June 9, 2022 at 9:47 a.m.
Smith's layup leads to Border Bash win
RHS grad helps Northern Wisconsin past Northern Michigan 89-88
Smith's layup leads to Border Bash win
Smith made a driving layup with 22 seconds remaining as the Northern Wisconsin All-Stars erased an 18-point second half deficit and beat Northern Michigan 89-88 at Gogebic Community College.
Smith finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in the game and played a key role down the stretch as Northern Wisconsin rallied from down six with 3:45 remaining.
His last-minute layup gave Northern Wisconsin its first lead since the final seconds of the second quarter and it held up as the game winner when Jaden Borseth of Ewen-Trout Creek missed a contested 3 at the buzzer.
"(My defender) gave me a little bit of an opening and he had some length on me. Once I got past him, I just kind to had to veer him off a little a bit and I used the rim to protect," Smith said. "It was a lot of fun with these dudes, a lot of fun."
Borseth picked Smith's pocket and drove in a layup that broke an 83-all tie with 2:25 remaining, but Smith answered and had a hand in the final six points for Northern Wisconsin.
He made another driving layup that tied the game at 85 with 2:13 remaining. Following a Cooper Conway 3 that put Northern Michigan back up 88-85, Smith lobbed one up for 6-10 Denmark forward Donovan Short, a UW-Green Bay recruit, for an alley-oop to bring Northern Wisconsin back to within one.
Both teams missed 3s before Smith's go-ahead drive.
At a couple of points, it looked like the Northern Michigan squad - which featured five players from MHSAA Division 3 and 4 state runner-up squads Menominee and Ewen-Trout Creek - was going to run away with a game that included some of the top senior players from the northern half of Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Northern Michigan raced out to a 26-9 lead after one quarter, but Northern Wisconsin answered with a 21-1 run, capped by a Smith layup, to take a 30-27 lead. Smith then hit a 3 to put Wisconsin up 34-31 before Northern Michigan closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 38-36 lead at the break.
Iola-Scandinavia's Parker Prahl tied the game at 38 on the first possession of the third quarter, but Northern Michigan responded with a 22-4 run capped by a 3 from Menominee's Brady Schultz to go up 60-42 with 6:44 left in the quarter. Northern Wisconsin chipped away to make it a 65-53 deficit following the third of four 13-minute quarters.
"That was the most fun. We had to fight for something," Smith said. "Usually in all-star games you just kind of screwing around, but we came in the fourth quarter, we knew we were down and we had to come back. We gave it our all and did it. It was fun."
Northern Wisconsin kept inching closer and finally drew level on a three-point play by Hurley's Braxton Sbraggia with 5:01 remaining.
Jeffers' Johnny Schutz tried to pour water on the comeback bid, converting an and-1 with 4:09 left before splashing a triple on the next Northern Michigan possession make it 83-77.
Short finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for Northern Wisconsin to take home game MVP honors. Sbraggia (14 points), Laona/Wabeno's Connor Taylor (12), Prahl (11) and Smith (11) all finished in double digits for the Wisconsin All-Stars.
"Playing with (Short), that's going to Green Bay, he's really good," Smith said. "It's been really good because I actually played AAU with a couple of these dudes when I was little so to be able to play with them again was awesome. This whole thing was really cool. It was a lot of fun."
Schultz and Schutz each had 19 to lead Northern Michigan while Borseth had 13, Menominee's Aiden Bellisle had 12 and Ewen-Trout Creek's Kelsey Jilek added 10.
This is one of two all-star games this month for Smith, a first-team All-Great Northern Conference selection and UW-Superior recruit. He will play in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association D2 boys' All-Star Game in Wisconsin Dells June 30.
"It was kind of nice to get a little bit of experience with it before that one," Smith said. "That one's the big one, all the best dudes around the state. It was a lot of help (playing tonight) and I'm looking forward to that one a lot."
Smith is still raising money for that contest, with proceeds going to the MACC (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) Fund.
To support Smith by making a donation, visit wisbca.org/allstar-game and visit his fundraising page on the Boys' D2 Red roster.
"Basically just keep raising money for kids, childhood cancer. It's a really cool event," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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