Pieces of puzzle coming together for Leslie boys basketball after early growing pains
LESLIE — Aidan Borst spent last season as the starting big man for a Leslie boys basketball team that finished as the GLAC champion.
The senior is now handling point guard duties for the Blackhawks.
It's been a difficult transition.
It's been the same case for Leslie as a team. The Blackhawks have a much different cast surrounding Borst after losing 84% of their scoring production and a quartet of players who had significant varsity experience from last year's league championship squad.
Coach Matt Johns fully expected some growing pains. But the Blackhawks have shown in recent weeks they are starting to figure things out. And they got a big momentum boost Friday with a 39-37 victory over GLAC leader Olivet, which was unbeaten and receiving votes in Division 2 in the latest Associated Press rankings.
"We lost so much from a year ago (that) it took us a while to figure out who can do what," Johns said. "I still think we haven't come close to reaching our potential. That is just a huge game for us to hang on to win and for our program and for our kids' mentality going forward."
Leslie's victory Friday avenged a 61-24 road loss to Olivet from Jan. 11. The Blackhawks have now won four straight since a loss to Maple Valley dropped them to 2-5 on Jan. 14 and have now given themselves an outside shot in the GLAC title chase. Leslie (6-5, 4-3 GLAC) is two losses behind Olivet and Lakewood and has five league games remaining.
"We've been really locked in because we knew who we were playing and we needed to lock in, plain and simple," Borst said. "We needed to work on getting better with each other and play our game."
Leslie showed that during a strong second half. The Blackhawks trailed by four at the break before opening the third quarter on an 8-0 run. Leslie would push its lead to as much as 10 with Zack Marciniak, Bronson Clayton and Blake Stofer all making key baskets.
The Blackhawks then found a way to fend off an Olivet squad that has shown the ability to rally late for wins this season.
Borst said the victory provided a glimpse of what he felt Leslie could become. Junior Ethan Kaimon, who had eight points, agreed but knows there's more work to do.
"That's huge for our morale," Kaimon said. "It's just a big win in general. We've won four in a row and we're trying to carry that on into next week.
"(To build on this) we've got to get back to practice. We've got to get better at practice, and better in each and every practice."
Bo Lincoln finished with a game-high 14 points to pace Olivet.
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Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Leslie boys basketball putting things together, tops Olivet
