Emerging star Grezak propels Northville’s torrid 1st-place surge
Northville junior forward Brody Grezak shoots over Salem’s Nye Turner during the first half of Friday’s KLAA West Division game.
Northville’s interim boys basketball coach Sean Turner is grateful he is in a position to design plays for 6-foot-7 junior Brody Grezak, not come up with ways to stop him.
“Brody is so dynamic,” said Turner, moments after Grezak’s 23-point effort led the Mustangs to a 60-47 victory over Salem. “He’s too quick for most big guys and too big for most guards, so it creates a mismatch problem. From a defensive perspective, I’d always think about how tough it would be to match up against him.”
Now 13-5 overall, Northville is tied atop the KLAA West Division with Novi as both teams share 9-2 records with three division games remaining.
The Mustangs are 6-1 since Turner took over for Todd Sander in mid-January.
‘Trust’ is key
“Slowly but surely, the guys have started to trust each other and trust our stuff,” said Turner, who has been a member of Sander’s staff for 18 years. “They’re coming together and playing together the second half of the season.
“Defensively, we were a little down tonight, but offensively we did a great job of moving the ball, which is a huge key for us.”
The Rocks (5-13 overall, 1-10 in the division) rolled to an early 16-9 lead as they limited Grezak to three points in the first quarter.
However, the Mustangs’ go-to guy started to roll in the second quarter, scoring eight points to help the visitors seize a 26-21 halftime advantage. Northville never trailed after Ryan Young’s and-one put it up 19-17 3:31 before the intermission.
Inside/outside threat
Grezak finished with four three-point buckets.
“Last summer I started focusing on becoming more physical and more aggressive,” Grezak said following Friday’s game. “I’m attacking more on offense. I worked on my shot during the off-season and I’m more confident shooting the three now.”
Grezak was far from a one-man show for the Mustangs. Nate-Isiah Imbuzeiro added 13 points, Marcus Hudson scored nine, while Young and Simon Sondreal both netted seven points.
Sophomore Mitch Paspal was phenomenal for the Rocks, scoring 22. Nye Turner added 10 and Ezekiel Chinyadza had eight.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
