BOYS BASKETBALL: Howell rallies past cold-shooting Oxford for regional crown
BY DAN STICKRDT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
HOWELL — Nick Simon suffered through an emergency root canal Thursday morning. His Howell basketball team delivered some much needed novocaine come the evening hours.
After scoring a season-low in points in the first half, falling behind 23-13, host Howell rallied with a 29-14 second half in winning a Division 1 regional title with a 42-37 victory over Oxford.
“In the second half, we switched everybody, and we pressured a lot more, and that really go them out out of their flow. They couldn’t get as many open looks, because they couldn’t get into their offense, I thought,” said Simon. “A lot of credit to them, because they’re a heck of a basketball team. They also missed shots that I know they make on other nights. Some of it is just how the ball bounced. It didn’t go in for them a couple of times, and it did for us. Sometimes, you go in, and you try to pump guys up too much, and make it into something that it’s not. We just had to play better. We just had to do things we needed to do. I thought we looked a little nervous early on. Sometimes when you get guys too amped up, it feeds into those nerves, so I went more with a calm, we’re good approach rather than a rah-rah thing.”
Oxford sophomore guard Zachary Townsend looks to get past Howell senior guard Josh Palo during Thursday’s Division 1 regional finals. Photo | Dan Fenner, Fenner Photography
Howell came out of the gate in the third quarter a rejuvenated bunch, going on a 15-5 run to tie the score at 28-28 entering the fourth quarter.
The Highlanders went on a 10-0 run from 1:35 left in the third quarter to there was 5:05 to play, capped by senior forward Jake Sargeant’s lay-up that gave Howell a 34-28 advantage.
Oxford trimmed it to 34-32 and 36-34 down the stretch, but could never overcome that dismal third quarter.
Senior guard Josh Palo finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists for Howell. Junior forward Tony Hankala added 12 points and six rebounds off the bench, senior forward Luke Russo supplied eight points and four rebounds, and senior guard Kip French contributed four points, eight rebounds and four steals for the Highlanders, who won their first regional title since 2014.
The Highlanders finished 36.2 percent shooting from the floor (13-for-36) and converted 12-of-17 free throws (70.5) but just 15.4 percent from three-point range (2-for-13).
“I can’t really put this into words,” said Palo. “I’ve just got to focus on our next game. We ain’t done yet. We’ve got big goals to take care of.”
Howell (20-6) will face Saginaw, a 66-52 winner over Midland, in the state quarterfinals next Tuesday at Grand Blanc.
The Highlanders, who own nine total regional titles in school history, staved off Oxford’s final run. Howell outscored Oxford 14-9 in the fourth frame, although the Wildcats had a chance to tie.
After senior Michale Raisch drained a three-pointer with 27.9 ticks left, Oxford sophomore Zachary Townsend missed a triple with seven seconds left and Honkala swished a pair of freebies with 4.9 seconds remaining to seal the deal.
Howell attempted 15 more free throws than Oxford in the contest.
“We didn’t get to the free throw line and they did (17 times),” said Oxford coach Steve Laidlaw, who led his team to its first district title since 1993 and one of the deepest runs in school history. “When the other team has that many more free throws than we you do, it’s awfully difficult to win. But they are a good team, very fundamentally sound. We knew they would make a run at us.”
Oxford held Howell to just 4-for-18 shooting in the first half. The Wildcats committed only two first-half turnovers and made 5-of-9 three-pointers in building their 23-13 halftime lead.
Oxford led 11-9 after the first quarter and used a 12-4 spurt in the second quarter.
The Wildcats were trying for their first regional title since 1926. Oxford (23-2) set a school record for wins and reached the regional finals for the first time since 1948 — 71 years ago — but had one of its worst quarters of basketball in the third frame.
“I’m proud of the kids. But gosh dang — 23-2?” Oxford coach Steve Laidlaw said. “I knew we were going to be good. We got on a roll, and when we lost to Ferndale, how we bounced back was so impressive. And then when went into Pontiac, and beat them with a running clock, it was like these kids realized how good they were.
“But it was the third quarter,” sighed Laidlaw. “We lost our composure.”
The Wildcats only attempted two free throws in the game, finished an uncharacteristic 27.7 percent from the floor (13-for-47) and made 35 percent of their three-point attempts (7-for-20).
Raisch finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in his final prep game. Junior forward Trey Townsend shot only 4-for-12 from the floor and finished with nine points, six rebounds and three blocks, while Zachary Townsend had eight points and four rebounds for the Wildcats.
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