Vile racial slur brings high school basketball game to abrupt halt as… — and more

A high school basketball game in Michigan came to an abrupt halt earlier this month as a student spectator yelled a racial slur at an African-American player as he attempted a free throw.

The first quarter belonged to Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. The second quarter belonged to Karl-Anthony Towns. And OG Anunoby put the finishing touches on the Knicks‘ best performance since the All-Star break–a 127-98 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) on Friday.

Hart scored 10 points in the game’s opening five minutes against a Doc Rivers defensive scheme that ignored him behind the three-point line, and Brunson pounced after his teammate lit it up from deep to start the game.

The Knicks’ captain scored 22 points in the opening period and finished the night with 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field and four-of-six shooting from three-point range to go with seven rebounds and three assists.

The performance marked Brunson’s 10th career 20-point quarter, all 10 coming with the Knicks.

The Knicks completed their three-game road trip with a 2-1 record following Sunday’s victory over the Chicago Bulls and Tuesday’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. And after scoring just 94 points in a miserable shooting performance against the Cavs, the Knicks were clicking on all cylinders when the ball found the bottom of the net on Friday.

“Probably just ball movement and then shoot with confidence. we made shots today,” Anunoby said in his walk-off interview after the game. “That’s how it goes: Sometimes you miss some shots. Next thing you know, you make them. That’s how it goes, but just taking the right shots [and] moving the ball.”

The Knicks scored 77 points in the first half, tied for the second-most a first half of the season. They shot six-of-nine from deep in the first quarter, 7-of-13 in the second and four-of-eight from downtown in the decisive third quarter. All five Knicks starters scored in double figures for the 15th time on the season.

Towns finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds and scored 12 points on four-of-five shooting in the second quarter alone. Anunoby hit five 3s for 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field against the Bucks, and Landry Shamet came off the bench to hit another five 3s for 15 points. Anunoby scored 15 points in the third quarter alone to help weather a Bucks second-half run.

“Just knowing they’re a great team coming out,” said Anunoby. “Trying to get stops and just play fast and play in transition.”

The Knicks made 17 of their first 30 attempts from deep on Friday and finished the night 21-of-41 from downtown for their second-most 3-pointers in a game of the season.

They shot just 10-of-37 from deep in Tuesday’s loss to the Cavaliers, 12-of-31 in their narrow, two-point victory over the Houston Rockets, and 8-of-35 in the 15-point loss to the Detroit Pistons without centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart.

“Any game you win is big time. Winning in the NBA is very hard so we never take it for granted but the momentum going back home to protect home court,” said Anunoby. “It’s cool but we play again on Sunday, so I’m just ready for the next game.”

Former Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner scored a Bucks team-high 19 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field, and Kyle Kuzma added 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but the Knicks held Milwaukee’s offensive stars–Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins–to a combined 24 points. Porter Jr. shot 4-of-12 from the field but finished with 10 assists.

Doc Rivers emptied his bench with just under six minutes left in the fourth quarter and his team down 32. Shortly after, the Bucks crowd erupted as Mike Brown called second-year guard Tyler Kolek to the scorer’s table. Kolek, a Marquette product, turned the ball over on his first possession but finished with three points in five minutes.

The Knicks picked up a much-needed team over a Bucks team with a losing record.

Next up, the Knicks host Victor Wembanyama and the Western Conference’s No. 2 seeded San Antonio Spurs.

DELTA TWP. — Repeating as state champions is the primary objective for Kingston Thomas and the East Lansing boys basketball team.

And the Trojans took a big step toward that mission on Friday, Feb. 27.

East Lansing got big games from KJ Torbert, DeQuarius Stewart and Thomas while capturing a Division 1 district championship with a 92-78 victory over Waverly.

The CAAC Blue champion Trojans (23-1) beat CAAC Blue runner-up Waverly for a third time this season while advancing to face Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in a regional semifinal Tuesday, March 3, at Loy Norrix. 

"We're taking one game at a time and every game is our state championship game," Thomas said. "We're coming down and trying our hardest and just taking care of what we've got to do each game. Obviously, beating them, a rival, for a third time, it's great. It's great."

Torbert finished with 30 points and four steals, Thomas had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Stewart had 20 points and 10 rebounds while contributing to the Trojans winning a sixth straight district title. Tyree Anthony was also in double figures scoring for East Lansing with 13 points.

"We always set four goals and this was our second goal," East Lansing coach Ray Mitchell said. "We want to win the district, right? You've got to win your area first. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. We knew it was going to be a tight game. We're very excited for that. We want to win the conference and then the district and we've got a couple more things we want to try to accomplish."

The Trojans used a dominant opening half while capturing their latest district title. East Lansing made eight 3-pointers in the first half while owning a 51-24 lead at halftime.

"We had to come into their gym and just jump out on them early," Torbert said.

Waverly (18-6) made a push in the second half and pulled within 10 with 4:29 remaining. The Warriors never got any closer while having their season ended by East Lansing in the state tournament for a sixth straight year.

Derek Thomas II had 22 of his team-high 29 points in the second half and Cayden Ali finished with 13 points to lead Waverly.

Contact Brian Calloway at [email protected]. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing basketball adds to district title streak, tops Waverly