BY MURRAY GLEFFE

CORRESPONDENT

SEYMOUR—Trent Blake was a one-man wrecking crew scoring 32 points leading the Seymour Thunder past the Ashwaubenon Jaguars in boy’s basketball non-conference action. (Nov. 20)

Riley Murphy added 12 and Peyton Dorn 7.

Kyle Krueger led the Jaguars with 15 and Freshman Chris Morgan was the other double-digit scorer with 11.

The Thunder jumped out to an early two basket lead behind a couple of mid-range Dorn jumpers.

Ashwaubenon then went on a 9-1 run behind the post moves of Krueger and quick release of Morgan from the outside to go up four points themselves.

“We played well for a portion early with getting Kyle some nice looks, and our guards perimeter shots, “ said Chris Karcz, Jaguars basketball coach.

The Jaguars would enjoy one last lead at 11-9 after starting two-guard Marcus Wagner scored two off an offensive rebound put-back.

Seymour picked up its half court defensive tenacity forcing seven Jaguars turnovers during an 18-2 run behind the stellar play of Blake in the paint.

Every time down the court during the run, Blake received a touch.

Whether it was high-low action, an easy lay-up, or kick back out to a guard, the ball ended up going through him first.

Just like that, the Thunder went up a dozen with 8:01 remaining till the half.

“We got sloppy with our box out mechanics,” Karcz said. “We gave up way too many offensive rebounds, not just too their big men, but their guards as well.”

Freshman guard Matt Imig nailed a three pointer from the top of the key to stop the run, but minutes later 6’5 Tyler VandeCorput scored to give the Thunder a 32-16 lead.

Both teams traded baskets down the stretch, and Seymour took a 40-24 margin into halftime.

A couple minutes into half number two, Morgan showed why he is worth the price of admission.

He took the ball thirty feet from the basket, did a cross over ankle breaking move, and then calmly drained an NBA 26-foot three pointer in the grill of a Thunder defender.

“The young guys did some nice things tonight, “ added Karcz. “They found out what its like to play under the lights in a big-time environment such as this. For portions of the second half, we had all underclassmen on the floor. They will learn and get better.”

It didn’t stop Seymour, however, from scoring at will and they built a 24-point margin (59-35) after Blake nailed consecutive three pointers from the left wing.

The Jaguars kept fighting behind the play of Krueger in the lane but in the end the Thunder were just too much as they cruised to an easy 19-point home victory.

The Thunder improve to 1-0, and the Jaguars fall to 0-1.

Box Score:

Seymour          40, 35   75

Ashwaubenon 24, 32   56

Thunder-Blake 32, Murphy 12, Dorn 7, Driessen 6, Schaumberg 6, VandeCorput 4, VanDeHei 4, Shufelt 2, Volkman 2

Jaguars-Krueger 15, Morgan 11, Imig 9, Wittig 6, Tomashek 3, Jacobs 3, VandenElzen 2, Steinfest 2, Brooks 2, Wagner 2, Schuster 1