By Janelle Fisher
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
LITTLE CHUTE – Undermanned, the West De Pere boys’ basketball team went on the road and couldn’t quite pull off an upset victory on Friday night.
Missing two of its starters — top scorer Ethan Heck and sophomore Easton Deschane — the Phantoms had the tall task of taking on one-loss Little Chute.
West De Pere had to adapt and other players had to step up to fill the gap. However, it wasn’t enough as Little Chute won, 58-46.
“We just had to have the ‘next man’ mentality up and figure out a way to make it work for us and continue to play hard,” West De Pere coach Todd Deschane said. “The guys that are out there as starters now have to probably contribute a little more than normal and just play through it. We can’t use anything as an excuse. I mean, we’re in the middle of the season. We’ve just got to continue to play through whatever adversity strikes us.”
Little Chute, ranked No. 8 in Division 3 in the latest WisSports.net Coaches Poll, got its first two points of the game from senior Drew Joten.
Senior Cal Maronek quickly followed suit, sinking a 3-point shot for the Mustangs just a minute later.
West De Pere made it onto the scoreboard just a minute behind Little Chute when junior Andrew Baumgart, the team’s second leading scorer behind Heck, reciprocated with a 3-point shot of his own.
Just two minutes into the game, senior Thomas Walder pulled the Phantoms into the lead with another 3-pointer.
West De Pere junior Langdon Nordgaard and Little Chute junior Charlie VandenBurgt each tallied two points for their teams before Little Chute called its first timeout of the game with just under 15 minutes to go in the first half.
The Phantoms (9-8) came back from the timeout strong with a point earned via free throw, followed by two baskets by Baumgart.
Little Chute (17-1) made two free throws before West De Pere scored another basket, this time a joint effort by Nordgaard and senior Sutter Deschane.
Senior Hunter Thiel — Little Chute’s leading scorer — scored two baskets for the Mustangs before Deschane made a free throw for West De Pere.
Little Chute’s Caden Kerrigan scored two points, followed by another two points for West De Pere, bringing the score to 18-15 with the Phantoms in the lead.
In the last 3 1/2 minutes of the first half, the Mustangs took the lead with a basket by senior Cody Bergin, two baskets by Thiel, a basket from senior Tyler Fischer and one free throw.
The teams went into halftime with Little Chute up, 24-18.
Deschane and Nordgaard made the first two West De Pere baskets out of half.
Not willing to give up its lead, Little Chute followed shortly after with two points from Maronek, a 3-pointer by Joten and a field goal by senior Carter Engle.
The nine-point Little Chute lead remained consistent then for some time, with two-point baskets earned by Baumgart for West De Pere, then Thiel for Little Chute, Nordgaard for West De Pere, Bergin for Little Chute, Riley Kraft for West De Pere and Engle for Little Chute — bringing the score to 37-28.
West De Pere cut into its deficit with another two points from Nordgaard before both teams scored two points from free throws.
VandenBurgt snuck in another basket for the Mustangs before the team called its second timeout of the game with nine minutes left in the second half.
Little Chute came out of the timeout scoring on a free throw, followed soon after by West De Pere’s Nordgaard scoring a field goal.
The Mustangs scored two more free throws, followed by a basket for West De Pere from sophomore Riley Kraft and a 3-pointer for Little Chute made by Thiel.
West De Pere scored one more basket before calling its first timeout of the game with 4 1/2 minutes left in the second half.
Coming out of the break, Little Chute’s Engle earned two points, West De Pere earned three via a basket and a free throw and Little Chute’s Thiel scored another basket, increasing the Mustangs’ lead to 51-41.
Walder made a 3-pointer for West De Pere and Little Chute called another timeout with 1:44 left on the clock.
Little Chute added two baskets by Thiel and Maronek, respectively, before the Phantoms called for a timeout with just 45 seconds remaining in the game.
In the 10 seconds of gameplay before West De Pere called for another timeout, Baumgart scored the team’s last points of the game with a two-point shot.
In the final 30 seconds, the Mustangs earned three points from free throws and locked in its seventeenth win of the season.
Coach Deschane noted that although Little Chute is not in West De Pere’s conference, the game between the two teams should still prove to be beneficial as his team gets ready for its next Bay Conference game.
“This was a good game to prepare us because we have Menasha on Tuesday, coming back into conference play, and they got us at their place last time,” Deschane said. “They play a 2-3 zone and this was a 2-3 zone the entire game. It’s going be a good challenge for us to continue to progress and get better. And hopefully as we go along, the more we see somebody the better we’re going to get at facing them.”