WATERFORD — How much information is conveyed in a look? Depends on who you ask.
When Howell’s Jake Lothamer was pulled after a sluggish start in the first quarter, he went to the bench, where coach Nick Simon fixed him with a gaze.
“He stares at you and doesn’t say very much,” Lothamer said. “He gives you a look, and you know you messd up. You have to reflect on it, then go in and do better.”
The proof was in the results. Lothamer scored a game-high 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds as the Highlanders won the opener in the Lakes Conference basketball tournament on Friday, beating Waterford Mott 51-39.
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Now, all this depends on perspective. Asked about his look, afterward, Simon smiled and chuckled.
“I knew he’s talented enough to dominate a game like that, where there’s not a lot of size on the opposition,” he said, then added with a bit of a grin: “I reminded (Lothamer) how talented he was, and he had my full support in playing as hard as he could.”
Howell needed Lothamer when Mott made good on its pregame priority: Shut down leading scorer Johnny Shields and point guard Josh Palo. The Corsairs did exactly that, denying Shields the ball, limiting his shots and holding him to two points, both on free throws. Palo had six, all in the fourth quarter.
But Sean Samples had 10, as did Dan Zolinski, and Adam McElyea sparked the Highlanders in the second quarter with a pair of jumpers while the Mott defense was otherwise occupied.
“I thought it was a good step forward,” Simon said. “In the last couple of games (Shields) and Josh were out, and I think it helped prepare us. Johnny played well, even though he didn’t score. He played good defense, handled the ball well (four assists), stuff like that, so it’s not like he didn’t contribute. I told him afterward he had to be happy his teammates had his back that way.”
Mott dominated in the first quarter, taking a 10-4 lead, but the Highlanders got rolling in the second, outscoring the Corsairs 22-4, led by Lothamer’s eight points in the period. Mott came back in the third, forcing a 31-31 tie after three, but the Highlanders won going away down the stretch.
“It’s playoff basketball,” Simon said, “and that’s what we’re going to see the rest of the year. They scouned us real well, we scouted them and that’s what you have to see. Everyone plays in do-or-die mode, and you have to rise to the occasion.”
Perceptions of the tournament, Simon said, can depend on how your team is doing.
“You can sell it as a playoff atmosphere,” he said. “But you don’t have to go home and be done for the year if you lose. There’s a playoff intensity, and you’ll get teams who will prepare incredibly hard for us, trying everything they can to win, and it really sets you up for districts, which is important.”
The Highlanders went into Friday’s game having lost two of three, and Lothamer says success in the KLAA tournament will build positive momentum.
“We want to really hit our stride in this tournament and start playing like the team we were before the losses to Hartland and Grand Blanc,” he said. “We want to hunker down on defense and hit that groove going into the districts.”
