Write this name down: Lewis Lovejoy. He is a sophomore at the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac — a small Division 3 school in Oakland County that most people in the area couldn’t find on a map. He just scored 41 points in the MHSAA Division 3 state championship game as a sophomore. His team lost 61-57 to Pewamo-Westphalia. He had 41 points.
Let that number sit for a moment. Forty-one points. In a state championship game. As a sophomore. In a loss — meaning the game was genuinely contested and his 41 still wasn’t enough to win. That tells you everything about both how good Lovejoy is and how good Pewamo-Westphalia was.
Who Is Lewis Lovejoy?
Lovejoy is a sophomore guard at ATAP — the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac — where his father coaches him. The program went 37-4 over the past two seasons with Lovejoy in the starting lineup, reaching the state championship game this year. He averages 26.5 points, 7.6 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 4.9 steals, and 2.1 blocks per game. Those numbers are not for a college player. Those are high school sophomore numbers.
“Lewis Lovejoy is the most exciting young player in Southeast Michigan. The conversation about who the best sophomore in the state is starts and ends with him.”
— THE COUNTY LINEThe most remarkable part of his stat line is the assist number. 7.6 assists per game for a player who also scores 26 is extraordinarily rare. It means he is not just a bucket-getter — he is a genuine playmaker who makes everyone around him better while also being the primary scoring option. That combination at the sophomore level is the hallmark of a player with legitimate high-major college potential.
The Championship Game Performance
ATAP faced Pewamo-Westphalia in the D3 state championship — a powerhouse program from rural Clinton County that had no business being taken to the wire by a small Pontiac school. But Lovejoy took them there. His 41 points came in a game where his team lost by four. Pewamo-Westphalia needed every single point they scored to hold him off.
The fact that he scored 41 and it still wasn’t enough is actually a testament to how well-rounded he is as a player — because if he had been a pure scorer padding stats on a bad team, maybe Pewamo-Westphalia pulls away early. Instead the game went down to the final minutes because Lovejoy was also distributing, defending, and rebounding at a level that kept ATAP in contention.
The Recruiting Picture
Lovejoy is a sophomore — meaning he has two full high school seasons remaining. Recruiting for his class (2028) is in its earliest stages and college programs do not typically extend offers to sophomores in non-basketball hotbeds like Pontiac. But that will change. A 41-point state championship game performance gets attention at every level.
The question for Lovejoy over the next two seasons is visibility. ATAP does not play in a traditional powerhouse conference. Getting him in front of college coaches means AAU basketball in the spring and summer, where his skill set will translate regardless of opponent. If his summer evaluation matches what he does in high school — and there is no reason to think it won’t — this is a high-major recruitment waiting to happen.
What to Watch in 2026-27
ATAP went 37-4 in two seasons with Lovejoy. With him returning as a junior alongside senior Devonte Grandison (14.7 PPG, 9.4 RPG), the program is positioned to make another deep state run. The D3 field will be aware of Lovejoy in a way they weren’t two years ago — but awareness and stopping him are two very different things.
Watch for Lovejoy to play AAU basketball this spring. The Circuit, Nike EYBL, and the major recruiting events are where college coaches will get their first looks at him in an open evaluation period. If you are a Macomb and Oakland County fan who has not watched ATAP play, fix that next season. You are watching something rare develop in real time.
