Jere Bey, A.K.A. "Swami"

Usually, the final days of the high school basketball season have the feeling of spring being in the air. On this day, it seems as if we should turn the tables, the beginning of the season and winter is just beginning. Judging by the looks outside on this Wednesday morning that is very true. The inability to look across Long Lake is very depressing. With the prediction of more snow throughout the weekend is even more concerning. Swami should close the blinds and close his eyes remembering the beginning of round ball season and working his way up to this point.

There was way more good moments and highlight reels, then a foot of snow can detour. Yes, the snow will melt and go away. But the memories of this past basketball season will not. All Swami has to do is rewind his memory bank and the snow will come to an end, with spring being on its way shortly. With that said, the All-Knowing-One says thank you to all the area athletes that made this season memorable and they will not be forgotten. On with this week’s picks and hopefully weeks to come……

Petoskey (16-3) at Alpena (3-16) – (Girls) – 7:00 p.m. – Friday – Alpena would really like to pull a rabbit out of the hat with an upset of Big North leader Petoskey. There is a lot on the line; the Northmen are currently sitting a game ahead of Sault Ste. Marie. With tonight’s game being the final conference game, a win and Petoskey walk away champions. In the first head-to-head competition Petoskey walked away with an easy win. The Wildcats have been very competitive for at least a half of the games played so far. Only having an eight-player rotation, makes it rough when going up against teams that continually apply pressure in the form of a press. It seems that after every made basket pressing makes it hard to establish a flow to the game for the Wildcats. Don’t get Swami wrong; it is not for the intensity, but primarily freshmen going up against teams that have mostly three years of experience on you, makes it hard. By the same token, the Wildcats have come a long way from the beginning of the season. Game experience and situations on both offense and defense have the young Wildcats growing up in the heat of battle.

Petoskey pulled out a win against Traverse City West vaulting them into first place with a Soo loss. What the race comes down to is the final two conference games. A Tuesday night affair against Traverse City Central and tonight’s game against the Wildcats. A win against the Trojans assures them of share. The Northmen can have a variety of leading scorers on any given night. Elaina Flynn and Layla Janes have produced the most. Another feather in their cap, Petoskey has won six straight by an average of twenty points.

Swami says the Wildcats will leave nothing on the court, as they have an all-out desire to put a W up on the board in an upset win. But a lot depends on the start for the Wildcats and the overall play of the Northmen.

Swami Sez: Petoskey 64, Alpena 52.

Bellaire (6-14) at Posen (14-4) – (Boys) – 7:00 p.m. – Thursday – One last tuneup for both Bellaire and Posen before the start of tournament play. The Vikings assured themselves of at least a share of the North Star Little Dipper crown, with a win over Fairview.

The Vikings will close out the regular season with games against Burt Lake Northern Christian and Bellaire tonight.

Bellaire tournament opponent will be Alba on Monday. Posen’s district opener will be Wednesday at the Rogers City district with the opponent unknown at news time. The proof that the Vikings have earned a top spot in the conference was with three wins in three consecutive nights. During that period of time, Posen’s play centered around Gavin Keller with three 20 plus scoring nights. But the Vikings could not have come up with the wins, without the scoring from Luke Chonjacki, Omar Perex and Colton Paull all scoring in double digits. Swami says there is all those not regularly mentioned that make it a team effort, whether it be a steal, assist or scoring those valuable points to cement wins. Blaine Rondeau and Alex Soik have been there all season long. There could be one stumbling block before the game against Bellaire, that would be Burt Lake Northern Christian, who has played teams that will make noise in the playoffs, providing the Comets with the losses they have accumulated.

The Eagles have been paced by two young cagers Colton Bennetts and Corperryale Somers, who have provided the scoring punch for Bellaire.

Swami Sez: Posen 74, Bellaire 48.

Alpena (9-11) at Petoskey (13-7) – (Boys) – 7:00 p.m. – Thursday – Alpena was looking to end the season on a high note, but to do that the Wildcats had to put together a winning streak with their final home game against Cadillac, then short road trip to Hillman and finish up with the Northmen. This was a tall task; the Wildcats dropped a tight 56-52 game on Cadillac’s home court. But the Vikings did not leave anything to chance, on senior night. Carter Green, Lucas Thomson and Asher Vaneffen were all honored before the game, for all the hard work, effort that they had to put for playing Wildcat basketball for four years. Swami has to say in those four years, he has seen nothing but a very fine work ethic and smiles, during all situations when they appeared on the floor. In the loss to the Vikings, Bryton Nostrant was the only Wildcat to reach double digits with 25.

Next up was a contest with Hillman, but at the time of writing this article, it did not appear the weather was going to cooperate. Friday night, rings down the curtain on the 2025-26 boy’s season. With that said, it would make the Wildcats season, with an upset win over Petoskey. Also with a win, the Wildcats could place themselves in the middle of the Big North Conference standings. This will be a challenge especially since the first meeting between these two on Alpena’s home court did not go well. It was a game that did not go well from the opening tap and only got worse as time went on. The Northmen were hoping to end the season on a winning streak, but the Traverse City Trojans had other ideas. Now could this be the break the Wildcats needed to post an upset win. Time will tell, in order to do so, Alpena has to play an almost perfect 32 minutes, with minimal turnovers. The Wildcats did not get any break in the district as well, travelling back to Petoskey on Monday to play this Northmen team.

Swami Sez: Petoskey 60, Alpena 47.

Hillman (5-13) at Au Gres (15-2) – (Girls) – 6:00 p.m. – Thursday – This has been a week that Hillman was not really looking forward to. Playing fourth rank Mio, then facing fifteenth ranked Au Gres this evening, both games on the road, before the final three at home to round out the season. The Tigers’ last outing against Atlanta was a back-and-forth affair, before the Huskies took a one-point win. Madelyn Oswald led the Tigers with an outstanding overall game, 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists in the loss. Hillman also had major contributions from Maci Klein, Abigail Oswald and Brook Linseman.

Au Gres has a two game lead in the Little Dipper Division of the North Star League after splitting back-to-back games against Mio.

Sophie Fox is the leader in not only scoring average, but has led the way in rebounding. Analeis Ming and Charlotte Ming have also come up with huge double-digit games. The Wolverines also have scoring depth in the form of Kendall Ososki, Adelaide Bauer and Stephanie Long. On any given night, the Wolverines can rely on a big night from any one or two of this group.

Hillman can play this game in one of two ways, either erase the disastrous loss to the fourth ranked Mio Thunderbolts, or to go out and play their best game of the season. Swami feels the Tigers will restore the roar, but it still remains to be seen if it will hold up for the entire contest.

Swami Sez: Au Gres 58, Hillman 40.