Moore leads West Bloomfield over Southfield Christian

WEST BLOOMFIELD >> Break out the umbrellas and rain slickers.

Donavan Moore has taken the state of Michigan by storm on the hardwood. Jalen Kelso can bring quite a bit of thunder too.

The pair of West Bloomfield guards piloted the Lakers attack Friday night in the team’s decisive 83-65 upending of small-school powerhouse Southfield Christian. The win evens 2017 Class A final four-participant West Bloomfield’s record at 6-6.

PHOTO GALLERY FROM WEST BLOOMFIELD VS. SOUTHFIELD CHRISTIAN

Moore, who just got eligible last month due to a transfer from Illinois, followed up a 40-point performance earlier in the week with a 31-point effort Friday to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. He’s the grandson of former Lakers boys and girls hoops coach Larry Moore, a star player himself at Detroit Cass Tech back in the 1960s.

“We started strong and played fast,” said the 6-foot-3 junior southpaw of Friday’s outing. “That was team basketball. Our intensity and defensive pressure was the difference.”

West Bloomfield led 50-34 at halftime and 67-50 after three quarters, making it a long night for Southfield Christian (10-3), the No. 1 club in the state in Class D. In the first half alone, Moore went for 21 points and threw down five slam dunks, one on an alley-oop and another on a tip jam.

Kelso, a senior transfer from Walled Lake Northern, came two steals away from registering a quadruple double. The pesky combo guard stuffed his stat sheet with 19 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds and eight swipes.

“This is probably the best 6-6 team in the state,” said Lakers head coach Jeremy Denha, whose squad has lost four of their games in the final moments. “We really put things together tonight.”

Denha credited all-conference senior guard Tre Harvey for sacrificing his offensive totals and making the move to the point guard slot as a major reason things were clicking Friday in front of the home crowd.

“The game plan was executed and our offense ran as smoothly as it did because of Tre,” he said. “He’s still one of the top outside shooters in the state, but we needed to shift some things around and he didn’t hesitate in embracing the change.”

Last year, Southfield Christian blew out West Bloomfield on the Eagles’ home floor. Both teams advanced into the state semifinals in their respective classes in 2017.

Junior Harlond Beverly hung a team-high 19 points to highlight Southfield Christian’s evening.

“There were just too many turnovers early on our end and they (West Bloomfield) took us out of what we wanted to do,” Eagles head coach Josh Baker said. “They were getting breakaways and we were taking bad shots. We got into a hole and we were chasing them all night.”