The view from behind the Leland bench was ominous for St. Mary coach Jim Smith, who watched as the Comets dismantled Northport Monday night in the second game of the first round of District play.

BASIL STOWE of Northport used a head
fake on Leland's Jordan Gibson to draw
a foul, but the Comets prevailed in the
District opener Monday night.

But he couldn’t help but smile occasionally when the Comets clicked on all cylinders. They were fun to watch.

“They’re very deep, and very talented. We’ve generally known what they were going to do, and they have still done it to us,” said Smith.

Leland and St. Mary both advanced Monday with convincing victories, but the Comets’ win came over host Northport — a team that finished second in the Cherryland Conference with a 4-2 record and was 10-10 overall. Last night, Leland and St. Mary were again heavy favorites in the second round when the Comets took on Beaver Island and the Eagles faced Grand Traverse Academy.

Both teams started slow in their openers, pulled away in the second period and were never challenged again. The Eagles used a balanced attack in their 74-29 decision after leading 10-6 through one period, 27-22 at halftime and 47-22 after three periods. They were led by Gabe Gallagher, who scored 16 off the bench. Adam Peplinski poured in 11, with Tim Wigton and Kienan Sutton adding 8 and 7 points, respectively.

St. Mary, which captured the Cherryland with a 6-0 mark, improved to 12-9.

Zach Stanz and Alex Finkell each scored 10 for Leelanau School, whose season ended at 4-8. “It was a good season overall,” said Thunderbirds’ coach Jim Douglas. “We had just come off (a week-long) break Monday night, and hadn’t been able to practice together as a team before the game.” Seniors on the Leelanau squad were Stanz of Glen Arbor, Chris Omerza of Empire, Finkell, Connor Landick and Jesse Warner.

Somehow, Leland managed its 72-31 win with an even larger exclamation point after struggling to a 22-15 lead following a bucket by Wildcat Quinten Buss. Until that point, Northport had been the team to push the question, diving for loose balls and fast breaking for lay-ups.

Time-out Leland, during which coach Jason Stowe let his Comets know the errors of their way. He also called for Jordan Gibson to post up near the basket — which was not a surprise to the 6-foot-1 senior guard.

“We’re always looking for mismatches, so he knew the answer before I asked the question,” said Stowe. “He always knows the answers before I ask the questions.”

What followed was pure dominance. Gibson was fouled, and responded with two free throws. The Comets dumped the ball deep to Gibson again on their next two possessions, which resulted in two nifty moves and four more points.

Adam Nedow hit two free throws for Leland, and Larsen pulled in a three-quarters court pass from Gibson for a layup.

While Northport’s hopes had all but ended, Gibson was just getting started. Gibson tormented Northport guards into four straight turnovers — which resulted in him scoring four more buckets in the final 1:02 of the half.

Here’s how that flurry looks on paper. Over 3:07, Leland (17-4) scored the final 18 points of the half to take a 40-15 lead. Gibson scored 14 of those points.

Smith shook his head when recalling how quickly the game fell apart for Northport. “We knew Marcus (Whittaker) is Marcus, and he can change a game, but they’re deep. They are far more than a one-player team. They can all shoot. They can all play defense,” he said.

It wasn’t as though Whittaker, the leading scorer in Leelanau County, had an off night. He also finished with 22 points, although they didn’t come in bunches, and along with Nedow pulled down 5 rebounds. Credit sophomore Nate Sneed with 10 points and a fancy dribbling display to wind out the clock. Sam Scott handed out five assists.

And there was Gibson with 5 assists and 5 steals.

Northport coach Jeff Tropf, whose squad had been beaten twice earlier by Leland, was upset only at a non-consequential bench technical called on the Wildcats. It was the lone technical called all season against a team that played with a high level of sportsmanship through close wins and some lopsided early losses.

Team members grew closer as the season progressed, Tropf said. “We didn’t have the discussions a lot of teams have. I believe we had fun,” he said.

Northport wasn’t expected to win many games, but still finished .500.

The Wildcats were led by seniors Ryan Blessing, Basil Stowe, Erik Johnson and Jason
Roman. “Those kids have been solid all season long,” said Tropf, who returned to coaching after leading girls’ teams in Suttons Bay in the 1980’s.

In a long-standing Leelanau tradition, Tropf will be rooting for the Leelanau County teams that remain alive in state Class C and D tournaments. He expected Leland to move on in Class D.

“They’ve got the full package, and they have an advantage of having played (bigger schools) in the Northwest,” he said.