron River Rats defeated the Lincoln Railsplitters and top ranked sophomore Emoni Bates on Tuesday, March 3 at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, MI. Bates had a game-high 31 points in the loss, while Julian Lewis led Huron with 20 points and six rebounds. Huron improves to 19-1 with the victory while Lincoln falls to 16-3. The two programs could meet next week in the districts championship game if both teams win their matchups earlier in the week. Lincoln is looking for their second consecutive state title. Here are my five takeaways from Huron’s recent win.
1. Emoni Bates has improved his first step and rebounding since last year: Bates, who is the top ranked sophomore in the country, has gotten even better since his stellar freshman season. Despite Lincoln’s loss to Huron on Tuesday night, it’s clear that Bates’ first step has gotten even quicker. Even though he shot poorly in the first half, Bates was continuously getting to the rim and scored his first eight points from the line. He was also able to finish in the paint a lot in the second half, including a pair of impressive floaters and scoops. He compiled 31 points.
2. Julian Lewis has D-1 potential: Huron’s junior forward Lewis is back from a wrist injury, which caused him to miss multiple games, and he’s looking as good as ever. Lewis dropped 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in the 64-54 win over Lincoln, as he was getting what he wanted over and over. Lewis has a great jab step and once he’s in the paint, he is extremely patient and can score through or around defenders. If Lewis continues improving as he heads into his senior campaign, he could start making noise at the D-1 level.
3. Mike Robinson makes Huron a dangerous team to watch in the postseason: Robinson was one of the players that I was most impressed with from Tuesday night and he’s improved a lot since the last time I saw him. Robinson finished with a versatile 12 points, five assists, and five rebounds, including a smooth looking step back 3-pointer to give his team a 40-29 lead late in the third. I still think Robinson needs to get better at taking over a game, and just being aggressive overall on offense, but he has a ton of skill and is only going to get better.
4. Lincoln needs someone else to step up: Bates is obviously the best player on Lincoln but he isn’t the only one with high level talent. Other guys like DeCorion Temple, Jayden Lewis, and Tate Mackenzie have shown the ability to make major impacts on both ends of the floor and none of the three were overly impactful in the recent loss. Temple had a few good moments, including scoring the first four points for Lincoln and an and-one in the second half, but Lewis and Mackenzie were unable to get it going on offense at all. That meant Bates had to create and Huron was ready.
5. Kingsley Perkins is an elite perimeter defender: The thing that makes Huron a potentially state championship-winning team is their ability to switch ball screens at all five positions. Kingsley is the guy that makes the difference. He can guard almost anyone on the court because of his length and quickness, and he showed that versus Lewis, Mackenzie, and Temple. No matter who he was defending, he was going to make it hard to get to the rim or find an open shot from outside and was a huge reason why Huron pulled off the victory. Kingsley had three blocks.
Photo Credit: USA Today.
