CLARKSTON, Mich. (WXYZ) -- Sometimes it's better for teams to experience a loss to know the feeling of success.
"We lost in double overtime to Dakota to a buzzer-beater layup, it's the second buzzer-beater layup I've lost on," junior guard Foster Loyer recalled.
"Of all the things you remember in your coaching career, it's your losses, and the last two years we've been beat at the buzzer so it leaves a mark," added Clarkston head coach Dan Fife.
But that pain is now fuel for a new goal.
"That's the number one goal, that's it, a state championship. We haven't done anything yet, we're 11-0 but that doesn't mean anything," said senior guard Dylan Alderson.
The Wolves are the number one team in the state, and feature multiple players primed for the next level, including Foster Loyer, a sharpshooting guard headed to Michigan State in two years. But it takes more than just skill to win it all, and that's something this talented group is ready for.
"They're physically talented, they are, they're athletic, they're athletic for a Clarkston team, I mean their skill level, they have it, it's just a matter of figuring it out mentally," said Fife.
Walking through the halls at Clarkston high school you see plenty of the regional and district championship trophies except they're still missing the big one, a state championship. This team hopes to change that this year.
"We just play hard, that's really all it is. We really don't have the best athletes but we're all coachable and when we come here we get better," said Alderson.
"It would mean the world to us, it would mean the world to myself, Coach Fife, and I'd definitely have some pride taking that to Michigan State with coach Dane Fife there, knowing that he wasn't able to get it done. It's definitely something we're working towards every day and that's our ultimate goal," Loyer added.
