Despite big night, Howell's Logan Leppek deflects credit to basketball teammates

LINDEN — The state basketball tournament is where players like Tyler Johnson and Josh Palo created their legends as seniors at Howell.

Johnson led Howell to a state quarterfinal appearance in 2014 and Palo carried the Highlanders all the way to the Breslin Center five years later.

They had plenty of help, of course. Deajay Klett was a terrific complement to Johnson in 2014, while Tony Honkala and Kip French could take over games in stretches for the 2019 team.

Even though last year’s team didn’t get out of districts, senior Danny Honkala had a signature performance with a 20-point, 17-rebound effort for a shorthanded Howell team in a second-round victory over Linden.

Now, it’s Logan Leppek’s turn to leave a legacy.

In the first postseason game of his senior year, Leppek scored 18 points Monday night in a 69-38 rout of Linden in an opening-round Division 1 district game.

Of those 18 points, 16 came in the middle two quarters. He was scoreless in the first quarter, as each team had trouble hitting shots, and came out of the game with 5:44 remaining.

“He’s our only captain,” Howell coach Nick Simon said. “That’s the first time we’ve ever had that; it was unanimous by the team. He’s been a leader all year. I think he’s been waiting for this moment. He actually did a really good job in the district final last year, so I think he’s a little more comfortable in these situations, because he was our leading scorer last year in that game.”

While the Highlanders count on Leppek to be “the man,” he carries himself with a humility not often found in star athletes.

“It starts at practice with everybody working hard,” Leppek said. “I always try to set that tone, but I’ve got to credit the team. The team’s always working. They’re pushing me just as much as I’m pushing them, so it’s really a team effort."

Like his predecessors, Leppek had plenty of support. Junior point guard Jaylen Hicks had 12 points, four assists and three steals in his first postseason game. Andrew Weber had 10 points and five assists, while John Klask and TJ Fischhaber each had seven points.

“It felt really good to go out there with the team, first time in the playoffs,” Hicks said. “Obviously, a little nervous at the start, but it quickly died down. It’s just fun to be out there with your four best friends and work all together as a team.”

Howell and Linden have developed an underrated rivalry in recent years, beginning with the Highlanders’ season-opening 74-68 overtime victory at Linden in 2017-18. Howell is 6-0 against Linden, but the previous three postseason meetings were nail-biters that could’ve gone either way.

This was the first time Howell has faced a Linden team that didn’t have one of the high-scoring Lund brothers, Blake or Reichen. The Eagles (5-17) didn’t have anyone of their caliber to help them keep up with the Highlanders.

“They graduated in the last couple years two of the best players I imagine they’ve had come through here and two guys that were unbelievably difficult to stop,” Simon said. “Sometimes, you have down years like that. I thought they played really hard and they fought for a long time. We were just able to pull away there in the second half.”

Both teams had trouble hitting shots in the first quarter. Linden took its only lead at 7-6 on a basket by Jase Becher with 1:01 left in the first quarter before the Highlanders responded with eight straight points.

Howell was leading 31-21 early in the third quarter when it put the game away with a 14-2 run.

“It’s our first time playing in this gym,” Leppek said. “It’s playoffs. It’s different nerves, different whatever. It took us a while to get used to it. We started going and we played good team basketball from there.”

Next up for Howell (15-7) is a district semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Fenton (16-6) at Linden. Fenton won the Flint Metro League’s Stripes Division with a 10-0 record.

Asked if he knows much about Fenton, Simon responded, “Oh, yeah. And I think they know quite a bit about us, too. We’ve seen their coaches at quite a few of our recent games and we’ve been to quite a few of theirs.

“They’re a heck of a basketball team. Their record is pretty indicative of how good they’ve been. Even if their division is a little bit weaker, they have some darn good talent, very comparable to a Brighton or a Northville with two very good players and auxiliary guys around them who work really hard.”

Hartland (6-16) will face Holly (17-5) at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of Wednesday’s district doubleheader at Linden.

Haslett 55, Fowlerville 45

Haslett beat Fowlerville in the third meeting between two CAAC Red rivals who split their regular-season encounters. Dillon Wieas scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds for Fowlerville, which finished with a 3-18 record and an eight-game losing streak. Brendan Ray scored 13 points and Will Shrader grabbed seven rebounds for the Gladiators.

In the other Division 2 district game at Williamston, Pinckney (6-17) was eliminated in a 64-52 loss to the host Hornets.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Howell rolls past Linden in first game of boys basketball districts