Division 2 District Showdown Moved To Bigger Venue

Friday's Division 2 District title game between state ranked Catholic Central and Unity Christian has been moved to accommodate more fans.

The beauty of the MHSAA State basketball tournament is that sometimes the most competitive games come early in the District phase of the bracket.

That is the case tonight when the state's number two and three teams in the rankings will square off for the District 43 title.

Unity Christian's undefeated and third ranked Crusaders will put their undefeated 21-0 record on the line against second ranked defending D2 champions Catholic Central (21-1) in a game that has been moved from the District's assigned location, West Catholic High School, to Calvin University's Van Noord Arena to accommodate the expected fan interest.

The game's tip off time has also been moved back to 7:30pm.

The winner will advance to Regional play at Forest Hills Eastern beginning Monday night. The opponent will be the winner of tonight's District 44 title game between South Christian and Christian.

Unity Christian advanced to the District title game with a 65-44 pasting of West Catholic, while Catholic dismantled Forest Hills Eastern, 82-48.

Coach T.J. Meerman's Cougars have faced a daunting schedule so far, in which they defeated last year's Division 1 champion, Grand Blanc over the Christmas break, only to lose to last year's Division 3 champ, Flint Beecher. Catholic also owns a win over fifth ranked Ferndale.

The Cougars are led by William and Mary bound senior and State Mr. Basketball candidate Jack Karasinski, and talented sophomore point guard Durral Brooks.

Unity Christian, in the meantime, ran away with the OK Blue title, with only two teams, Allendale and West Catholic, coming within nine points of the Crusaders. They are led by 6-8 senior center Gabe Newhof, and 6-3 guard Drew Chandler.

The teams are ranked just behind #1 Williamston in the last D2 poll before the tournament began.

If you can't get in to the game, it will be live streamed at NFHS Network, beginning at 7:30pm.