St. Francis Prepares to Host First Annual Northern Michigan Showcase

TRAVERSE CITY - The first annual Northern Michigan Showcase will pit some of the best boys basketball teams in Northern Michigan against some of the best teams from around the state at Traverse City St. Francis High School on Saturday.

The showcase will consist of five games in the St. Francis gym. A $10 admission fee is good for the full day.

At 1 p.m., McBain NMC will take on Lake Leelanau St. Mary in a rematch of last year’s regional championship game. The Eagles won the 2022 regional championship 61-57 over the Comets on their way to a state semifinals appearance.

That game will be followed by Glen Lake against Wayne Memorial at 2:45 p.m. and TC West against Ferndale at 4:30.

The final two games of the showcase feature two of the top 10 teams in Division 1. Cadillac takes on No. 7 Grand Blanc at 6:15 and St. Francis battles No. 1 Detroit Cass Tech at 8 p.m.

“A lot of times schools like [Cass Tech] won’t play smaller schools because people say it’s a lose-lose for them,” said Traverse City St. Francis boys basketball coach Sean Finnegan. “But I think they recognize that we’re a program that’s going to be competitive and we’ll give them a good game and a good atmosphere. For us, it’s an opportunity to see how good we can be and to challenge ourselves and to test ourselves as we get a little bit closer to March and figure out what we’ve still got to work on.”

Glen Lake boys basketball coach Rob Flaska also said Saturday’s showcase will give Northern Michigan teams a great chance to test themselves against some of the state’s best.

“I think it’s great for the area because you’re getting some high-quality basketball,” said Flaska. “It gives us a chance to measure against some very, very good teams and some bigger teams.”