Wolves push Eagles to the limit

There’s a bright future for the Algoma and Kewaunee boys varsity basketball teams, but that doesn’t take away the sting of season-ending losses in the WIAA Div. 4 regional tournament last weekend.

The #4 seed Storm couldn’t get shots to drop early enough or often enough, and suffered a 52-46 loss at #5 seed Oconto in a semifinal on March 7.

Meanwhile, the #6 seed Wolves beat #3 seed Iola-Scandinavia 71-58 the same day before pushing Southern Door on the road but falling in the regional title game March 9, 76-62.

“They were playing with house money in a lot of ways,” said Southern Door coach Josh VandenBush, whose Eagles (23-3) played Bonduel (25-1) in a sectional semifinal March 6. “Algoma was playing like they had nothing to lose. They really pushed us to the limit.”

After a slow start — down 7-0, 17-7 and 29-16 — Coach Eric Schneider’s team went on an 12-3 run in the final five minutes of the first half to pull within four at the break, 32-28.

Algoma took its first lead two and a half minutes into the second half on a Parker Lischka steal and layup. There were four ties and seven lead changes before the Eagles took advantage of the bonus and double bonus to pull away late.

“All night long our kids brought a lot of pressure, a lot of energy to keep us in it,” Schneider said. “The scoreboard doesn’t tell the true story of the game.”
Drew Daoust led all scorers with 34 points, and 24 of them — including 10 free throws — came in the second half. Fellow guard Caden Pierre did a lot of the damage early, with all of his 18 points (including four three-pointers) in the first half. Tyler Neinas added 16, including a trio of second-half threes in the middle of Algoma’s push for an upset.

“Those guys stepped up huge,” said Daoust, who headed into Thursday night’s battle with Bonduel at 3,068 points, second all-time in state boys basketball history.

“None of that scoring stuff matters now,” Daoust said. “I’ve hit every milestone I needed to. What matters is we’re moving on. I just want Ws.”

Lischka led Algoma with 26 points. Chase Romdenne added 13, all in the second half. Braeden Leist and Charlie Prokash each added 7, Carson Leist 5 and Cody Kirchman 4.

A night earlier, the Wolves erupted for 49 points in the second half, including 15 of Braeden Leist’s 17, 13 of Lischka’s 16 and 10 of Romdenne’s 14. Prokash had all seven of his in the final 18 minutes. Kirchman scored 10 of his 11 in the first half. Carson Leist added six.

“The seniors (Chase, Carson and Cody) left this program in a better spot than they found it,” said Schneider, whose team finished 19-6, its first winning campaign in nearly a decade. “They each brought something different. The leadership, the intensity… We’ve got some big shoes to fill next season.”
Off night for Storm

Coach Matt Bosdeck’s team left Oconto with a bad taste in its mouth after struggling to put the ball in the basket.

“We came out ice-cold,” Bosdeck said. “We didn’t hit some shots early, and it seemed like that had a trickle effect mentally. Our defense really kept us in the game, but we picked a bad night to have a bad shooting night.”

The Blue Devils led 8-0 early, but the Storm pulled to within six at 24-18 at the break. Kewaunee cut it to 36-35 at one point before falling behind 45-37. Foul trouble hurt, and Avery Jerabek eventually fouled out while Diesel Bosdeck also played conservatively with four fouls. The Storm was able to get as close as two before Oconto iced it with free throws.

Freshman Dane Harrell was the only Kewaunee player in double figures with 16. Senior Cooper Kolmorgen added 9. Bosdeck had six on a pair of three-pointers. Connor Kilgore added 5, Evan Maccoux and Jerabek each 3 and Mason Kovacs and Landon Latour each 2.

The Storm finished 17-9, and like Algoma, will lose three seniors. But only one of them — Kolmorgen — played extensive minutes.

“Cooper moved up from JV last year and was a great shooter for us X invaluable for our team,” Coach Bosdeck said. “Ethan Paplham worked hard in practice to help make everyone better, cheered everyone on from the bench, and when he got in there he looked to score. And our foreign exchange student (Roemer Thijssen), that’s a difficult position to come in to, but everyone accepted him and he was a great teammate.”

With Southern Door, Oconto and others graduating the bulk of their scorers, Bosdeck knows the Storm will have targets on their backs next year.
“The boys need to embrace that and come to work every day to get better,” he said.

L-C finishes 5-21

In a Div. 2 regional semifinal last Friday, Notre Dame beat Luxemburg-Casco, 93-51. The Spartans were led by Josh Parins with 16 and Jacob Coisman with 10. L-C finished with two more wins than last year, ending 5-21.