ABT runs past Suttons Bay

East Lansing - The Suttons Bay Norsemen have seen speed from their opponents before, they've just never seen speed like the Melvindale AB&T Gators possess. The Gators' guards senior Michael Talley III and junior Marcel Smith were able to push the tempo and lead the Gators to a 59-43 win to take home the Class C Championship.

"We always want to go out and be the aggressors," said Gators coach Michael Talley Jr. "We want to be the ones to dictate the tempo, we don't want to sit back."

Speed helped the Gators control the game as they outscored the Norsemen 12-2 on fast break points and their speed helped cause 12 turnovers which the Gators converted into 15 points. With Suttons Bay unable to contain the Gators' guards, ABT scored 38 points in the paint.

The Gators jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as Marcel Smith got things going offensively scoring 7 of the Gators first 11 points. Smith would go on to finish the game with 16 points and 3 assists.

In the first half the Gators defense was suffocating as they held the Norsemen to 14 points, 9 in the first quarter and 5 in the second. The Gators weren't allowing any easy baskets constantly forcing the Norsemen into settling for outside, contested jumpers. In doing so the Norsemen shot 21 percent and went into the half with more turnovers (8) than made shots (6) and trailed 29-14.

The first half was dominated by Gators senior forward Yakimi Noble who contributed 11 points, 7 rebounds including 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks. Noble's size, speed and strength were just too much for the Norsemen to handle as he would lead all scorers with 19 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds (9 offensive) and had 4 blocks.

"We just tried to come out and set the tone," said senior Yakimi Noble. "We went out there and left it all on the floor."

Gators senior guard Michael Talley III had himself a great final game of his high school career finishing with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Talley III is set to play at Duquesne University next year. "It was motivation really, it stayed on the back of our minds and we wanted to prove last year wasn't a fluke," said guard Michael Talley III on last year's vacated Championship.

"It was more fulfilling to win it as a coach," said Talley Jr. "Coaching was harder than it was winning as a player. There's more work involved and as a player I played with a lot of All-Americans. I also looked at it as a blessing to be able to coach my son."

The Gators defense shut down the Norsemen's best player junior forward Dwuan Anderson, who scored 16 points on 7 for 24 shooting but he did pull down 12 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. Anderson lacked offensive support as the next leading scorer only had 6 points.

"They got after us pretty good today," said Norsemen coach Todd Hursey. "We tried to attack their pressure with a guy in the middle but that's easier said than done. We've seen speed like this in the summer but we didn't see anything like this in the regular season."

Melvindale AB&T has to be considered a heavy favorite to return to the Breslin Center next year. Even though they're losing seniors Michael Talley III and Yakimi Noble they return 12 players and 3 starters including Marcel Smith who is going to be counted on to be the leader that Talley III and Noble were.

"I'm extremely proud of our two seniors first and foremost," said Talley Jr. "They were our catalyst along with Marcel they really got us going. These guys understood what winning was all about."