09/03/2026
THE UPSET THAT WAS NO UPSET AT ALL
Look at the record alone and the 2022 Division 3 state semifinal feels easy to explain.
Menominee was 22-3. Ecorse was 9-12.
The Maroons were supposed to win, right?
Except that Ecorse record was one of the most deceptive numbers in the entire state tournament.
Ten Ecorse games had been forfeited during the first two months of the season because of eligibility issues. Strip away the forfeits and the MHSAA noted that the Red Raiders would have entered the semifinal essentially 16-5. Even more revealing were some of the victories erased from the official record: Ecorse had beaten Division 1 Brownstown Woodhaven, which finished 19-5, and Division 2 River Rouge, which finished 17-4. The MHSAA's own semifinal preview described Ecorse as a team that had looked like a Division 3 contender from the beginning.
Then came March, when eligibility forfeits could no longer hide what Ecorse actually was.
Riverview Gabriel Richard entered its district semifinal 19-0. Ecorse beat them 73-71, handing Richard its only loss of the season. The Raiders survived Erie Mason 49-47 for a regional championship, then removed any doubt about their legitimacy by hammering Bath 80-49 in the state quarterfinal.
Suddenly the 9-12 team was headed to the Breslin Center for its first state semifinal since 1980.
And this wasn't simply a gritty team getting hot at the right time. Ecorse had players.
Junior guard Malik Olafioye was emerging as one of Michigan's premier talents. Alongside him was junior Kenneth Morrast Jr., another high-level guard who would eventually earn all-state recognition. Sophomore Dennell Kemp Jr. was already part of the rotation, too. The most frightening part was how young Ecorse was: the MHSAA noted that only one senior started, with just two seniors on the entire roster. A year later, Olafioye, Morrast and Kemp would bring Ecorse right back to the Division 3 semifinals.
That helps explain why people around the state didn't view Ecorse like some accidental 9-12 Cinderella.
Mick McCabe did not.
The longtime Detroit Free Press high-school sports authority had Ecorse as his pick to win Division 3. And that matters when looking back at this game. The perception outside the U.P. wasn't that Menominee had drawn the weakest semifinalist because of Ecorse's record.
It was virtually the opposite: beneath that record was a battle-tested, athletic team with elite guard play, wins over much larger schools, an undefeated tournament victim already on its résumé, and legitimate championship expectations.
Then Menominee dismantled them.
The Maroons built an 18-point halftime lead. Ecorse made its push and cut the deficit into single digits in the second half, but Menominee never broke. Brady Schultz finished with 26 points and seven rebounds, Cooper Conway added 18 and nine, and Aidan Bellisle controlled the game with 12 points and 10 assists. When Ecorse threatened late, Menominee closed with an 11-0 run and won 74-56.
Perhaps the most striking number belonged to Olafioye. One of Ecorse's biggest weapons finished with only six points, shooting 2-for-15 from the field. Morrast scored 20 and Kemp added 15, but Menominee had taken away enough of what made the Raiders dangerous that an 18-point semifinal victory was the result.
That's why calling it an upset almost undersells what happened. The upset was believing Ecorse was 9-12 in the first place.
This was a team whose record had been mangled by forfeits. A team that had beaten Division 1 and Division 2 competition. A team that ended a 19-0 season. A team that won its quarterfinal by 31. A team loaded with young talent. A team respected enough that one of Michigan's most recognizable high-school sports voices picked it to win the whole thing.
And the chatter around the state was that Menominee's dream season would run into this buzzsaw quietly masking itself as the top team im the state. Most predicted the Maroons to lose by double digits. Instead, they won and won big.
The upset that was no upset at all.
