By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON—The Pulaski Red Raiders boys’ basketball team built a 21-point lead and hung on in the second half to defeat the Ashwaubenon Jaguars by a final of 63-52.
Cole Ahrens led the Red Raiders (8-5 overall, 6-4 FRCC) with 21 points, and Brock Egnarski chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds.
“We got great production from all five starters tonight,” said Dave Shaw, Pulaski head coach. “Our basket cuts enabled us to build that big lead in the game.”
The Jaguars (5-8 overall, 3-7 FRCC) were led by Christopher Morgan who had 15 points, nine of which were from three-point land.
After Ashwaubenon and Pulaski traded baskets to start the game, the Red Raiders scored 19 of the next 22 points behind back door cuts from the trio of Ahrens, Egnarski, and Logan Lukasik. During that span, the Jaguars had eight turnovers and one made field goal.
The Jaguars offense picked up toward the end of the half when Kyle Krueger and Alex Steinfest connected on power lay-ups to trim the Red Raiders lead to 26-14 at halftime.
After Krueger connected on an old-fashion three-point play a couple minutes into half number two, the Red Raiders went on a 12-4 run to give them a 44-23 lead with 9:27 left in the game.
Ashwaubenon then instituted a half court trap that caused some panic with Pulaski’s weave offense.
The Jaguars battled back with three-point shooting by Morgan, Matt Imig, and Marcus Wagner to cut the Red Raiders margin to single digits 56-47 with 2:44 left in the game.
“I thought we really played good basketball midway through the second half to chip away at their lead,” said Chris Karcz, Ashwaubenon head coach. “We dug ourselves a hole early on that we weren’t able to get out of. A 15-point lead is like a 30-point lead with the style they run. We limited Trevor but their other two kids hurt us.”
The Jaguars had a couple of chances to cut into the lead further but Bo Bramschreiber hit an elbow jumper and the Red Raiders canned free throws down the stretch to escape with a road victory.
“It’s a nice win after a tough three game losing streak,” added Shaw. “It helps when you get off to a fast start on the road, and get good production from your seniors.”
Box Score:
Pulaski: 26, 37—63
Ashwaubenon: 14, 38—52
Red Raiders: Ahrens 21, Egnarski 16, Stiede 11, Bramschreiber 9, Lukasik 6.
Jaguars: Morgan 15, Krueger 11, Wagner 10, Imig 9, Tomashek 3, Steinfest 2, Wendorf 2.
