Clarkston vs Flint Carman Ainsworth Preview.

Written Sunday March 18th at 5:10 PM

The Clarkston Wolves are the only team left standing in the Boys Basketball State playoffs in the OAA. The defending State Champions will play the Flint Carman Ainsworth Cavaliers for the second time in the State Quarterfinals on Tuesday at Grand Blanc.

The Wolves beat the Cavaliers earlier in the season 72-67 on December 7th at Clarkston.

Flint Carman Ainsworth won the Saginaw Valley League this season and had to go through a tough district and regional to this point. The Cavaliers come in with a 22-2 record with their losses to Clarkston and Holland West Ottawa. Flint Carman Ainsworth beat Grand Blanc 68-66 at home in the district final. The Cavaliers would go on the road to Davison where they beat the Cardinals 72-48 in the regional semifinal and then they went to Mount Pleasant where Flint Carman Ainsworth blew out Traverse City West 61-38 getting their first regional since 2004.

Flint Carman Ainsworth is a deep and talented team. They are led by their football and basketball standout Mike Fletcher. Fletcher is a power forward that had the winning shot against Grand Blanc and has been a dominant in the tournament thus far. He had a big game against Clarkston the last time these two teams played on December 7th. The next player is forward Omari Duncan, he has had some big games this season including 17 points against Traverse City West. The guards are solid as well for coach Jay Witham's team starting with Jayden Nunn. Nunn had 13 points in their win over Davison in the regional semifinal. The other guard is J'Kevon Lewis whom was the MVP of the Saginaw Valley League and has had big games. The Cavaliers have the complete package with their solid two guards and two big, not to mention a deep bench as well.

Lets look more at this matchup.

Guards

This is an interesting matchup between Foster Loyer and CJ Robinson vs J'Kevon Lewis and Jayden Nunn. Loyer and Robinson are scoring first guards. Lewis and Nunn are also scoring first guards. It will come down to wills in this one but right now I would take Loyer and Robinson. ADVANTAGE: CLARKSTON.

Bigs

Lets see this matchup I would have thought about giving the advantage to Taylor Currie, Nick Wells, and Chase Waslik but Omari Duncan and Mike Fletcher are physical bigs and Duncan and Fletcher are more than capable of having big games. The way Duncan and Fletcher are playing, it's hard for me to trust the tandem of Waslik, Wells, and Currie over the Cavaliers bigs. ADVANTAGE: FLINT CARMAN AINSWORTH.

Bench

The bench clearly favors the Cavaliers because they use their bench more despite Clarkston is a deep team. Flint Carman Ainsworth can bring Dustin Fletcher and Chris Ballard off the bench among others. The Wolves did not go to their bench at all in their game against Orchard Lake St. Marys in their regional final win even though Clarkston will have Desmond Mills-Bradley and Hank Schimmel. Until Wolves coach Dan Fife trusts his bench, advantage Cavaliers. ADVANTAGE: FLINT CARMAN AINSWORTH.

Coaching

This is an interesting coaching matchup between Dan Fife and Jay Witham. Fife has won 700 games in his coaching career and a State Championship under his belt while Witham has had successful seasons for Flint Carman Ainsworth. This coaching matchup favors the Wolves here. ADVANTAGE: CLARKSTON.

Prediction

This will be close like the game at Clarkston. I think Flint Carman Ainsworth has really improved since the last time they played the Wolves. I don't trust Clarkston's bench in this one. The Cavaliers will be ready for this one as mentioned in Duncan's interview with ESPN 100.9 FM's Brad Tunney after their win over Traverse City West at Mount Pleasent. I think Loyer will be creative and find a way to save Clarkston in this game. PICK: CLARKSTON.