The Monmouth-Roseville Titan boys basketball squad finished up a (13-18) season full of unexpected challenges with a loss to top-seeded Sherrard on Wednesday night in the class 2A Farmington regional semifinals. The Titans trailed 18-15 at the half but the Tigers would catch fire in the 3rd quarter, outscoring the Titans 29-14. Sherrard would go on for a 63-40 win, taking the rubber match between the two schools for the season.
Monmouth-Roseville’s football team’s extended run to the quarterfinals forced the Titan’s basketball season to get off to a late start. That, combined with a late football injury to the Titan’s leading returning scorer in Lars Bergren, saw Monmouth-Roseville begin the season at (1-7). Once Bergren returned to the team during the Macomb/Western Holiday tournament, the squad would go on a five-game winning streak, including capturing the tournament’s consolation championship. Senior point guard Cee Sarcomo would then suffer a leg injury and the Titans would again be forced to shuffle the lineup. Before Sarcomo would return, the Titans would reverse their upward trend and lose four straight. During the final 1/3 of the season, Monmouth-Roseville lost two more starters at times to sickness and a knee injury to leading rebounder, Nick Huston. The Titans would finally get everyone back in the lineup in the final two weeks and go into the postseason on a 3-game winning streak before the loss to Sherrard in the regional semifinals.
Monmouth-Roseville head coach Chuck Grant, who returned to the coaching ranks in 2024 after taking 3 years away from the program, said on the Friday WRAM Morning Show that all teams go through some type of adversity through the grueling 3 month season but maybe not to the extent that his club endured. He was extemely proud of how his team battled through it.
Titan boys basketball will have to replace 8 seniors that will graduate in the spring. Among those to replace will be the leading rebounder and four of the top six scorers. But with a JV team that ended (19-13), combined with hopefully a full season with leading returning scorer Lars Bergren, the cupboard is certainly not bare for Titan boys basketball. Coach Grant just ended his 30th year of coaching and garnered his 480th career win late in the season.
For the full interview with Coach Grant, go to the SPORTS PODCAST section.
