By Ty Marzean
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org

As the clock struck zero on his remarkable 38-year career coaching at Tri-unity Christian, Mark Keeler could finally let it all soak in at the Michigan State University Breslin Center Saturday as his Defenders captured back-to-back state championships for the first time in school history with a 49-32 win over Fowler. 

Coach Keeler already has the court at Tri-unity named in his honor, but he stamped his legacy on the court at the Breslin Center. He concludes his career with a 20-10 record at the home of the Michigan State University Spartans.

“It’s surreal,” said Keeler, who’ll retire as one of Michigan’s most decorated high school basketball coaches. “I was really happy with the way they played.

“I was blessed by the Lord; nobody will convince me otherwise. For me, as a coach, we try to reflect Jesus in what we do. We are humans, so sometimes we lose it and don’t do the right things, but that doesn’t mean you don’t stop working at it; that’s the key: don’t quit.”


Keeler cemented at third statewide on all-time wins list
Keeler concludes his career with a 721-218 record, placing him third on the all-time wins list. Additionally, he will finish with 13 appearances in the state finals, which ranks him second all-time, behind the legendary River Rouge Coach Lofton Greene, who holds the record with 17 appearances. Keeler retires with seven state championships. 

Defense has been the calling card for a Keeler-led team since the start, and it’s the type of play that led Tri-unity back to the state finals for the fifth consecutive time. The Defenders allowed only 39.4 points per game on their way to a 27-2 record this season.

“This is the best defensive team I’ve ever coached,” Keeler said.

 The matchup against Fowler was a rematch of Tri-unity’s second game of the season on December 3, ending with a 62-59 Fowler win.

 

A strong 11-0 start

Tri-unity started strong, quickly jumping out to an 11-0 lead. It took Fowler until 3:27 remaining in the first quarter to score their first points of the game off a Jacob Halfmann trey. The Defenders rebounded well and limited the shots from the Eagles, but took only a five-point lead into the second quarter as the Eagles held firm on the defensive side and added another three-point shot by Aaron Simon to end the first at 11-6.

“I don’t think teams are ready for our defense at the beginning of games,” Keeler said. 

Tri-unity answered back swiftly with a 13-0 run to start the second frame. 

Keaton Blanker led the way with 12 points

Senior captain Keaton Blanker led the charge in that second quarter and for the game leading all scorers with 12 points, while adding five rebounds, five assists and four steals in the final game of a career that ended with three state championships. 

“Our biggest emphasis was playing 32 minutes,” Blanker said. “We don’t stop fighting until that final buzzer, and we did that. I’m just so happy for all us players.”

Up by 18 in the second quarter

The Defenders led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter before Fowler scored seven unanswered points including their first ones in the paint with 2:05 remaining in the half. 

Blanker ended the half with two free throws, giving Tri-unity a 28-16 halftime lead.

If the Defenders had a weakness on the season, it was the third quarter. In the regional final game against Kalamazoo Phoenix, Tri-unity fumbled an 18-point lead.
 

“We’ve had letups in the past, and it almost cost us against Kalamazoo Phoenix,” Keeler said. “Having those games helped us. I can point it out when we let up on defense and let them back in the game. But we didn’t let up and we played great defense all the way through.”

Fowler begins closing gap near the end

Fowler closed the gap to within nine points with 3:07 left in the game, but the Defenders managed to slow down the pace. With two minutes remaining, junior guard Clayton Rowlader made a three-pointer to extend their lead to 12. Thirty seconds later, Rowlader hit another three to seal the victory, allowing Keeler to let out a sigh of relief.

Fowler finished 5-26 from beyond the arc in a challenging shooting game, scoring only 16 points from the paint while shooting 27.7 percent from the field. 

Senior center Joey Mellon had nine points and eight rebounds all while nursing a knee injury.

“I can’t say enough good things about that young man (Mellon); him and Keaton have been phenomenal leaders,” Keeler said. “I give them all the credit as captains. I had great senior leadership and when you have good senior leadership good things happen.”

Senior Noah Silverton added 11 points in his final game.

“What a great group of boys to coach my last year, they were very coachable, they were a great group.” 

It all began in 1983 for Keeler

Keeler’s coaching career at Tri-unity began during the 1983-1984 season, when the program started with an eighth and ninth-grade team. Coach Keeler became a varsity coach for the first time during 1985-1986 season. 

“That first year we got drilled a few times,” Keeler said with a laugh. 

He took a two year break before returning to Tri-unity for the 1991 season and has led the program since. 

Tri-unity Athletic Director Evan Przybysz had a front-row seat to many of Keeler’s years at Tri-unity. First, he was a water boy, then, a player winning a state championship, and finally, he worked side-by-side with Coach Keeler, first as an assistant coach and then as athletic director. 

“Coach Keeler cared more about your spiritual journey…”

“He’s instilled a culture through the school where so many kids wanted to play basketball for him,” Przybysz said. “He would teach the game of basketball and implement his systems that have been so successful for many years, but ultimately, Coach Keeler cared more about your spiritual journey than your basketball journey.

“He wanted to make sure your relationship was right with the Lord, and that was his number one priority. Basketball gave him that ability and platform to pour into young men and help instill that foundation that when they left Tri-unity, they would become better husbands and fathers one day.”

After a legendary career, Coach Keeler is now ready to embrace retirement. He looks forward to cherishing precious moments with his wife, Cheryl. 

“Now that we are retired, she’s stuck with me,” Keeler said. “We spend a lot of time together. I love it, we have a blast.”