Breslin Bound: Boys Report Week 12
February 27, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
For a good portion of Michigan’s best, the final week of this high school boys basketball regular season will be like starting the playoffs a week early.
Only a few league championships are left to be decided. But a number of top teams face off for one more test before the season goes into win-and-advance mode with the start of Districts a week from today.
Below is our final regular-season Breslin Bound report – powered by MI Student Aid – before we switch up the format a bit to preview each week of the MHSAA Tournament.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Flint Carman-Ainsworth 99, Saginaw 60 – After beating Saginaw by seven earlier this season, Carman-Ainsworth posted one of its most impressive wins in some time in a crossover of Saginaw Valley League champs, Saginaw from the North and the Cavaliers from the South.
2. Romulus 73, Kalamazoo Central 63 – These Class A powers love to traverse the state looking for strong nonleague competition, and this one actually bodes well for both heading into Districts, although obviously a little better for the Eagles.
3. Wayne Memorial 55, Westland John Glenn 48 – Wayne split with its Kensington Lakes Activities Association South rival in winning the division, and got the tie-breaker with this victory to determine the Kensington champion and earn a spot in the overall KLAA finale.
4. Walled Lake Central 50, Walled Lake Western 45 – Central may have finished a game behind Western in the KLAA North, but beat its rival in their second meeting and followed up with this victory in the KLAA Lakes final.
5. Powers North Central 83, Munising 33 – We’ve seen plenty of impressive wins by the Class D Jets during this record run, but this one is notable too as Class C Munising entered 15-2.
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each class making sparks:
CLASS A
Detroit U-D Jesuit (15-3) – After escaping Orchard Lake St. Mary’s with a 51-49 win in the semifinal, U-D Jesuit won its fifth straight Detroit Catholic League A-B title with a 63-56 title game win over Warren DeLaSalle. The reigning Class A champion's losses came either in overtime or by a point this winter.
Macomb Dakota (17-3) – The Cougars, Class A semifinalists last season, battled through multiple injuries to top players to finish the regular season as champions of the Macomb Area Conference Red and MAC Red-White Tournament. The Cougars hit 100 points in that tourney finale and have topped 95 two other times during a 14-game winning streak.
CLASS B
Big Rapids (17-1) – A big loss to Ludington on Feb. 7 not withstanding, Big Rapids has dominated again after making the Class B Semifinals last season. Only two of the Cardinals’ wins have come by single digits, and last week they finished an undefeated run through the Central State Activities Association Gold for the second straight season.
Macomb Lutheran North (15-3) – The Mustangs beat 16-win Riverview Gabriel Richard 70-62 on Sunday to win the Detroit Catholic League C-D title. They’ve made a nice jump from 11 wins two seasons ago to 13 last winter and now 15 with a week until the MHSAA Tournament begins.
CLASS C
Flint Hamady (13-6) – Hamady’s boys normally slot behind rival Beecher among Flint’s best – and finished tied for second to the Bucs in the Genesee Area Conference Red. But the Hawks fell to Beecher by only four in their second meeting earlier this month, and made a statement with a 71-66 win over Class B and 16-win Frankenmuth last week.
Grandville Calvin Christian (14-4) – After coming a 3-pointer from winning the Class C title last season, Calvin Christian is running third in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver behind Class B favorite Wyoming Godwin Heights and rising Kelloggsville. The Squires appear poised to strike again in the postseason with 10 wins over their last 12 games.
CLASS D
Pittsford (16-3) – The school’s reigning Class D champion girls don’t have a monopoly on the town’s hoops success. Coming off a 16-6 finish and second place in the Southern Central Athletic Association East last winter, Pittsford’s boys equaled that win total last week while also clinching the league title.
Wyoming Tri-unity Christian (11-7) – It’s just about impossible to go a whole season without checking in on the Defenders, who made the MHSAA Semifinals last season and are a threat to contend even when their regular-season losses approach double digits. Lansing Christian is the only Class D team to beat them this winter.
Can't-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Grand Rapids Christian (18-0) at Wyoming Godwin Heights (19-0) – Grand Rapids’ two best teams, arguably, and contenders in Class A and B, respectively, give each other a great test during the final week.
Tuesday – New Haven (18-1) at Flint Beecher (15-4) – These two both have championship aspirations as well, New Haven in Class B and Beecher in Class C.
Tuesday – Southfield Christian (15-3) at River Rouge (17-1) – Rouge loaded up the schedule as it prepped for a Class B run, and Class D favorite Southfield Christian will provide another strong challenge.
Thursday – Wayne Memorial (16-3) at Walled Lake Central (14-5) – The KLAA championship game pairs a Wayne team that went 8-14 last year with a Central team that finished second in its division before this run.
Thursday – Holland West Ottawa (18-1) at Grand Rapids Catholic Central (16-3) – The O-K Blue champion hosts the winner of the Red as they prepare for the Class B and A tournaments, respectively.
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Christian (in blue) and Holland West Ottawa both finish with tough regular-season challenges this week; Christian best West Ottawa 57-49 on Dec. 28. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)
3rd-Year Standouts Have Howell Rolling
January 9, 2018
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
For the best players on Howell’s boys and girls basketball teams, the third year has been the charm.
Those players, Josh Palo and Lexie Miller, have combined talent and experience with confidence while leading their teams to fast starts this winter.
Palo is averaging 26 points per game for the boys, who are 5-1, while Miller is averaging 25 for the girls, who are 7-1.
Both are in their third full season on the varsity; Palo is a junior while Miller is a senior.
They also have this in common: Both would much rather talk about their team’s accomplishments.
“It’s all about the team,” said Miller, who has signed with Wayne State University. “I think we have improvements to make, but we’ve been watching film and can do better. I think we’ll get there if we keep working hard.”
Miller is part of a Highlanders team which features four seniors, including Miller, who have spent three full seasons on the varsity. They have been playing together for years.
Miller, who is 5-foot-6, also qualified for the MHSAA Division 1 cross country meet as a freshman before turning her attention to basketball fulltime. Her speed allows her to blow by defenders. She’s not afraid to put up 3s, nor is she afraid to drive to the basket.
But Howell girls coach Tim Olszewski said it’s her competitiveness and drive that help make her first among equals, and confidence that has made her a leader.
“(Two years ago) we had Erin Honkala, who would call team meetings and say, ‘Listen, this is exactly how things are going to go,’” Olszewski said. “Last year, as juniors, none of them wanted to grab the reins and do that. This year, we’ve got great senior leadership, with Lexie at the forefront of that. She will say something, and because of the way she conducts herself out on the court, you have to listen.”
Palo, a 6-2 junior, plays both guard positions for the Highlanders and does whatever is needed on defense.
“He’s kind of a jack-of-all-trades,” Howell boys coach Nick Simon says. “We do a lot of switching (on defense) and a lot of different things and he’ll play where needed on defense. He’s guarded the other team’s point guard in a couple of games, and he’s guarded the other team’s center a few times. He’s very knowledgeable about the game, and he understands how to play it. That allows him to guard guys down low and out on the perimeter.”
Palo scored 33 points in an overtime win at Linden in the Highlanders’ season opener, displaying the first results of a busy summer.
“I put in a lot of work over the summer,” he said. “I was always in the gym. Kip (teammate Kip French) has a little gym at his house with a shooting machine, and I was out there shooting every day this summer. That’s why I think I’m doing so much better this year. I have more confidence this year, knowing what I can do, when I can score and when I can get my looks.”
Simon led Howell’s boys to a Class A Quarterfinals four seasons ago. That run included the first time Howell had won a District title in nearly 20 years. The Highlanders have gotten to the Regionals the last two seasons, and Palo says he thinks his team can go farther.
“I really do,” he said. “We’ve got a good group of guys here, and we’re all bought in on what we’ve got to do. We’re going hard in practice every day, trying to get better. Everyone gets their role pretty well, and we always go into games confident. We never think we’re the underdog. We can always pull one out if we need to.”
Howell plays in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, where boys and girls play at alternate sites on the same night.
As a result, neither Palo nor Miller has seen the other play often – but the rare impressions are lasting ones.
“Josh is really shifty,” Miller said, emphasizing the last word as a compliment. “His moves are really good. He finishes really well. I’m really impressed, honestly.”
“She’s real fast,” Palo said. “She can dribble pretty well. She could spot up and hit some 3s for us.”
Both will have opportunities to see the other play in the postseason. But as of now, they have their own dreams and team goals for which they are striving.
“It’s interesting to have a guy who’s had a breakout year and get him back for another year,” Simon said of Palo. “Traditionally, you see guys peak as seniors, and that’s when they come out of their shell. For a guy who’s in his third year on varsity (as a junior), I think that’s a huge advantage. You’re able to get him out of that shell a little earlier.”
Miller, while being the leading scorer on the Howell girls team, is far from the only offensive threat. Opponents who key on Miller learn that, to their dismay. By the time they adjust, often, Miller makes them pay at a key moment.
“She lives for the big moment,” Olszewski says. “She wants the ball in her hands. She’s definitely an ice-in-the-veins kind of kid, and I would have no problem giving her the ball in any situation at the end of a game.”
Palo and Miller both look to stand out in a team concept, and that drive could well determine the final destination for both teams this winter.
PHOTOS: (Left) Howell’s Josh Palo pushes the ball upcourt during a practice this winter. (Right) Lexie Miller works on her shooting; she’s averaging 25 points per game. (Photos by Tim Robinson.)