By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PETTISVILLE (December 20, 2025) – A wise coach once said, “Take all the analysis out of it and basketball can be as simple as hitting shots.” Pettisville coach Brian Leppelmeier was that wise veteran coach.
And it was Leppelmeier’s Blackbirds who started off 12-15 from the field, a stat that included five three-pointers, as Pettisville rolled to a 24-point second quarter lead, and beat Bryan 62-38.
“We thought that as long as we handled their pressure, we would be able to get an open look,” Leppelmeier explained of his team’s smoking hot beginning.
“The kids, their feet were set, they were in rhythm shots, and they were good looks. Yeah, the game is simple when the ball is going in.”
Ironically, it was Jack Leppelmeier who missed the first Pettisville shot of the night in the first 40 seconds. From that point in the first, the Blackbirds knocked down the next nine attempts.
Alex Galvin began the barrage with a side of the key jumper, and after Rhett McGill countered for Bryan, Pettisville rattled off the next 13 points.
Creighton Aeschliman scored in transition, Leppelmeier scooped up a loose ball under the rim and scored, then hit 2-2 from the foul line.
Leppelmeier dished to Galvin for a layup, Ryan Bishop went 2-2 from the line, and Zander Hogrefe capped the burst with a wing triple at the 2:33 mark to give Pettisville a 15-2 lead.
The Birds were far from done. Aeschliman fed Bishop for a layup, and Galvin banged home a three-ball. Aeschliman got loose down the slot for two more, and Leppelmeier capped the first-quarter salvo with a triple with 4.1 on the clock that gave Pettisville a 25-7 lead.
Hogrefe and Leppelmeier hit from long range to start the second, then Leppelmeier powered inside for an ‘and-1’ that blew the margin up to 34-10. Suddenly, the Birds went south, missing five straight.
Jake Arnold’s foul line jumper and Bryce Welling’s drive helped Bryan get the deficit below 20 at 34-16 but Aeschliman stuck a straight on three-pointer at the horn to bump the Blackbird advantage to 37-16.
“He doesn’t (get enough credit),” Leppelmeier said of Aeschliman. “He is kind of our second point guard because when a team is in a zone, and we’re trying to get the basketball in Jack’s hands, he does a good job of operating in the middle of the floor and finding guys.
“A lot of times, he has to withstand a little bit of pressure, and I thought he did a good job tonight. Early on with Bryan being extended, he was finding guys at the three-point line, he was finding guys down low, and he was solid defensively also.”
Pettisville was just 3-8 in the third, but Bryan couldn’t cut into the big lead as the Bears were 3-10 in the quarter.
The Blackbirds regained form in the early parts of the fourth as Aeschliman drove for a score and Galvin got a three-point play off a loose ball feed from Leppelmeier to give Pettisville a 51-25 bulge.
The Blackbirds (5-1) got their biggest lead at 60-31 with 2:40 left on two Aeschliman free throws.
Pettisville placed four in double figures. Leppelmeier led the way with 20, Aeschliman scored 14, Galvin contributed 12, and Hogrefe added 10.
“That’s always nice to see,” Leppelmeier expressed of four players with 10-plus.”We can get that open shot the way teams defend us, and we are pretty confident we’re going to get an open shot.
“If they take all that away, we still have some one-on-one. We know if they were going to collapse and we’d get an open look, and we had guys knocking them down.”
Bryan (2-5) did not have a double-figure scorer. The Blackbirds ended up 21-38 from the field while Bryan was 15-44.
BRYAN (38) – Gonzalez 0; Welling 11; Kennedy 4; Miller 9; McGill 5; Arnold 8; Watson 0; Kerr 0; Watson 1; Totals: 12-3-5 – 38
PETTISVILLE (62) – Leppelmeier 22; Galvin 12; Aeschliman 14; Hoylman 0; Hastings 0; Z. Hogrefe 10; Crawford 0; Bishop 4; Totals: 14-7-13 – 62
BHS 7 9 7 15 – 38
PHS 25 12 8 17 – 62