"
S 5 R S
Summertime Hoops
The Detroit Maccabi basketball team
is getting ready for a tough
tournament in Chicago
Sports Writer
1
111 he basketball competi-
tion promises to be stiff
in Chicago this August,
so Detroit's Maccabi bas-
ketball squad has begun
scrimmaging area teams in prepara-
tion for the North American Mac-
cabiah Youth Games. The round-
ballers have met Southfield-Lathrup
and Southfield Christian's summer
teams and will pick up more scrim-
mages as other high schools begin
their summer programs.
"They're showing signs of im-
provement," says head coach Burt
Hurshe. "It's tough when you've got
a tournament team. They all come
from different programs. So we try to
blend in as a team."
Hurshe, in his third year as the
basketball coach, is assisted by Doug
Hoffman and Jack Front. Hurshe
uses the contacts he makes as a high
school and college referee to line up
his team's scrimmages.
The team's top five players, accor-
ding to Hurshe, include 6-foot-4 center
Darin Frank, a sophomore at Bloom-
field Hills Andover last season. The
forwards are Hurshe's son, Joey, a
sophomore at Brighton, and Andover
junior Brad Rosenberg. The off guard
is North Farmington soph Jamie
Stewart. Rounding out the backcourt
is the point guard and team leader,
Matt Hoffman, a sophomore and All-
County player from North Farm-
ington. Andover's Adam Shapiro will
likely be the sixth man. Other key
players off the bench include Dave
Hubert, Mike Lilov, Matt Frankel,
Ben Pinsky and Jeff Rosenberg.
Hurshe is careful not to stack his
lineup with players who will not be
eligible to return next year. "I try not
to just take five 16-year-old kids.
Since it's a tournament team I like to
not have to start every year — or
whoever takes over if I leave — not to
start over from scratch every year. Off
last year's team — it wasn't a
phenomenal team, but we did O.K. —
I've got Shapiro, Hurshe, Hoffman. A
nucleus to start with every year?'
While Hurshe says the team will
not rely on one style of play, it is clear
that with Hoffman running the show
the team will be capable of playing a
Bob McKeown
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Matt Hoffman drives the lane as Jamie Stewart and coach Burt Hurshe watch.
Tauber Joins In Seaholm Victory March
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
H
e was not a starter, but
Birmingham Seaholm
junior Jay Tauber was
a part of an impressive
seven-game streak
which gave the Maples the state Class
A baseball title.
Tauber, a backup second baseman
and shortstop, describes the Maples'
performance as "incredible. At the
beginning of the season we knew we
had a good team, a lot of talent. But
it just never dawned on us that we
could play so well together and go so
far?'
Seaholm, which finished 22-5,
was unranked entering the tourney.
They met second-ranked Southfield-
Lathrup in their pre-district contest
and trailed 2-0 in the seventh inning.
The Maples rallied for three runs and
a 3-2 win, setting the tone for their
tournament run. They won their first
five tournament games in their last
at bat.
62
FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1988
"Just by beating Southfield-
Lathrup, that just got us up and real-
ly started the whole thing;' says
Tauber. "That just pumped us up
enough to really put our heads
together and concentrate on getting
out there and playing our best?'
"The kids weren't to be denied;'
says coach Don Sackett, adding,
"They all pulled for each other. They
worked hard and they believed in
themselves. Emotion had a lot to do
with it:'
If emotion had a lot to do with
Seaholm's success, then the bench
deserves a share of their credit.
Tauber, who played behind a pair of
returning senior lettermen, sup-
ported the team in any way he could,
although he saw no post-season
action.
"Our bench and our fans . . . it
was not like we just sat there, we real-
ly helped 'em out. We all really got
fired up. Any good plays we would just
go out there and cheer 'ern on and
really help 'ern to play well:'
After beating Lathrup, Seaholm
scored twice in the seventh to beat
Birmingham Brother Rice in the
district opener, 2-1. The Maples won
the district by scoring a run in the
seventh in a 3-2 victory over Troy.
Seaholm trailed East Detroit 6-2
in the sixth inning of their regional
opener, but tallied four times in the
sixth and once in the seventh to win,
7-6. They were down 6-5 in the
seventh against Warren Mott, with
two outs, no one on base and two
strikes on the hitter. But Seaholm
tied the game on two walks and a
single, then exploded for seven runs
in the eighth for a 13-6 win.
The Maples took early leads in
both games last weekend. In the state
semi-final game on June 17, Seaholm
beat Port Huron, 7-2. They won the
championship with an 11-9 victory
over Taylor Kennedy on Saturday.
Tauber's favorite moments of the
tourney came on Saturday. "The end
of the Kennedy game, the last pop up
to left field, and all of us running out
there and dousing the coach with the
water cooler. And the fans came run-
ning out of the stands — friends of
ours — came running out on the field
to cheer us on. It was just great. Then
later on lining up to get our trophy
and medals!'
Next year, as Seaholm defends its
title, Tauber will likely be a starter.
"He's got a good shot at second base,"
says Sackett, adding, "He's very ag-
gressive, enthusiastic. A real team
player. He doesn't hang his head or
anything. He didn't get to play much,
but he kept up his enthusiasm and
cheered on the other guys and con-
tributed in practices?'
Tauber calls this season a learn-
ing year. "It was just more or less lear-
ning about team unity;' he explains.
"Getting experience from it really
helped me out. I think it'll help me
out for next year . . . We (back-ups) got
a lot out of the season. Not just from
the regular season, but really from
the last seven games of the state
finals, the tournament. It'll really
help us out for next year?" ❑