Tuesday Will be the Biggest Game in Hazel Park Boys Basketball History.

Written Saturday January 27th at 10:05 PM

Hazel Park has not really had a true basketball tradition.

Tuesday night will be the biggest game in school history in the small gym that makes up Hazel Park High School.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Vikings were in the Gold struggling to develop an identity where it only won one game five seasons ago.

A lot of the credit of the Vikings turnaround goes to the players that have paved the way for this program to shine in Carl Bow, David Hearns, Kyle Washington, Julian Jones, Khari Adams, Malik Allen, Maurice Jones, and Devin Pettus.

These players are the reason why Hazel Park is where they are at and why they sit unbeaten at 11-0 heading into their major showdown on Tuesday against Clarkston.

Bow, Pettis, and Hearns are very talented and athletic guards. They can score in a variety of ways, play defense, and control the game. Washington, Jones, Allen, Jones, and Adams are all wings or in the post. They can score, defend, and rebound.

Hazel Park only has 10 players on their team but they all get significant playing time.

Brendan Barrett is the Vikings head coach in his fifth year gives credit to these six players for developing the program and the culture in Hazel Park.

In their first season together, Hazel Park had some growing pains but the next year they went 18-4 winning the Gold crown.

It would be a prelude for the next season.

The Vikings went up two divisions from the Gold to the White. They finished 18-5, sharing the league with Troy. Hazel Park won a district title for the first time since 1965 on its home floor. However the Vikings fell to Detroit Collegiate Prep in the Regional Semifinals last season.

This season, the Vikings moved up a class from Class B to Class A and moved up to the Red which they would see the likes of Clarkston, West Bloomfield, and Troy. All of those teams went deep into the postseason with the Wolves winning the State Crown last season.

Hazel Park has played a vicious non conference schedule which included wins over Detroit Pershing (72-58), Detroit Henry Ford (60-57), Detroit Edison (62-56), Detroit East English Village Prep (86-72), and Detroit University of Detroit Jesuit (74-63.)

Detroit East English Village Prep gave Clarkston it’s only loss of the season 80-71 at North Farmington.

The Vikings will be in a tough district that will be at Detroit Renaissance. It will include Oak Park, Berkley, Detroit Renaissance, Detroit University Detroit Jesuit, and Warren Fitzgerald.

Clarkston and Hazel Park met last season at Clarkston with the Wolves winning 66-46. The Vikings had numerous injuries in the matchup and couldn’t keep up with Clarkston's depth and athleticism.

The Vikings believe this time around things will be different with Clarkston having to travel down Interstate 75 to Nine Mile and then to 23400 Hughes Avenue in Hazel Park for Tuesday’s matchup.

Then comes the problem, Clarkston travels very well.

This could be Hazel Park’s masterpiece to the puzzle if they can beat the Wolves at home to control the Red and become the unanimous top team in the State.

Clarkston though has had a history of beating upstart teams.

The Wolves are no pushover as the Vikings know well because Clarkston features the two things that can get Hazel Park into deep trouble, depth and height. As mentioned earlier, the Vikings have only has 10 players on it's team which could spark the word foul trouble. The Wolves have plenty of height and depth led by Wisconsin bound Taylor Currie and that's not mentioning the other bigs in Chase Wasilk, Hank Schimel, Matt Nicholson, Garrett Dellinger, and Tristen Mysen. That's not even mentioning the guards led by Michigan State recruit Foster Loyer along with defensive stopper CJ Robinson, and Nick Wells. 

And that's not mentioning Dan Fife, whom is Clarkston's legendary head coach.

What will happen inside what will be a packed Hazel Park’s gym will be a completion of the Vikings program that went from struggling bottom feeder to becoming one of the top teams in the State and playing a powerhouse program with the division title likely on the line.

These two teams will also meet on March 1st at Clarkston.

Tuesday will be the biggest game in Hazel Park’s history and they would like to send a message that they belong in that State title discussion.