ROCHESTER HILLS >> Adams put together a strong first half after a slow start to beat Utica 67-39 in Monday night’s D1 playoff opener at Rochester High School.

The Chieftains had it together from the jump, leading 11-4 through the opening six minutes. It was about that time that the Highlanders began to find their shooting touch as sophomore Cannon Flynn and senior Luke Marcial knocked down shots beyond the arc, and junior Zeke Wilson nailed one from the corner opposite the Utica bench as the first period expired.

Those 3-pointers turned out to be the start to an 18-4 run that didn’t end until a long jumper by Utica junior Hayden Hirmiz 3:40 into the second. But Marcial answered immediately with a triple on the other end, followed by a driving layup from Flynn on the following possession to give Adams its first double-digit lead of the evening.

“The defense got better,” Highlanders head coach Isaiah Novak said. “I think we were a little too aggressive to start the game, and that was giving them advantages that they were taking advantage of on the offensive end. And when we’re not getting stops, you’re not able to get out in transition as well, so at the end of that first quarter we talked about being smarter on defense.”

In something of a pick-your-poison scenario, the Chieftains were set up to try and stop opposing senior point guard Trent LaGarde, who picked up his second foul in the final minute of the first quarter. The danger ended up being the 6-foot-5 Flynn, who made it look easy finishing aplenty from short range.

“They were a little smaller, so I had the matchup advantage,” Flynn said. “And I just kept taking advantage of it. We’ve got great energy on the offensive and defensive end with people like Henry Donohoe, Trent, me. We love crashing the boards and getting after it.”

On top of the transition points, the effort on the glass helped the Highlanders pick up easy buckets here and there and effectively put the game away with a 19-point lead after three. Flynn scored 10 of Adams’ 13 points in that penultimate quarter and finished with a career-high 28 points.

“Before the game, the coaches were talking about how we expected (Cannon) to get 30 tonight,” Novak said. “But his coach is a jerk and pulled him out with 28 (laughs).”

Utica head coach Dave Hinkle spoke about about the matchup and complemented Flynn, calling him “the best player on the court.”

“We went box-and-1 early and took (LaGarde) out of the game, then we contained (Flynn) better that way,” Hinkle said. “Then they took (LaGarde) out a while and I should have stayed with the box-and-1. We got out and went man, and (Flynn is) a stud. He killed us. He and (LaGarde) were obviously our two main objectives … Sometimes when you get out there, you get in the moment and forget he goes left 80% of the time.

“And give their other kids credit, too. (Donahoe), he’s tough, and all their role players knocked down shots, whereas when we were open, we didn’t knock them down. They’re used to playing like that because they play in the OAA Red. Everyone’s like, ‘They’re down this year.’ No, they’re not down. I think they’re the best team in our district.”

Caston Rissman and Alex Bosilkovski each had 10 points, while Eddy Tohme added eight for the Chieftains (4-18), whose rebuilding year comes to an end.

“It was a rough season for us,” said Hinkle, whose team won 22 games last year, including a district championship victory over Adams. “We came off the best season in school history and lose nine seniors. Four of them are playing in college right now, two of them football, other kids playing baseball, so we lost seven college athletes. We knew it was tough to be tough this year, but I really love our six seniors. They grinded.”

The Highlanders are just 8-15 heading into today’s semifinal against Stoney Creek, but five of those wins have come in their last eight. Several midseason transfers out were countered by a handful of additions at the holiday break in the way of multi-sport athletes.

“They’ve meant everything,” Novak said. “When those two transferred out, we were down to eight guys on our varsity team, and that meant we were pulling up from JV, JV was pulling up from freshman, it was having a negative trickle-down effect. When those five guys showed up, they’re not just great competitors, but very good basketball players. The intensity picked up every single day, and practice not only got more competitive, but more fun. It’s gotten to the point now where any one of them could play in any given game, and I trust any one of them, so those additions are priceless, to be honest.”

Romeo 52, Utica Eisenhower 42

Down by a handful at halftime, Romeo put together a strong showing afterward in Monday’s first quartefinal to advance to today’s other semifinal against the district hosts.

The Bulldogs trailed by just two heading into the fourth quarter when they slowly pulled away from Ike and built up their largest lead of the evening.

Senior Alex Edgar scored all 10 of the fourth-quarter points scored by the Eagles (12-12), and his five 3-pointers on the night allowed him to score a team-high 21. Randall Rice added a dozen, including 11 in the second quarter.

Eight players got into the scoring column for Romeo (9-14), led by 17 points from Brody Hare. Fellow senior Ben Stojanovski finished with 16 and Alex Kelley contributed eight.

Eisenhower had won both games in the MAC White meetings with the Bulldogs, including a 56-47 victory when the teams last played on Jan. 16 in Utica.