Holly rolls, beats Lapeer East

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Holly's Donovan Williams driv...

LAPEER, Michigan - They say in the NFL that defenses win the Super Bowl. That will remain to be seen on the upcoming Super Bowl Sunday, but on Tuesday night in Lapeer, the Holly Bronchos used great defense to make up for a subpar offensive performance to top Lapeer East, 55-41.

The Bronchos kept pace in the Flint Metro League by coming through with eight blocks and 11 steals to offset some poor shooting and too many turnovers.

“We never play well on Monday night,” Coach Lance Baylis said, referring to the fact that Holly had no school on Monday due to icy rural roads.

Holly freshman Isaac Casillas had the biggest steal of the game. Coming when Holly was having a hard time shedding the heavy underdog Eagles, Casillas stole the ball under the East basket and broke full speed towards the other end and finished with a layup.

“I just tried to keep playing hard – I was in kind of a shooting slump today,” Casillas said. “We just work hard in practice every day and come ready for whoever we play.”

Casillas finished with a game high five steals along with 10 points and a block. Not a bad performance for a young man who has been on varsity only for one-half of a season.

Senior Nick Stoll added 14 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal to help the visitors pull away at the end.  Holly was down by a point after the first quarter and only led by three at the break. “We played good defense but the offense has to come around,” Stoll said.

Fellow Holly senior Donovan Williams got in on the “theft” game with three steals of his own to compliment his nine points. “We decided to step up the defense and just let the offense just come,” he said.

Holly used a 37-26 margin in the second half to make this one look easier than it really was.

The Bronchos’ Jared Plawski also had a good night. The 6 foot 2-inch senior guard had eight points, three blocks and two steals. “Blocking, defense is all about hustle – not about talent,” Plawski said.  

Nick Stoll had eight rebounds. Casillas had four, and Plawski three. Holly also got an early spark with some hustle from junior Justis Kerner who chipped in a basket and three boards in very limited minutes.

Holly upped its league record to 8-1 and is now 9-1 overall. The Bronchos have a huge game on the road Friday at Swartz Creek, who was 7-2 entering league play on Tuesday. Both trail Fenton who was 8-1 in the league prior to last night’s action.

East fell to 1-8 in the league and 1-10 overall. The Eagles were led by sophomore Kyle Rachwal with 13 points and senior Joseph Pillars III with 10.

HOLLY

Isaac Casillas              3    3-4    10
Jared Plawski             2    3-4     8
Austin Hopkin            3    1-2     8
Donovan Williams        3    3-4     9
Nick Stoll                   4    6-9    14
Justis Kerner              1    0-0     2
Michael Alexander       0    0-0     0
Logan Spiker              0    0-0     0
Parker Rowse             0    0-0     0
Morgan Baylis              0    4-4     4
Patrick Reddy              0    0-0     0
Blake Ordiway             0    0-0      0
Cannon Konzer            0    0-0     0

Three-pointers: Casillas 1, Plawski 1, Hopkin 1
Rebounds: Stoll 8, Casillas 4, Kerner 3, Plawski 3, Williams 3, Spiker 2, Baylis 1

Holly                 7    11     17    20    =    55
Lapeer East       8     7     16    10    =     41