By Murray Gleffe, Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON- The Jaguar boys’ basketball team ran into a hot shooting Green Bay West Wildcat team Tuesday evening (Dec. 5) and came out on the short end by a final of 57-53.
The Wildcats shot a blistering 59% from two-point land with Freeman Jackson’s 12 points paving the way.
The Jaguars were led in scoring by Anthony Guarascio who pumped out 25 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Bryant Phillips had 14 points and Bennett Schuster added four.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 13-10 lead with 11:05 left in the first half due to the dribble-drive action of guards Brandon Dudley and Jackson.
Each of them continuously put the pressure on the Jaguar defense by getting into the paint for looks.
“We need to do a better job of cutting hard on offense and playing together as a team,” said Chris Karcz, Ashwaubenon Jaguar Basketball Coach. “I was very disappointed with the effort tonight.”
Later in the half, the Jaguars Evan Wood sliced through the zone defense of the Wildcats to put in a three-foot jumper to cut the lead to 25-21 with 1:46 left.
Just before the break, the Wildcats JQuail Hanks took a miss off a rebound and put home the layup to give his team a 29-26 lead heading into intermission.
The Jaguars came out and took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game when Guarascio hit a mid-range jumper to put the Jaguars up 31-30 with 16:26 left in the contest.
The teams went back and forth.
Nine lead changes were exchanged to start the second half.
Guarascio hit a three-pointer from the left corner sideline to put the Jaguars up 41-40.
The Wildcats responded after Dion Coleman hit a trey that came out of the sky and dropped through the net to once again put his team up 45-42 with 8:57 left in the game.
The Jaguars reclaimed the lead when senior guard Jeremy Cox hit the most unlikely of shots. Cox came of a screen, set his feet (which were almost touching the end-line), and drained a three pointer that hit off glass and banked in. It put the Jaguars up 48-45 with 4:37 left in the game.
The Wildcats, however, kept driving to the basket on the Jaguar zone the final four minutes of the contest. It resulted in either a foul or a made layup.
The result was a game-closing 12-5 run for the Wildcats that enabled them to capture the game by four points.
“We have to get better at rebounding the basketball, not give up so many second chance opportunities, and play with passion,“ added Karcz. “The kids need to get after it in practice tomorrow, and we need to give a full 36-minute effort on Friday vs North.”
The Jaguars fall to 0-3 overall and will be back in action when they host the Sheboygan North Golden Raiders Dec. 8.
Green Bay West/Ashwaubenon Box Score
Green Bay West 29,28, -57
Ashwaubenon 26,27, -53
Wildcat Totals: FG’s 24-50, 3 PT FG’s 2-13, FT’s 7-19, Rebounds 11, Steals 6, Personal Fouls 20
Jackson 12, Hanks 11, Dudley 10, Coleman 10, Robinson 9, Carter 4, Carter 1
Jaguar Totals: FG’s 17-58, 3 PT FG’s 8-26, FT’s 11-19, Rebounds 20, Steals 6, Personal Fouls 17
Guarascio 25, Phillips 14, Cox 5, Schuster 4, Baierl 3, Wood 2
