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Stevenson’s Nadeem Aboufawaz played like a senior who isn’t ready to hang up the sneakers for the final time last Tuesday night, scoring 18 points in leading the Titans to a 62-46 district quarterfinal win over Sterling Heights at Ford II.

“A lot of those points are from finishing layups on the break,” Stevenson coach Bill Lerch said. “This was probably his best game of the year. Honestly, I had no idea that he had 18 points. He’s one senior that doesn’t want his season to end.”

Stevenson, the runner-up to Dakota in the MAC White Division, seemed to be quicker and stronger against the Stallions, the runners-up to Warren Cousino in the MAC Blue Division this season.

“They’re physical like Cousino,” Sterling Heights coach Mike Griffin said. “We had our hands on the rebound and when we came down with it, they would knock it away and come away with the loose balls. Those were critical because it swings momentum when you can’t come up with them after working so hard.”

Sterling Heights started out strong against the Titans, jumping out to a 10-9 lead on a baseline jumper by Josh Hair with 3:25 left in the opening quarter.

However, Stevenson ended the first period with a 9-0 run, which included a triple by Danny Stiefel and a basket each by L.J. Robertson, Matt Delekta and Jon Goike. Goike led the Titans in the first quarter with nine points.

“Jon had a good start and then kind of drifted away,” Lerch said. “He got us going. We expect Jon to give us some more offense.”

The Titans opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run, including the first five points of the frame. Aboufawaz led the spurt with consecutive layups, with the second one putting Stevenson in front 27-12 with 4:23 left before halftime.

The Stallions closed the gap to 29-21 on a three-point play by Sean Mattia with 47 seconds left, before a free throw by Robertson with 18 seconds to play sent the Titans into the locker room with a 30-21 advantage.

“We weren’t perimeter and we got to the basket,” Lerch said. “I thought our defensive was pretty good. We were pressuring them really well. We wanted to get up and down the floor a little bit, too. That was good. We had a good first half.”

Sterling Heights opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run, including four points by Hair, closing the gap to 30-27 with 5:22 to play.

“It seems like we always start so slow in the third quarter,” Lerch said. “We don’t respond like we should in the third quarter.”

Stevenson recovered, though, outscoring the Stallions 15-9 over the final 5:12 of the period, entering the final quarter with a 45-36 lead. Javin Mesi and Aboufawaz led the Titan charge with seven and six points, respectively.

“(Mesi and Aboufawaz) got some steals and easy buckets with their quickness,” Lerch said. “That’s what we needed tonight.”

Sterling Heights cut its deficit to 47-38 on a jumper by Adrien Harris with 5:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, but would get no closer as Stevenson sealed the win from the free-throw line, making good on 11-of-19 chances in the final period. Aboufawaz and Robertson each scored six points in the frame.

“We rely so much on penetration and we haven’t played a team that’s defended us so well on the ball maybe all year,” Griffin said. “Stevenson got a little cushion and it seemed like we couldn’t get it back. We fought hard, but I don’t think we were ready for that kind of quickness. They really got after us defensively.”

After losing a share of the MAC White Division title with a loss to then-winless Warren Fitzgerald on Feb. 24, Lerch said he liked the way his team has rebounded from that defeat.

“We talked about second chances because we know what happened a couple of weeks ago,” Lerch said. “We’ve had some decent practices this week. I was also happy here that they weren’t jumping up and down after the game tonight. I’m hoping that means that they have bigger things in mind.”

Besides Aboufawaz’s 18 points, the Titans received 15 points and four rebounds from Robertson, while Goike finished with nine points and Mesi chipped in seven points and four caroms. Delekta had 12 boards to go with his four points. The win improved Stevenson’s record to 16-5 overall and moved the Titans into the March 9 district semifinal game against L’Anse Creuse, after The Source had gone to press. The winner of that game faces the winner of the other semifinal between Eisenhower and Utica for the district championship at 6 p.m. on March 11 at Ford.

“There’s bigger fish out there now that we have to go hunting for,” Lerch said. “We’re the underdogs now.”

Sterling Heights was led by Mattia with 21 points, while Ivan Djokic added nine points.

“What (Mattia) did tonight he’s done every night for us,” Griffin said. “He’s been special for us.”

The loss ended Sterling Heights’ season at 12-9 overall.

“We have to get stronger and I told them to find a weakness they have and fine-tune it,” Griffin said. “We have to get stronger and more athletic. I used Stevenson as an example. They were a step quicker and a bit stronger than us all night.”