Trinity Lutheran basketball shines in state tournament, ends season on national note

UTICA — A program based on family, faith and winning shined once more this season when the Michigan Lutheran Basketball Association State Tournament took place at Concordia University March 4-5.

“We strive to compete and be competitive and to include all those kids to play and encourage their participation,” Trinity Lutheran athletic director Tim Siekmann said. “It’s an atmosphere where we strive to win, and we’ve been very successful in not just basketball, but all our sports.”

Trinity Lutheran, a pre-K through eighth grade school that competes in the Macomb Lutheran Basketball Association, reclaimed its top spot on the boys side at the state tournament as the team rolled through the competition to win the championship.

The boys capped off their 22-0 season with three-straight blowout wins to capture the state tournament title.

While a 14-9 squad in 2022 that had six seventh graders showed a young team playing up to its abilities, this year, Adam Narr, AJ Bleim, Aidan Vermiglio, Graham Krupsky, Luke Krupsky and Ean Boettcher returned in their eighth grade season as veteran leaders. Narr, Bleim and Jackson Haefner were named to the state tournament’s all-tournament team.

The Trinity boys team then finished 2-2 at the Lutheran School National Basketball Tournament in Fort Wayne, Indiana, March 24-26. The team lost its first matchup, which dropped it into the consolation bracket.

Playing .500 basketball at the national stage is an impressive feat, but head coach Mark Angott, who’s in his 42nd year as head coach at Trinity, said there was one thing about his squad this season that stood out to him the most.

“They’re good defenders but really talented shooters,” Angott said. “Probably, in all my years of coaching, as good of a shooting team as I’ve ever had.”

In addition to their perfect season, Trinity dominated tournament play with three first-place trophies at the Macomb Lutheran High North and Rochester Hills Lutheran High Northwest tournaments and the St. Lorenz in Frankenmuth tournament this year.

“It was a great, great group of kids who played together well, and really some outstanding players, but terrific sportsmanship,” Angott said. “They were a really good group to coach.”

Max McVay, Cole Hughes, Brady McMillan, Jonah Miller, Landon Lindhurst and Jack Hilligoss also provided reliable minutes for Trinity.

Trinity’s girls team had an incredible storyline in 2023.

After a 3-14 season last year, Trinity girls basketball stormed back to not only qualify for the national tournament but to finish 17-7 on the year.

Dropping its first game at the state tournament at Concordia University March 4-5, the girls team proceeded to win the consolation trophy en route to a national-qualifying performance.

It was a far cry from the environment of last season’s team, but Keaira Spiehs, Kiara Causley, Madison Nastasi, Alyssa Perets, Natalie Baker and Elliana Daughtery returned this season with a more focused mindset on basketball.

“That was one of the most beautiful things about this group, was that some of these girls who played for me as seventh graders were able to turn it around as eighth graders,” said head coach Steve Doerflinger, a Trinity Lutheran alumnus. “That’s kind of the success story there.”

Nastasi and Spiehs were named to the state tournament’s all-tournament team for their performances.

The girls finished their season with an 0-2 performance at the national tournament in Fort Wayne but still should hold their heads high after their strong showing this season.

“It was a testament to the girls,” Doerflinger said. “They did a lot of offseason training, and their parents really invested in them.”

Alyssa Hewson, Mara Juliano, Tegan Krieger and Liana Martoni also made important contributions for Trinity.