St. Ignace's Ingalls named AP Player of the Year

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

ST. IGNACE --- Ball is life at the Ingalls house.

Dorene and Doug coach. Jackson refs. Jonny plays. All do what they do at a high level. Dorene’s St. Ignace girls basketball teams have won five state titles. Doug helps her and he has coached the boys team here for 25 years over multiple stints. Jackson’s referring assignments include GLIAC games. Jonny just cleared 2,000 career points as a point guard for his Dad.

This season might have been the one of the toughest and one of the best all at the same time for the basketball family.

Jonny and Doug led the Saints boys team to its first state semifinal since 1983, earning Associated Press Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honors, respectively, for their efforts.

It wasn’t easy to focus on basketball during one of the most successful seasons in school history, yet it was the perfect distraction.

Doug’s been battling cancer. He had surgery last year. In the last few weeks, he’s lost weight and Dorene was worried how, even if, he’d finish the season. The Sunday before the state tournament, they were in the ER.

At the same time this season, Doug’s dad, Jack, hasn’t been doing well either.

In the end, the Ingalls and the Saints did it, they went to state. But they were still disappointed they fell short of Doug’s longtime goal, bringing a state championship home for the boys team.

Basketball, like life, presents the full range of emotions. The highs were really high and the lows were pretty challenging. But they’ve handled life, and basketball, exceptionally well.

“Just their effort, their strength and their journey has been so awe inspiring for all of us to watch,” Dorene said of Doug and Jonny. “I know they had a lot of extra pressure on them, trying to win for their ailing dad.

“It’s been an interesting year, a lot of uncertainty, but they made it through and they finished like champions. I’m proud of them.”

There’s a lot to be proud of.

Jonny had a great season.

The 6-foot senior point guard finished with 2,029 career points after starting for four years. He averaged 30.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 4.3 steals and 2.6 blocks per game this year and he increased his scoring average to 35.5 a game in the postseason. He scored 40 or more points five times this season, including 49 against Division 1 Marquette - after which he was offered a scholarship to play at Division II Northern Michigan - and 44 in a tight regional semifinal win over Onaway.

“He’s a gamer, he’s always been a gamer. I feel he can be really good when we need him to be good,” Doug said. “It was tremendous how well Jonny could step up and have some great games, be consistent but have some great games when we really needed it.”

Ingalls holds the school record for points in a game (49), season points (821 this year), season average of 30.4 points per game, free throws made and attempted (173-233) and he’s tied in steals in a game (11).

Opposing coaches often raved about his jump shot. He added a mid-range shot as an upperclassmen beyond just shooting 3s and getting to the rack. He expanded his range even more as a senior.

“He really elevates and finishes high. It’s a beautiful jump shot,” Doug said. “He’s increased the range this year. He did a great job. Last year he got 14-16 feet, he got really consistent with it. This year, he moved it out to 22-23 feet, so that was huge.”

Doug was named AP Coach of the Year in Division 4 as the Saints navigated a tough schedule to finish 21-7. They played tough teams like Marquette and Menominee and lost some regular-season games, but it got them ready for a run through the D-4 playoffs that included defending state champion Munising and a tough Crystal Falls Forest Park team.

He was also a standout point guard, but for another Upper Peninsula school, Gladstone, and he still holds Northern Michigan University’s assists record.

“Just playing for him means a lot because he’s my Dad and he was a pretty good player, so he’s pretty smart,” Jonny said.

Doug is retiring after 25 years over multiple stints for St. Ignace due to those health concerns. He has also been an assistant coach for the St. Ignace’s girls team, which has won those five state championships, with his wife, head coach Dorene.

“I think his basketball mind is pretty amazing,” Dorene said. “He’s able to just draw up a play at the drop of a hat. And then the kids go out and get a bucket off of it. Even with my girls team, he’s able to do that. … I have a hard time putting the board in the right direction let alone drawing everything up like he does. He’s able to just pull things out and the kids execute it and it’s awesome.”

Dorene said his health will determine whether she’s going to keep coaching herself.

“It’s been challenging, but he’s had a great attitude throughout the battle and we’re just going to wait and see these next few months what happens,” she said.

Dorene and Jack Ingalls, Doug’s coach at Gladstone, are already in the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame and Doug will join them this spring. A well-deserved honor for another member of this basketball family. And another bright spot in a tough period for them.

“It’s been an interesting year, a lot of uncertainty,” Dorene said. “But they made it through and they finished like champions. I’m proud of them.”