EAST LANSING -- Some of the state-wide media gathered in East Lansing for the MHSAA basketball finals has been trying to play up the Cinderella story with Huron.

Thanks, but no thanks, say the River Rats.

“They can call us a Cinderella if they want. That’s fine with us, we’ll be the underdogs. We love being the ones gunning for everybody else,” senior guard Jalen Bouma said. “Do we think we are? No. Of course not. You never think you are.”

Huron doesn’t think its resume warrants an underdog tag.

The River Rats went 20-3 last season and were eliminated from the postseason by the eventual state runner-up. Most of the top players from that team returned and they brought a 22-4 record into the final four.

“A lot of people may be surprised by the fact that we’re here. We’re not. And I don’t mean that in a conceited way,” Huron coach Waleed Samaha said. “I just feel like we’ve done the work. … We’re battle-tested and we’re ready.”

ANYONE GOT TICKETS? Huron quickly sold out its 650 allotted tickets for the fan section behind the River Rat bench on Friday and athletic director Dottie Davis was hard at work immediately following the semifinal win trying to dole out more for Saturday.

Finals tickets went on sale at nearby Jenison Field House immediately following the game, and Davis was there to pick up Huron’s stack. Those in attendance Friday got first dibs on Saturday’s student section seats.

Huron fans - many wearing their green-and-gold tie-tyed T-shirts - also took up a corner of the Breslin Center’s first deck.

Tickets for the championship game are available now at breslincenter.com. Ticket sales at the Breslin Center begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

LINE OF THE DAY In the post-game press conference, a reporter asked Samaha if Huron’s late-season loss to cross-town rival Pioneer helped spur their postseason run.

“No. Losing never helps.” Samaha answered quickly. “I think you learn a lot more from winning than you do from losing. All you learn from losing is losing. And that it stinks and you don’t want to experience it.”

FUTURE ANN ARBOR PLAYER Some Ann Arbor-based basketball fans got a bonus out of the semifinal: A chance to get a preview of future University of Michigan player Carlton Brundidge.

The Southfield junior was limited to seven points on 1-of-9 shooting in the first half before helping the Blue Jays climb back into the game late. He finished with a game-high 22 points after hitting 5-of-10 shots in the second half. He was 10-of-14 from the free-throw line.

“Great players find ways to have great games and that’s what Carlton did,” Samaha said. The 6-foot-2 guard also led the team with seven rebounds and four steals in 29 minutes of play.

“(Huron) was real long and real athletic, so we had to make passes that we normally don’t make,” Brundidge said. “We just turned the ball over a little bit too much.”

STAY AWAY, COACH After the game, you’d have thought that gravelly-voiced Samaha spent the entire semifinal yelling at the top of his lungs. In fact, he said he lost his voice early Friday morning after battling a cold since Monday.

“That’s fine,” Samaha joked. “They weren’t going to be able to hear me anyway in that gym.”

Samaha says he has been keeping his distance from players this week during practice to make sure none of them picked up his bug.