Sumner’s hot hand paces Champion win

By Jon Moffett

HOWLAND — Champion’s Derek Sumner’s pulse didn’t elevate throughout the game, but there was nothing wrong with his heart.

“Derek has no fear,” said Champion coach Dan Bubon. “His pulse never goes above a resting level, sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad. But the last two games he’s hit really big shots.”

The 5-foot-10 senior led the Golden Flashes (10-12, 5-5) to a 56-52 victory over Maplewood in the Division III sectional tournament Thursday.

“I was just trying to get my team fired up,” Sumner said.

Sumner finished with a game-high 14 points, including a dozen from 3-point range. It seemed as if Sumner couldn’t miss in the first half, sinking four of his first five attempts from beyond the arc.

“There was good passing from my teammates and they cleared the way for me,” he said. “I just had to knock down the shots. It’s my senior year and I don’t want to let my teammates down.”

The Golden Flashes handed the Rockets (19-2) their second loss of the year. The first came at Maplewood against the same Champion team.

“Somewhere along the line we’re going to beat those guys,” Maplewood coach Matt Urcheck said of Champion. “Somewhere down the road we’ll get them.”

Champion started the pressure early behind the sharp shooting of Sumner and were 7-for-14 from 3-point range. Sumner said the deep ball is his favorite part of the game.

“I’ve always loved the big shot and I always want the ball in my hands when the clock is winding down,” he said. “I just love having the big moment and I want to take the shot.”

While Champion was flashing shots from deep, the Rockets 3-point game fizzled. The team was 0-for-14 from that range. Urcheck said not having a deep shot was critical in the loss.

“That’s the difference in the ball game, I think,” he said. “We usually make a few threes a game; we’ve got some kids who can shoot it ... We usually have a pretty balanced scoring attack inside and out, but outside wasn’t there tonight.”

Maplewood was led by juniors Alex Doneyko and Dan Wagner and senior Sean Zekkour, who finished with 13, 10 and 10 points, respectively.

Urcheck said letting Sumner get hot was dangerous and was a difference in the game.

“He got a couple of open looks, but I thought we were there and he just did a great job of making shots,” he said. “When you come out shooting like that, anybody is going to be in a hole.”

Bubon said beating a good Maplewood team was an impressive feat for his team, considering the talent across the floor.

“Maplewood is a tremendous team,” Bubon said. ‘First of all, the job Coach Urchek did was unbelievable. He lost nine seniors [from] last year and went 19-1. I’ve never heard of that in my life. That is unreal. We lost four seniors from a 17-win team and won eight this year.”

Champion will play LaBrae on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Vikings (13-8, 5-5) defeated Brookfield 62-37 on Thursday to advance.

LaBrae was led by 6-foot-3 junior Steve Woodyard, who had a game-high 20 points. Woodyard also had four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Behind him was senior Bryan Watkins, who finished with 10 points.

Brookfield was led by junior Anthony Umberti with 13 points and senior Greg Hunkus, who had 11.

jmoffett@vindy.com