Chippewa takes game one

The Chippewa Raiders took game one of the NDA Senior Boy's Basketball final with a 58-54 victory over The West Ferris Trojans at West Ferris S.S. Thursday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best of 3 series.

West Ferris Head Coach Larry Tougas said last week that he was concerned with the depth on Chippewa's bench and that turned out to be a big factor in Thursday's contest as Chippewa scored an impressive 15 points from their bench.

"Our bench kept our starters fresh," admits Raiders Head Coach Tim Simpson.

"We are a lunch bucket team and we have to work hard for a win.”

The Raiders were led offensively by Adam Venasse with 11 points.

Now Chippewa is one game away from capturing the league title, and they'll get that opportunity on Monday night in Raider territory.

It gives you a lot of confidence (winning game 1)," said Simpson.

"It still could have been anybodies game, but it was a big game, the Trojans hadn't been beaten on home court in 6 or 7 years."

The NDA's elite clubs now have an even 2-2 record against each other this season including a 48-38 win by West Ferris in a one game playoff early last week, which broke the first place tie between the two clubs in the NDA standings. Both teams finished the NDA regular season with an impressive 11-1 record.