This season has been a very special one for the school and the varsity boys’ basketball athletes as they started off the season with an undefeated record of 16-0. “This is a result of the hard work these 14 guys have put in both on and off the court,” coach David Hinkle said, “working on their skills each morning on their own time, to excelling in the classroom, and finally by being self-motivators and all working together for one common purpose each day in practice. They have set a precedent and a wonderful
example for the next groups of guys that will be coming up through the program in the future.”
This hot start has been led by senior Mason Brodi who has made over 1,000 points in his UHS basketball career. He averaged a team high of 20.4 points per game 3.7 assists per game, 5.6 rebounds per game. He also has had 2.5 steals per game and 0.1 blocks per game. In the Macomb Area Blue conference, the team is number one, and Brodi leads the Mac Blue in points. “It feels awesome,” Brodi said, “but a lot of it is hard work, and then a lot of it is the people along the way that I ’ve had help me through coaches, my dad, teammates. It all goes out to them.”

Another player doing well this season is senior Sebastian Soriano. Soriano averages 10.5 points per game,4.4 assists per game, 3.6 rebounds per game. Soriano
also averages a solid 2.0 steals per game and 0.1 blocks
per game.
“It feels good because Utica hasn’t been this good in a while,” Soriano said. “To know
that we are this team feels really good because we put in the hard work, and it’s all showing
good results.”

Photo by Brady Mcatamney Macomb Daily Brodi’s star continues to shine for Utica in win over Lakeview – Macomb Daily

Students have been very happy with how the team has been playing this year.
“I think its good to see our team getting some recognition,” sophomore Kadin Thomas said. “We’re number 12 in the Detroit area and 23rd in Michigan. Glad to see the team’s
hard work paying off.

”Students are very excited and hoping that this team makes it far this season.
“I feel like they are very good,” sophomore Donovan Jarbou said, “and I think that they
will make it far this year.”

There has been many students going to games and supporting their team no matter.
what. “I like to go out there and support my guys,” senior Blake Larsen said.

Senior Ali Hassan is creating a record for himself with 19 total individual charges taken this season, and still counting. Hassan averages 8.4 points each game, 5.1 re-bounds per game. He also had 1.5 steals.

“It feels good because we all put in all that work in the
summer,” Hassan said, “so seeing everything come out as we expect it to be is an amazing feeling.”
Senior Luke Cottingham, who mostly works in the post, has an average of 12.9 points per game, 7.1 re-
bounds, and 0.4 steals. Cottingham also known for his high shooting percentage.
“We are not satisfied,” Cottingham said. “Our goal is to win districts.”

Senior Numehnne Gwilly is a fast and shifty guard who averages 2.1 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.9 steals each
game. “We worked very hard to get where we are,” Gwilly said, “and we just all like playing together.”

This season has been very special and has created a lot of history for our basketball pro-
gram. Students and players are very excited and ready for whatever is thrown at them.

“As their coach,” Hinkle said, “I treasure every moment that I have with this special group of guys. This group has now one back-to-back MAC Blue Championships and fished the league season at 10-0.”