Bulldog Use Big First Half to Blitz Maroons

The Menominee Maroons didn’t look ready to play from the opening tip of Friday’s matchup with Peshtigo. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, were ready from the jump.

The tone was set early, as the Bulldogs held Menominee to just nine points in the first half while scoring 35 of their own.

The Maroons’ gameplan was to attack the lane. Even with 6-foot-8 forward Kaine Fort in the paint, Menominee coach Sam Larson felt good things would happen if they went inside.

“Our first three shots were fadeaways,” Larson said. “That pretty well said it right there that we were not here to complete and play from the opening three minutes.”

Rebounding also proved to be an early advantage for Peshtigo in what ended up as a 74-54 victory when all was said and done.

“We talked about at least trying to play neutral on the glass tonight, and I think we gave up six offensive rebounds in the first four minutes,” Larson said. “It wasn’t rebounds where Peshtigo overpowered us or used their length, it was rebounds where we literally didn’t go get anybody, and that’s disheartening to see.”

Menominee made four field goals and made one free throw in the first half. Peshtigo went to the line early and often, making 24 of 38 free throw attempts in the game.

“It was a rough game. Both teams were grabbing, holding, and I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure and not getting flustered with them playing so tight, and continuing to go to the basket,” Peshtigo coach Jason Boucher said. “I think we shot almost 40 free throws tonight. I thought we did a really good job attacking the basket, and when you attack the basket and get to the free throw line, usually good things happen.”

Fort scored 18 points for Peshtigo, Mason Doberstein scored 17, and Grant Bauman got 16, of which 10 came on free throws. Will McMahon scored nine and Kavin Kleikamp scored six.

Trevor Theuerkauf scored 24 points for the Maroons. Eli Beal scored 13 and Brock Murphy scored seven.

Cougars Get Offensive
in Win Over Badgers

When it comes down to it, the game of basketball is all about who makes more shots. On Tuesday night, that was the Coleman Cougars over the Niagara Badgers.

Coleman scored 41 points in the first half and 39 in the second half to get the 80-51 win.
The 3-point shot wasn’t necessarily falling for Coleman, as they hit just four of 16 attempts, but they made 29 of 48 shots from inside the arc.

The one player that did find some success from downtown for Coleman was Tyler Rennie, who made three of six attempts from deep and finished with 18 points.

Joe Olsen made five of seven two-point attempts and scored 13 points, Evan Hockers was 4-7 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line to score 13, and Victor Kostreva scored 12 on 6-13 shooting.

Kostreva is coming into his own this season as a sophomore.

“You can tell Victor’s a sophomore, but he’s going to be our next good post player. It’s just a matter of getting him used to the speed and flow of the varsity game,” Coleman coach Jeff Bronson said. “He has a pretty good future. This year, he’s learning to finish and learning some nuances so next year it’s not going to be thinking. He’s going to be able to play that one or two steps faster, which is the exciting part.”

Logan Kurth added 10 points, and both Hunter Shevy and Trent Mongin added seven points on the night.

“Considering how we shot the ball Friday night down in Lena, this was good to see,” Bronson said. “We also understood a little better how we’re built to play a little more. We got the ball inside the three. We made a lot more mid-range jumpers tonight, and with the team we have right now and how we’re shooting, that’s going to set up and free up a lot of other things for us.”

Tommy Martin scored 18 points to lead the Badgers. Nicholas Krueger added nine, Blake Holmes scored eight, and both Aiden Colenso and Dante Stachowicz scored six.

“The difference is they shot extremely well,” Niagara coach Terry Youren said. “That’s the difference in the game. They played a really nice game tonight. They played very hard, they out-rebounded us, and it’s just the little things. We just didn’t hit the shots we needed to hit, and that’s the game of basketball.”

Niagara (8-8 overall, 5-5 M&O Conference) plays Wausaukee (3-6 M&O) on Friday night. Coleman (10-4 overall, 9-1 M&O) goes to Oneida Nation (5-3 M&O) Friday night.

Marines Drop Overtime
Heartbreaker to Comets

The Marinette Marines are still searching for their first win of the season, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort on Tuesday night, when they took Waupaca to the wire, falling in overtime by a 70-66 score.

Marinette struggled on both ends of the floor early, allowing Waupaca to take a 17-4 lead after a trio of 3-pointers by Henry Mouw. The largest lead was 16 after Owen Smidt hit a 3-pointer to make it 32-16.

“We didn’t play our best basketball at the beginning of the game. Pregame, we said we can’t let [Mouw] get going and we let him hit four threes in the first five or six minutes,” Marinette coach Connor Nelson said. “When a kid like that gets going, it’s hard to slow him down, but we battled back.”

The Marines settled in, with a couple buckets by Chase MacGregor giving the offense a jumpstart and Cale Ducane scoring seven of the team’s final 10 points to cut the gap to 36-26 at halftime.

“I told the guys at halftime, we probably played some of our worst basketball the first five or six minutes of the half,” Nelson said. “But then we played some of our best basketball that last eight minutes where we finally got some things going offensively.”

Things really got rolling for Marinette in the second half. A MacGregor triple cut the lead to 41-37 with 12:32 to play, and Marinette took its first lead of the game with 5:48 to go when Dominic Smerchek stole the ball and finished in the paint.

There wasn’t much scoring in the final five minutes. Waupaca hit a couple of free throws but didn’t make a field goal for over five minutes, and Marinette led 57-54 with 1:33 to play.

Riley Bechard cut it to one with 46 seconds. MacGregor hit two free throws to restore the 3-point cushion, but Waupaca was pretty much perfect down the stretch, scoring with 11.5 seconds left and again with one second left, with Ducane going one for two at the free throw line sandwiched in between.

In overtime, the biggest play was a steal and an and-one by Gavin Taggart that gave the Comets a 69-64 lead with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Taggart scored five points in overtime to push his team to a win.

The loss drops Marinette to 0-15 on the season, including 0-11 in North Eastern Conference play.

“We’re 0-15 and I don’t think there was a single person in the gym that was sitting down at the end of that game just because we competed for 36 minutes,” Nelson said. “That’s all I can ask for, and I’m really proud of my guys and the way we played. I’ll go to bat for them any day.”

Mouw scored a game-high 26 points. Bechard scored 14 and Taggart got 10.

For Marinette, Smerchek scored 19, Sam Sommerfeldt and Cole Ducane scored 10, and MacGregor scored nine.

The Marinette’s next chance to get in the win column is against Oconto Falls, 1-10 in NEC play this season. That one tips at 7 p.m. Friday in Oconto Falls.

Rangers Post Comeback
Win Over Eagles

The first time Suring and Wausaukee met this season, Suring won 70-35. When the two sides squared off Friday, it was a completely different story.

After starting the season 1-6, the resurgent Rangers have won four of seven games, including Friday’s 69-60 victory over Suring.
Suring started the game on the front foot, making six 3-pointers. The Eagles led by as much as eight, a 23-15 lead on a triple from Quinn Thomson.

Wausaukee tied the game at 27 and trailed by just three points at halftime.

“I felt pretty good at half. Even though we were down by three, I felt like we weathered the storm because they were bombing it from everywhere and hitting them,” Wausaukee coach Jon Betts said. “They didn’t miss much from 3-point range in that first half and I felt like we did a good job of weathering that and staying in the game because chances are they aren’t going to hit six more in the second half. You’ve just got to keep playing your game.”

Wausaukee quickly took a five-point lead in the second half. Suring regained the lead at 45-44, but from there Wausaukee would never trail. Suring would tie the game a couple of times, but the Rangers always held it there and took their advantage back.

“Their defensive pressure upped a bit. It happens. You’re hot early, you get a halftime break, and you’ve got to find it again,” Suring coach Joseph Loipersberger said. “We came out slow but I thought we did a good job of picking it back up.”

Prestin Brunette scored 29 points for the Rangers. Layne Rowley scored 12 and Danny Suennen scored nine. Brayden Ketchum scored seven and Connor Schroeder scored six.

For the Eagles, Ashtyn Edwards scored 20 and Ethan Lally added 15. Mason Ferrell scored eight and Thomson scored six.

Badgers Bounce
Thunderhawks 53-48

Tommy Martin scored 21 points to lead Niagara to a 53-48 win over Oneida Nation on Friday.
Martin had 11 points at the half and made six of seven second-half free throws to help close the game out.

As a team, Niagara was 10-13 on free throws.

Blake Holmes scored 15 points, Aiden Colenso scored nine, and Nicholas Krueger added eight.

“We played a complete game tonight and made our free throws,” Niagara coach Terry Youren said. “I am proud of the team’s effort. Hard work pays off and it is starting to show.”

Donovan Danforth led the Thunderhawks with 17 points.

Blue Devils Blitz
Pioneers 86-45

Oconto stormed into Sevastopol and dismantled the Pioneers 86-45 on Friday night.

Oconto Falls scored 53 points in the first half and led by 33 at halftime. The damage was done, and a 33-25 second half put things to bed.

Kadin Baxter’s 23 points paced the Blue Devils.

Carter Koch scored 19, Trenton Hartman added 17, and Dominik Baxter scored 14.
Sevastopol’s high scorer was Nick Peterson with 11 points.

Cougars Second Half
Defense Stifles Wildcats

Coleman held Lena to six points in the second half of a 64-31 Cougar win on Friday.

Leading 35-25 at halftime, the Cougars’ defense turned up in the second half and held the Wildcats to single-digit points.
Coleman’s Evan Hockers led all scorers with 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half.

Logan Kurth carried the scoring in the second half, getting 11 of his 13 points in the half. Tyler Rennie scored 11 and Joe Olsen added eight.

Logan Graef and Mason Spice scored 11 and 10, respectively, for Lena.

Marines Fall to Foxes
High Powered Offense

Marinette fell to 0-10 in North Eastern Conference play with a 79-46 loss to Fox Valley Lutheran on Friday night.

FVL moved to 9-2 in the conference with the win, trailing only Little Chute. Adam Loberger led the Foxes with 15 points and Isaac Kroll got 14.

For Marinette, Sam Sommerfeldt scored 15 points to lead the way. Chase MacGregor scored eight.

The first time the teams met, on Dec. 5, FVL won 91-24.

“I saw a lot of improvement in our guys in comparison to our first matchup,” Marinette coach Connor Nelson said. “FVL is a very talented team who is well-coached. Props to our guys for playing the way we did even though this would have been an easy game to come in flat to.”

Maroons Fall to
Flivvers in GNC Play

Menominee is still in search of its first Great Northern Conference win after falling 63-58 to Kingsford on Monday.

Menominee came out of the first quarter with a 17-14 lead, but Kingsford led 37-34 at halftime. After Menominee’s offense went quiet in the third quarter, it was 47-41 going into the fourth.

Both teams scored more in the fourth, but Kingsford’s 17 was enough to see out the win.

Cole Myllyla scored 18 points to lead the Flivvers. Nic Nora got 14, Morgan Sleik and Gavin Grondin scored 10 apiece, and Ben Trevillian scored nine.

Trevor Theuerkauf scored 15 points to pace the Maroons. Connor Coduti scored 13, Eli Beal got 12, and Darrent Butler scored 10, five of which came in the fourth quarter. 

Spartans Cage
Panthers 77-64

Oconto Falls put up 41 second-half points but fell 77-64 to Luxemburg-Casco on Friday.

The Spartans led 36-23 at halftime and also scored 41 in the second half, leading them to a win despite the Panthers’ improved performance.

Alex Haines was the Panther leader with 19 points and nine rebounds. Carter Hill scored 15, Caden Birr got 14, and Kody Vorpahl scored 10. Braden Vandermoss added six.

Lux-Casco’s trio of Chase Bukouricz, Jack Rollin, and Ethan Vandenhouten scored 18, 17, and 16, respectively.

Wolverines Walk Away
From Cavaliers 75-40

Saint Thomas Aquinas Academy was no match for the M&O Conference-leading Crivitz Wolverines in a 75-40 defeat Friday night.

Tegan Werner scored 19 points, Sean Christiansen got 17, and Brady Tadisch scored 14. Jackson Flowers added six.

For STAA, Ethan Braley got nine and Teagan Anderson scored seven.

“The kids played hard throughout and never backed down. Good leadership was shown by senior Ethan Braley,” STAA coach Jack Farley said.

Bulldogs Cruise to Win
Over Pioneers 85-46

Eleven Peshtigo players got in on the scoring action Tuesday as the Bulldogs cruised past Sevastopol 85-46 in a Packerland Conference matchup.

The Bulldogs scored 58 points in the first half and led by 37 at the interval.

Will McMahon, Kaine Fort, Kavin Kleikamp, and Grant Bauman each scored 13 points for Peshtigo.

McMahon had 13 rebounds and four assists as well. Fort added nine rebounds and four steals.

Mason Doberstein had 11 points and four assists, Landon Beyer scored eight points, and Maddox Levknecht scored six.
Silas Williams had five rebounds, three assists, and two points.

Lucas Delsart scored 13 points for Sevastopol.

Peshtigo out-rebounded the Pioneers 36-19 and made 17 more field goals in the game.

Peshtigo (13-2 overall, 7-1 Packerland) has a huge week coming up, as the Bulldogs face 8-1 Southern Door at home Saturday night at and 7-1 Kewaunee on the road Tuesday night.

Both games are set to tip at 7:30 p.m.

Eagles Hold Off
Blue Devils
in High Scoring Tilt

Oconto challenged Packerland Conference leaders Southern Door on Tuesday but were beaten 86-73 after a huge second half from the Eagles.

The Blue Devils led 44-35 at halftime, but 51 second-half points saw Southern Door secure the home victory.

Drew Daoust led all scorers with 37 points followed by 22 and 18 from teammates Jared Hawkey and Taylor Schaefer as the Eagles moved to 8-1 in Packerland action.

Oconto’s Kadin Baxter scored 21, Trenton Hartman scored 19, and Domink Baxter scored 15.

Cooper Campshure and Jackson Martin scored eight and seven, respectively.

Oconto (10-6 overall, 4-5 Packerland) faces Sturgeon Bay (3-6 Packerland) Monday night.

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