Mott Community College women’s basketball coach Ryan Trevithick participated in his first Bruin Club Classic basketball game on April 16. Mott men’s coach Steve Schmidt has participated in all 35 of them. Collectively, they organized an evening that showcased the absolute best of Flint area basketball.
“It’s hard to do anything for 35 years, but the games have been really good, and we’ve had incredible talent play over the years,” Schmidt said.
The Bruin Club Classic is an annual tradition as a way to honor the top senior high school basketball players in the area. Proceeds from the game support Mott Community College athletics programs.
“ Man, this is just one small piece of, for me, what it means to coach at Mott,” Trevithick said. “There’s so much rich tradition and history in Flint basketball, so the fact that you’re part of a lineage like this, it’s really awesome.”
Selected players for each game are divided into ‘Black’ and ‘Gold’ rosters and coached by local high school coaches. Schmidt and Trevithick were both highly impressed with how coaches quickly adapted to their rosters and delivered quality games this year. In the men’s game, International Academy of Flint coaches Kevin Crosby and Lance Adams led team Gold to a thrilling 108-107 overtime win over team Black, coached by Bendle’s Tim Bunch and Joshua McManaman. In the women’s game, Goodrich coach Jason Gray led team Black to a 61-50 win over team Gold, coached by Davison’s Lauhnna McMahan.
“The unsung heroes are the coaches,” Schmidt said. It’s not easy to coach all-star games. And I thought they did a great job giving everyone an opportunity.”
A Historically Good Men’s Game
With less than two minutes remaining in the men’s game and team Black up three points, team Gold got a key stop and had the ball back with a chance to tie. Swartz Creek’s Isaiah Spencer stepped out of bounds, though, giving the ball back to Black.
Crosby immediately hopped up off the bench and encouraged Spencer, saying repeatedly, “It’s okay, just get it back.”
That message resonated. Just a few seconds later after another defensive stop, Spencer nailed a three to force overtime. Then, in the extra five minutes, he scored seven of his 14 points to help Gold pull out a 108-107 win.
“In all the years of doing this, and with all of the talent we’ve had, that was probably one of the top two or three games we’ve ever had,” Schmidt said. “You gotta give these kids credit. They looked good. I wanted them to go all night, there’s not a better way to spend a Thursday night. It was student athletes playing with passion, having fun. I’m just really impressed.”
It was so impressive, Schmidt even called an audible on naming the game’s MVPs. Typically, one player from each team is selected. However, both teams had so many standout performances, Schmidt awarded two players from each team.
From team Black, Flint Elite’s Jeffrey Turner (21 points) and Powers Catholic’s Andrew Caldwell (19 points) each received the honor. From team Gold, Carman-Ainsworth’s Kendreyas White (game-high 29 points) and Grand Blanc’s Geo Cannon (25 points) shared the award. For White, the performance was extra special because he’s committed to play at Mott next season, so he gave fans a glimpse of the talent he’s bringing to Ballenger Fieldhouse and Steve Schmidt Gymnasium in the near future.
“It was a great experience, I was just real comfortable with the group,” White said.
That was a theme of the game. All-star games can sometimes be sloppy or disjointed, but even players who didn’t know each other that well quickly adapted, shared the ball, and defended well.
“I actually gelled with the guys really quick,” Caldwell said. “I had only met one of them before, which was Cooper (Boike). I used to play AAU with him, but everyone was super cool. Everyone was super positive and just a good teammate. So this was awesome. Nobody was taking plays off. That definitely made it a lot more fun.”
Caldwell also had the unique perspective of being somewhat of an outsider. He began his high school career at Clarkston before transferring to Powers the last two seasons.
“I’m like, not originally from here,” he said. “So to come here and get a recognition like this in a historical basketball city and such a storied game is definitely meaningful for sure.”
Ray Neither, a Flushing standout who is also an incoming Mott player next season, has a reputation as a physical, tough player, and was excited that everyone on the court played that style.
“It was a cool experience,” Neither said. “It was fun playing with them boys, because they’re all dogs and they like to work. I like that we all came together to play hard.”
Team Gold: Kendreyas White (Carman-Ainsworth) 29 points; Geo Cannon (Grand Blanc) 25 points; Isaiah Spencer (Swartz Creek) 14 points; Cortez Porter (Davison) 13 points; Trey Johnson (LakeVille) 12 points; Miles Washington (Goodrich) 8 points; Aiden Tipton (Kearsley) 6 points; Brandon Jackson (International Academy) 1 point
Team Black: Jeffrey Turner (Flint Elite) 21 points; Andrew Caldwell (Powers Catholic) 19 points; Cooper Boike (Genesee Christian) 18 points; Bryson Evans (Kearsley) 16 points; Ray Neither (Flushing) 11 points; Dei’on Wright (Flint Elite) 9 points; Madix Kinzie (Flushing) 8 points; Caleb Bingham (Bendle) 5 points
A Duel of All-Time Greats in the Women’s Game
It’s impossible to oversell the impact on local girls’ basketball that Powers Catholic’s Kendyl Smith and Genesee’s Averie Zinn have had in their high school careers. Smith, a finalist for Ms. Basketball, is the all-time leading scorer in Powers basketball (boys’ or girls’) history, and is one of just eight girls’ basketball players in MHSAA history to have more than 1,500 points and 500 assists in her high school career.
And in an interesting Mott connection, as Smith poured in a game-high 25 points for team Black in their win, Schmidt pointed out that Smith’s father, Kevin Smith, played for him at Mott for a season.
Zinn also has her own Mott connection as her older sister Ryleigh played for Mott last season. The Zinn family has put Genesee basketball on the map over multiple generations, and Averie averaged well over 30 points per game as a senior and is one of just 34 players in MHSAA history to score more than 2,000 points in her high school career.
Zinn scored 16 in the head-to-head matchup with Smith, as the two were named MVPs of their respective teams.
The makeup of the rosters also made for an interesting dynamic. Powers Catholic and Goodrich have had several intense games over the years, but in the Bruin Classic, Smith and Paige Ringwelski of Powers got to be teammates with Goodrich’s Kayla Hairston, Tanner Schramm, and Ceanna Wilson.
“It was a lot of fun,” Smith said. “We talked about how this isn’t an all-star game, this is a game for us to take seriously. And I think we did that. It was super cool to play with Paige again, for sure, one last time. And then obviously the Goodrich girls we’ve competed with since my freshman year, getting to actually play with them and not have to guard them was super cool.”
Smith had an additional meaningful moment: Trevithick, who is also her high school coach at Powers, was able to present her with the MVP trophy.
“It was so cool,” she said. “I mean, he put on a great thing today and a great showcase for all of us.”
Ringwelski was also excited to close out her high school career by playing in front of a Flint area crowd in Flint.
“It’s just a real honor to be able to play with and against these amazing future collegiate players,” Ringwelski said. “And I am happy that I got to represent the whole area in basketball for one last time.”
Team Black: Kendyl Smith (Powers Catholic) 25 points; Kayla Hairston (Goodrich) 13 points; Paige Ringwelski (Powers Catholic) 10 points; Maddie White (Lapeer) 8 points; Tanner Schramm (Goodrich) 5 points; Ceanna Wilson (Goodrich); Danica Dwyer (Owosso)
Team Gold: Averie Zinn (Genesee) 16 points; Danielle Smoots-Green (Flint Elite) 11 points; Park Liggins (Grand Blanc) 10 points; Ella Mangett (Davison) 8 points; Savannah Rice (Davison) 2 points; Sammi Beller (Davison) 3 points; Rachel Steinacker (Corunna) 2 points; Gracie TerMeer (Corunna)
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to catch up on all of our headlines every Tuesday.
