'You can be champions one day.' East Lansing celebrates boys' basketball state title
EAST LANSING — Niwiin Lyons, 10, beamed as he showed off his newly signed basketball jersey, with the ink-still-damp names of East Lansing High School's freshly minted state championship boys' basketball players.
"He was so excited to meet the team," his mother, Elizabeth Lyons, said.
Niwiin, a fourth-grader at Glencairn Elementary, had already seen the players earlier in the day. They made a tour of East Lansing's middle school and elementary schools. Now, he got to go to each one of them and get an autograph.
Niwiin said he's already thinking about when it will be his turn to aim for a championship.
This year was special for the East Lansing team, said senior Cam Hutson, as he spoke to more than 200 fans who came to East Lansing High School Wednesday evening to watch the players unveil a championship banner, cut down basketball nets and sign autographs.
"It's real special for us, especially the seniors. We've lost in the playoffs before," Hutson said. "It's been hard work. We put our blood and sweat all over the court and we're about to put a banner up tonight on the wall. That's a big deal."
Coach Ray Mitchell said the championship - the school's first since 1958 and second in its history - proves that hard work and dedication can open up doors for anyone in the gym or in East Lansing.
"If you have dreams and do the work to make it achievable, if you set short-term, mid-term and long-term goals, you can accomplish it," Mitchell said. "And you can be champions just like this one day."
Hutson and several of the players have been together since second grade, and even a decade ago - when they were in second grade and taking on fifth graders - there was talk of them going all the way, said Lakishia Windham, who carried an oversized cut-out photo of her son and team member, BJ Windham, another senior.
Many of the plays the team ran this year had roots in their childhood Gus Macker days, she said.
MORE:State champion East Lansing boys basketball jumps into national top-25 rankings
"I'm just excited they pulled it off. We knew all along," Windham said.
She plans to be back next year, to watch a repeat championship.
The teamwork was able to make it happen this year, said Kingston Thomas, a sophomore and team member called the "secret weapon" by Mitchell.
"And hopefully," Thomas said, "we'll be able to accomplish it twice."
Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing High basketball championship banner unveiled celebration
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