Top-ranked East Lansing takes down Waverly at home

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – The top two high school basketball teams in the area went head-to-head on Thursday night.

East Lansing, who’s the defending Division 1 state champs, welcomed Waverly to town for a conference matchup. Both teams entered the young season undefeated, with both ranked in the Top 10 of Division 1.

The top-ranked Trojans would take care of business on Thursday and won 74-62, improving to 6-0.

“This is really our rival right now in the city,” East Lansing coach Ray Mitchell said. “They’re one of the top teams in the state. They actually beat (Detroit) King better than we did, so a lot of people actually had us losing this game. I saw some rankings where they had them ranked higher than us, but we wanted to come out and make a statement.”

East Lansing junior Kingston Thomas, who has an offer from Michigan State, led all scorers with 24 points, and EL senior KJ Torbert, who’s committed to Bowling Green, had 23 points.

“Coach always relies on us two to get a bucket when it’s necessary or when we need it, so that’s what we had to do,” Torbert said.

Thomas said, ” Definitely good for us, but at the same time, we were giving them too many late ball turnovers, and we just need to touch up on that, so we can really finish games.”

The Trojans will be back in action on Sunday to take on Roseville in the D Zone Showcase at Hazel Park. Waverly will look to bounce back on Sunday, Dec. 28, when it takes on Grand Blanc.

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