Storm unbeaten heading into tournament

One of the most-hyped games in recent years ended up a one-sided blowout for the unbeaten and top-ranked Kewaunee boys basketball team Monday.

The Storm set a school record for the boys with its 23rd win of the season, dominating Algoma 83-45. The previous record was 22 wins held by the 1972 and 1990 teams.

Kewaunee was hot from the floor, making 35 of 61 shots (57.4%), including 8-of-17 on threes (47.1 percent). Connor Kilgore was 9-of-12, Evan Maccoux and Dane Harrell each 7-of-10, Mason Kovacs 3-of-4 and Avery Jerabek 6-of-11.

“I told the boys it’s going to be a tournament atmosphere,” said Kewaunee Coach Matt Bosdeck. “We came out playing like it’s going to be our last game. When we do that, that’s the product that we can put on the floor.”

Kilgore scored 20 points and added five rebounds, six assists and two steals while holding Algoma’s Braeden Leist to 6-of-16 shooting.

“He’s a great player,” Kilgore said of Leist, who missed the first game against the Storm with a stress fracture in his fibula. “He’ll get his points no matter what. He kept ‘em going.”
Leist led the Wolves with 20 points. Seven others scored, but only two had more than one basket.

“He’s one of those guys that basically is not guardable,” Algoma Coach Eric Schneider said of Leist. “He’s got so many offensive skills. He put himself in a great spot to make some shots or get to the free-throw line. We just need more out of the rest of our guys. We settled too much for early-possession shots and didn’t work it around enough to get the shot we wanted.”

The Wolves made just 14 of 48 shot attempts (29.2%), including 5-for-24 on three-point shots (20.8%). Leist was 2-for-5 from deep.

Meanwhile, Evan Maccaux had a trio of triples among his 18 points and Dane Harrell 14 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Avery Jerabek added 13 points and Mason Kovacs nine. Diesel Bosdeck, Calvin Kolmorgen and Mason Delebreau each added a three-pointer to round out the scoring.

Diesel Bosdeck dropped five three-pointers and scored 25 to lead the Storm past Sturgeon Bay three nights earlier. This time, his primary role was defense, holding Algoma’s top scorer Parker Lischka to just one basket, a three-pointer.

“Credit to my teammates,” Bosdeck said. “They play really good help defense. I don’t have to worry about getting off my guy too much, I can stay close.”

Said Kilgore, “The energy with all the fans here, we got hyped up. Amazing.”

The senior guard is leading the Storm in points per game (14.9), assists (3.3), steals (three) and blocks (1.2), and second only to Harrell (9.0) in rebounds per game with seven. He’s also tops among the starters in field goal percentage, hitting 49.5% of his shots from the floor.

The Storm led 9-0 early, then used another 9-0 run later in the half to lead 34-17 before the Wolves closed the gap to 38-24 at halftime. Kewaunee used another big run, 13-0, to put the game out of reach in the second half.

“They’ve got five guys that can put the ball in the hoop,” said Schneider. “We didn’t do a great job helping when they got post entries. That gave them some open shots. We knew they were going to knock ‘em down, but we have to do a better job defending the perimeter and just being smarter defensively.”

It was the eighth time this season Kewaunee has scored more than 80 points. They’re averaging 75.9 points per game while giving up 48.8. The ’72 Kewaunee team, playing fewer minutes in a game and without the three-point shot, holds the school record averaging just over 81 points per game.

“Credit to the coaches, the fans and all my teammates,” said Diesel Bosdeck, one of several sophomores considered a key part of the team. “Just playing together, that’s going to be key the rest of the year to keep us rolling. We just need to keep the next-game-up mentality, not looking ahead, just having the confidence that we can go and play with anybody.”

Asked about the unbeaten season so far, Bosdeck’s coach (and dad) said, “It feels great. The credit is to the boys. They’re the ones that bring the effort. I just try to put them in spots to succeed. For them to do what they’ve done so far, they should be very proud. We also talk about we’re not done yet. We haven’t done very well in the tournament in the past, and this group’s trying to change that.”

Diesel said the atmosphere at Kewaunee Monday night was great.

“The fans really showed up for us tonight,” he said. “I’ve never seen the balcony open here during the game, so that was really cool to see.”

Besides Bosdeck’s big night at Sturgeon Bay Friday, Harrell added 16, Kilgore 12 and Jerabek 10 in a 79-42 win. That same night, Algoma hammered Gibraltar, 80-32. Leist had 26, Parker Lischka 19 and Aiden Zeitler eight to lead the Wolves.

The Storm wrapped up its regular season Thursday night against Gibraltar, a team it beat by 52 points Feb. 14. Algoma (17-6) hosted NEW Lutheran.

WIAA tournament opens

Eleven-seed Green Bay West is at six-seed Luxemburg-Casco Tuesday in a Div. 2 regional opener, while in Div. 4, five-seed Algoma hosts #12 Southern Door. Kewaunee gets a first-round bye, and will host the winner of nine-seed Manawa vs. eight-seed Weyauwega-Fremont next Friday in a regional semifinal. The Algoma/SD winner plays at four-seed Saint Mary Catholic.