The Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Eaglets took one of three final steps left for them to repeat as Division 1 state champions on Tuesday when they defeated the L’Anse Creuse North Crusaders, 73-42, at Calihan Hall in Detroit.

Newly-minted Trey McKenney didn’t light up the scoreboard initially. Instead, the Michigan basketball commit largely deferred to his teammates in the first half as six different Eaglets — McKinney included — got on the board to help OLSM take a 29-16 lead into the break.

The Eaglets needed a strong second quarter after L’Anse Creuse North, who arrived at Calihan Hall just 14 minutes before scheduled tip-off, held them to just nine points in the first. Six players combined for 20 points, getting the Eaglets their 13-point advantage.

The game was delayed by 10 minutes to allow the Crusaders a fair amount of warmup time.

“It’s something that’s out of your control, and you have to mentally deal with it,” said LCN head coach Kurt Wilson. “So the late arrival was, you know, it played a factor.

“But you know what? Orchard Lake is a very good team. They got good players. They play basketball, and they did a real good job. So hey, hats off to them.”

Freshman Mateen Cleaves Jr and big man Jayden Savoury led OLSM scorers with six first half points, and Luke Crighton had five. Sharod Barnes, McKenney and Isaiah Hines had four apiece.

“We got a really good team here, a lot of guys that played at different positions, because, you know, we’ve been subbing in and out guys during the season,” McKenney said of the Eaglets depth. “You know, a lot of people have been hurt, a lot of people been sick. So a lot of guys have played a lot of different roles. So I think that’s very good for us.”

The Crusaders, who had leads at points in the first half, were competitive to open the third — junior Julius Wilson hit a 3-pointer to cut the Eaglet lead to nine points to get back within single digits.

But that was the end of that — from that point, St. Mary’s burst into a 19-0 run, which included 10 of McKenney’s 13 third quarter points with a 3-pointer, a three-point play, a two and two free throws — to jolt their lead from 34-25 to 53-25.

OLSM head coach Todd Covert did the best thing he could once McKenney started getting going: nothing.

“Trey is going to be Trey,” he said. “When he gets going, gets involved — sit down coach. Any good coach (would), I tell you that.”

McKenney said going from four points at halftime to 17 at the end of the third quarter was just him “getting into a flow.”

“I wasn’t really forcing it,” McKenney said. “It’s just how it happened. I wasn’t really complaining with having four points at the end of the half. My shots are going to come. A lot of guys like to key on me, a lot of teams key on me. But I think, at the end of the day, when I’m playing in the flow, that’s when I get my easiest shots.”

McKenney’s future head coach, Michigan’s Dusty May, was in attendance. His 17 points led all scorers. Barnes and Crighton had 10 and Savoury and Cleaves Jr. both finished with eight.

L’Anse Creuse North’s Julius Wilson was their best player for much of the season, and that continued on Tuesday night. The junior scored 16 points while Nehvir Njoku, also a junior, took on the assignment of guarding McKenney.

LCN head coach Kurt Wilson said the game plan was to have Njoku stick with McKenney — he’s their best defender, and they were also one-on-one on the other end, with Njoku scoring just six points — but that OLSM did a good job of getting other players involved when shots weren’t materializing for their star.

“Njoku plays really good D,” Wilson said. “He played physical. But you know, what happens if he gets in foul trouble, then he’s gotta lay out. … Other people stepped up. I probably shouldn’t have seen so many double teams at them, because Njoku was doing a good job on him.”

With the game in hand early in the fourth quarter, both teams took the opportunity to sub in players who don’t play much. Peyton Kemp, Bela Matyus, Aiden Hanks and Christian Leighton got points for the Eaglets, and LCN’s Bransen Mackey and Parker Lisiecki scored.

St. Mary’s is now two wins away from repeating as Division 1 state champions. Their next test is a big one — they’ll take on the East Lansing Trojans (26-1) at Michigan State’s Breslin Center on Friday, March 14.

The Trojans won a 69-68 battle between the two teams on Jan. 11 in a showcase game at East Kentwood.

“I think our kids are used to it (the moment), but you know, you got to stay focused,” Covert said. “Sometimes you can think it’s too easy. Keep the foot on the gas, man. We’re not done.”

L’Anse Creuse North’s season ends with a 19-9 record. They won five-straight postseason games, beating community rival L’Anse Creuse, MAC Gold champion Port Huron, MAC Red contenders Port Huron Northern and Chippewa Valley and longtime county rival De La Salle to earn the spot in Tuesday’s state quarterfinal game.

Wilson expressed gratitude for the L’Anse Creuse community who showed support during their run, which included a pile of handwritten letters from elementary school students in the school district wishing them good luck.

“Last year we made it to the districts and we were content,” Wilson said. “And this year I looked ahead and I saw that we got a chance to get to the regions. And, you know, I probably set the bar at the regions when I should have been looking higher.

“But for us, for the school, I mean, just to see all the people come out, just to see the excitement from the fans, you know — L’Anse Creuse North, we have the best fans, the best administration, the best superintendent.

“I’m telling you, you know, our support was crazy. I sit here with you today with letters from kids who wrote to me. So that’s huge. That’s huge. So, yeah, we wanted to win the game, but man, this just breaks my heart.”