St. Joe, Lakeshore, KC, Mattawan all on collision course in MHSAA District

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The 2023 MHSAA District Tournaments are still about a month away, but as we play out the final month of the season, some teams are already becoming clear contenders in the boys division 1 tournament

Division 13 at Loy Norrix

Kalamazoo Central

Kalamazoo Loy Norrix

Lakeshore

Mattawan

Portage Central

Portage Northern

St. Joseph

The boys district was realigned again this year and gone is Sturgis and back in comes Kalamazoo Central and Loy Norrix.     Obviously Kalamazoo Central is and should be a clear cut favorite to win this tournament.  After all the Maroon Giants already have at least one win against every other team in the district, with the exception of Portage Northern, whom they play on Tuesday.

But it would be hard to count out Mattawan, St. Joe, and Loy Norrix as well.  Mattawan lost their first game of the season to the Maroon Giants about a week ago.     St. Joe lost to Kalamazoo Central in the second week of the season.  The week before that loss the Bears lost a close game at Battle Creek Central 43-40.  St. Joe then beat that same Battle Creek Central team 77-47 last week at the Bear Den.  St. Joe and Mattawan have yet to play each other this season as the Christmas blizzard caused that game to be moved to February 22nd.  They are schedule to meet next Thursday in St. Joe.  Additionally, St. Joe is the defending champion in this district and you can bet St. Joe wants to have another trophy in their possession.

Mattawan is another strong contender, and it’s hard to say otherwise as they are 15-1 on the year.  The Wildcats only loss was the aforementioned loss to Kalamazoo Central.   Mattawan already has swept the season series with Portage Northern. Also winning their meetings with Loy Norrix, Portage Central, and Lakeshore.

The 2022-23 season started our poorly for Lakeshore, the Lancers dropped their first three games to Portage Central, Battle Creek Central and St. Joe, and they just got back to the .500 mark on Monday with a win over Dowagiac.   Lakeshore’s season could likely go in either direction, depending on what happens on Friday night, when Lakeshore travels to St. Joe in the second of the two meetings this year.  A season sweep or a season split.   You can expected another full house in the Bear Den. You can hear the game on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM with Joel Cordes starting just after 7:00.