Seth Polfus of North Central dribbles past Southfield Christian defender Caleb Hunter in the second quarter of Thursday’s Class D semifinal basketball game at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on March 23, 2017. (Dennis Grall/Daily Press)

EAST LANSING — No one in the U.P. knows what it’s like to face Southfield Christian better than Adam Mercier. He’s game planned against the Eagles’ athleticism and size, watched hours of film and is the last Class D coach to defeat the downstate power.

This Friday will mark the one-year anniversary since Seth Polfus’ game-winning layup in double overtime of the state semifinals propelled the North Central Jets past Southfield 84-83. Since then, Southfield Christian has been on a tear, including a postseason where the Eagles have won by an average of 39 points per game (84-35).

Now, No. 2 Dollar Bay will take its shot at the No. 1 ranked team in the state tonight at 5:30 p.m. in another semifinal matchup at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

“Southfield’s a little different beast this year,” Mercier said. “In a way, we kind of awoken them; might have taken them by surprise last year. I don’t think a team will be taking them by surprise this year.

“They seem really motivated this year. Looking at their scores from this season, you can tell their focus is there.”

The most striking thing about SC is its athleticism. The team runs, jumps and plays at a pace that’s never seen in the U.P. SC gets out in transition, throws down transition dunks with relative ease and defends with a quickness that forces teams into mistake after mistake.

“There’s nothing that can simulate the amount of athleticism that they will put on the court,” Mercier said. “You can game plan, watch film, but until you tip it up and get on the big floor, nothing prepares you. You gotta do a lot of comparison of players you play, and try to get kids in the mindset that they are still high school kids.”

SC is led by the senior Bryce Washington (21.6 points per game) and junior Harlond Beverly (16 ppg). Both players have Division I offers, with Washington receiving 10, including Central Michigan and Pittsburgh, while Beverly has received offers from powers such as Michigan State, Ohio State, Xavier and Missouri.

“You’re just hoping they become one-dimensional and have a few quick possessions,” Mercier said of defending SC’s leading duo. Washington had 23 points in the loss to North Central and Beverly had 22. “When they have quick possessions, they’re not as efficient — one shot, one pass type of possessions, where they’re not as effective on the boards. But you can’t give the ball back to them after a bad decision. When you turn it over against them, it’s a two-on-one for a dunk.”

And the Eagles can shoot. Even from a few feet behind the 3-point line, Beverly, Washington and senior guard Caleb Hunter have quick and accurate releases.

In order to combat SC’s athleticism, Mercier attempted a 2-3 zone in the first half despite using zone for “about 1 percent of the season” before the semifinal matchup. But here the Jets were, coming out in a 2-3 zone due to the potential matchup issues SC posed.

The Eagles were not fazed, knocking down 8 of 18 attempts from 3 for a 30-21 halftime lead. Of the players still on the team this year from the North Central game, Beverly had five of those 3s, while Washington had two and Hunter added one.

“It was something we discussed the night of the quarterfinal game,” Mercier said. “Finalizing our game plan, we made the decision based on personnel and how we matched up defensively, trying to stay out of foul trouble and help on rebounding, but the biggest thing was foul trouble … We went man in the second half after we were kept out of foul trouble and kept them from offensive rebounding.”

So how does Dollar Bay pull off the upset against the team downstate reporters called the “surest team to win a state title?” For one, Mercier believes the Blue Bolts can’t get in a track meet with SC.

“That’s one thing we stressed heavily over the years is controlling tempo and taking good shots,” Mercier said. “That’s going to be the key for Dollar Bay, and (Devin) Schmitz will be the key for it, settle guys down, control tempo. It’ll be a lively game. They might have to control their emotions a bit, otherwise you’re going to run out of gas.”