Shorthanded Ferndale Team No Match For Mumford

WARREN – It wasn’t the fairy tale ending the Ferndale boys varsity basketball team was hoping for. 

The Eagles season ended on Wednesday night with an ugly 67-41 loss to Detroit Mumford in the district semifinals at Warren Lincoln.

Ferndale was without its coach Tom Staton, senior guard Joe Baker and junior Willie Harvey, . Jordan Guinn was also out for the third consecutive game with an ankle injury.

Without its coach and three best players, the Eagles couldn’t keep pace with the Mustangs. Mumford didn’t waste anytime in the second half turning a 23-23 game into a laugher.

Ferndale only scored four points in a quarter filled with miscommunications on offense and defense. The Eagles turned the ball over on the first three possessions of the second half and Mumford’s star point guard Terry Starks scored four of his 23 points in the opening minute.

“We had those three straight turnovers, that hurt us,” assistant coach Herb Goliday said, who coached the team in Staton's absence. “On top of that with Jordan Guinn being hurt, with the other two guys being out, you lose your top three scorers. It’s tough to create offense out there.”

And it was. No matter what lineup Ferndale had on the floor, the team struggled shooting the ball and didn’t hit many shots outside of the paint. Guinn and Baker were the Eagles best outside shooters this season and nobody could fill that void.

Starting point guard Anthony Rice didn’t score in the final 16 minutes after scoring eight points in the first half. Forward Nate Stepney stepped into the starting lineup on Wednesday and didn’t have much luck on offense either.

Goliday admitted the suspensions prior to the game threw a wrench in Ferndale’s game plan.

“It was a curveball,” he said. “It made things tough.”

It didn’t help that Mumford is one of the more disciplined, well-coached teams in the area. They worked the ball around on offense and rotated extremely well on defense.

“Mumford’s a well-coached team, they took there time on offense and had great pressure on defense,” Goliday said. “I think it kind of wore our guys down a little bit."