Howell boys meet DeWitt in home opener — with broadcast link

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Howell boys basketball coach Nick Simon missed his team’s first game last week. He’s looking forward to tonight’s home opener for several reasons.

“I always have a plethora of things I need to work on,” he joked. “But we’re excited to play a home game for the first time in a couple of years with a full crowd. it’s something we’ve all been looking forward to. Last year, we played without many people in the stands anywhere, so I think it will be a huge benefit, but there also will be a little learning curve with that, too.”

it will be the first Howell game without limits on fan attendance since mid-March of 2020, when the season was ended after a Division 1 semifinal at the Howell gym.

Tonight’s game will be broadcast on The Livingston Post, starting at around 6:50 p.m. Click here for the link.

The Highlanders (0-1) take on a DeWitt team (2-1) that has been traditionally a power in the Lansing area.

“They have a lot of football kids who are coming off a championship and a runner-up finish,” Simon said. “They have a lot of kids who know how to win, that’s for sure.”

But Simon has a veteran team with more than a few football players on it as well.

And, after a week and a half of practice, coach and players are more than ready to compete against unfamiliar faces.

‘We’re ready to go,” Simon said. “After that first game, we needed to get some extra practice. Our practices are really focused, but there’s no doubt we’re chomping at the bit a little to get in to a game.”

The Highlanders didn’t lose many players to graduation, returning guards Carter Bandemir and Adam Jones, along with forwards Danny Honkala and Nolan Petru. August Johanningsmeier, a 6-4 forward who was injured during the football season, is expected to make an impact once a shoulder injury heals.

“We had a great year in football, and we expect that to continue in basketball,” Simon said. “We’re really deep, with a lot of guys we can expect to contribute and make huge plays and win big games.”

Simon adds that December games, besides being a welcome break from practice, also serve to get teams mentally prepared for the grind of the basketball season.

“We’ve got to get our toughness up to full strength,” he said. “That’s always No. 1 for us, to play physically and mentally tough for 32 minutes and that’s where we start everything. So we want to make sure we’re at full force mentally and then fine-tune our plays offensively and defensively. Working on those details early on is typically an area where you grow at the beginning of the year. Working out the little details, the nuances, at the beginning is always important. Important for the players and the coaches, too.”

 

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