1-Win Michigan Basketball Team Claims District Title

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.

We’ve all heard this cliche before, but perhaps no team has epitomized the phrase more than the Mason Country Central (MI) boys basketball team.

According to a recent story on MLive.com, the boys team began its 2021 season with 10-straight losses and entered the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) District 3 tournament with only one win. But Mason County (3-12) rattled off back-to-back wins to capture the district title and play regional semifinals this week.

The team’s head coach, Tim Genson, said he began to see a shift in his team during a four-point home loss on March 4. He was right, as Mason County won its first game in runaway fashion, 51-34, according to MLive.com.

Any momentum that was built, however, quickly washed away after having to cancel games due to COVID-19 contact tracing, MLive.com reported.

“I’ll be honest, these kids, the way they came to practice every day, the way they played every game and the way they fought and the way they played, I never thought about our record all year,” Genson said to MLive.com. “It was just like, it never felt like we were 0-and-whatever or 1-and-whatever.

“I could just see the progress being made and it wouldn’t quite click for the whole night. I mean, we would have situations where in the Hart game last week, we had five points in the first quarter and five points in the fourth quarter and we beat them by like 11 in the middle two quarters, but we still lost by like 13.”

Mason County wound up hosting the district tournament as the two other teams that were supposed to host the tournament had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues, MLive.com said.

“I think it’s special (winning it on the home court),” he said to MLive.com. “Especially with the trials and the tribulations of the last 12 months, it’s really special. It means a lot.”

To read the full story from MLive.com on the underdog Michigan basketball team, click here.