By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON—Despite scoring the first nine points of the second half, the Ashwaubenon boy’s basketball team lost to Sheboygan North, 64-47, on senior night Feb. 15 at Ashwaubenon High School.
Brent Widder torched the nets for 33 points, including 8 three-point baskets, and Sawyer Pothast added 13 for North, who remained in second place in the Fox River Classic Conference, one game behind Green Bay Southwest.
Kyle Krueger led the Jaguars with 15 points.
There was a lid on the north side of the gym to start the game as Sheboygan North scored the first seven points of the game.
With Widder finding the hoop on every other possession, the Jaguars stayed strong on their end with Krueger muscling his way around the hoop for 7 first half points.
With the Jaguars down 24-18 with 6:50 left in the first half, the Golden Raiders went on a 17-2 run to end the half. Much of the damage was done from behind the arc as they shot 63% from the floor in the first 18 minutes.
With the Golden Raiders up 21 points at intermission, the Jaguars knew they needed to do something quick to start the second half and that is exactly what happened.
Behind Krueger’s tenacity in the lane and Tomashek’s outside triples, Ashwaubenon cut the lead to 12 with 12:34 left in the game.
“We played with great energy and drive to start the final 18 minutes,” said Ashwaubenon coach Chris Karcz. “Basketball, though, is a 36-minute game and we have to do that throughout.”
The Jaguars, however, couldn’t capitalize on their next two offensive possessions and the Golden Raiders made them pay by extending their lead back up to 56-37 with 6:50 left in the game.
Down the stretch, with the game in hand for the visitors, the Ashwaubenon coaching staff played the seniors and Ian MacLean took advantage of the opportunity.
MacLean came into the contest having not scored all season. That all changed on this night.
First, he hit a free throw, then canned a triple from the right side of the lane and followed that up with another free throw.
When the horn had sounded, he had tallied five points for the game.
The Jaguars will conclude their regular season next week when they travel to West De Pere and Sheboygan South.
“We have the seeding meeting over the weekend,” added Karcz. “Wherever we have to go, everybody starts at 0-0. We have beaten Southwest already this year, so we have the confidence to go out and play anybody on the court.”
Note: Seven seniors (No. 2 Ian MacLean, No. 3 Luke Hansford, No. 10 Bennett Schuster, No. 14 Ben Wendorf, No. 15 Rome Purull, No. 24 Marcus Wagner, and No. 32 Alex Steinfest) were honored in a ceremony prior to the game.
Box Score:
Sheboygan North: 41, 23—64
Ashwaubenon: 20, 27—47
Golden Raiders: Widder 33, Pothast 13, Renzleman 5, Robinson 4, Schmidtke 3, Walters 2, Janquart 2, Schieble 2
Jaguars: Krueger 15, Tomashek 12, Imig 8, MacLean 5, Morgan 3, Wagner 3, Hansford 1
