Clutch Shootout Lights Up Final as Freeland Races for Hoops Title Chance

EAST LANSING — After a lid seemingly settled over both Breslin Center rims in the MHSAA boys basketball Division 2 state championship game, Freeland finally broke through at the end of the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter. The Falcons closed the third quarter on a 7-0 run, turning a one-point deficit into a five-point advantage entering the final eight minutes of the 2025-26 season. Unity Christian opened the fourth with a 3, but Freeland answered with another 10-0 run, which started with back-to-back 3s from Tristan Comer and Connor Lasceski, building a 13-point lead entering the final four minutes.

Freeland cruised to the finish line, beating Unity Christian, 42-32, to win the first boys basketball state championship in school history. THE STUNNER: How Rockford bottled KJ Torbert to snatch D-1 title from East Lansing Unity Christian's offensive struggles never stopped, though they tried to turn up the tempo. But, the Crusaders could not break their offensive funk, shooting just 30% (12-for-40) as a team.

Points were hard to come by for both teams in the first half. Unity Christian had a 6-4 lead after a first quarter in which both teams felt each other out . Things picked up, but barely, in the second quarter, with Unity Christian leading, 17-15, at halftime.

The rock fight continued into the third quarter until Freeland broke the game open with its first run. Comer, Freeland's center and a future Michigan State football player, and Unity Christian's tandem of bigs, Luke Tubergen and Owen VanderWaal, had their own game within the game trying to create extra opportunities on the boards. But, it was Comer's touch from the outside that truly broke open the game.