By Greg Bates
Correspondent
DE PERE – The Pulaski boys’ basketball team is old school in its approach: slow down the tempo of the game, make every possession count and create turnovers.
The De Pere boys’ basketball team likes to run and get up and down the court to create easy looks.
De Pere’s philosophy worked to perfection Dec. 17.
The Redbirds got Pulaski out of its comfort zone early going on a 22-2 run en route to a 70-39 victory in Fox River Classic Conference action.
“Whenever you play Pulaski, you have to try and get the tempo going in your favor, and obviously, we want to play a full-court game,” De Pere head coach Brian Winchester said. “We were able to do that right off the start. The energy our kids brought was tremendous. It was fun to watch us get on the floor for loose balls. When we got those loose balls, we were able to translate them to transition points early on.”
De Pere’s win keeps it undefeated at 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
The Redbirds’ up-tempo style has been effective this season.
The team is averaging 76 points per game and allowed a stingy 46.7 points on the other end of the court.
That defense carried over and shut down Pulaski, which shot only 28 percent (11-for-39) from the field.
“Coach emphasized pressuring the ball all week in practice, especially their point guard Brock Egnarski – we knew he was their strongest ball handler,” De Pere senior Ethan Hohol said. “If we could pressure him and be in the gaps and pressure all the other players to make tough passes, we knew it would lead to turnovers and make it difficult for them to score.”
De Pere, which shot 56 percent (26-for-46) from the field, scored on multiple, easy hoops in the win.
It started early, as Will Dehn had an 11-0 run on his own – nailing back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers – to mount a 26-4 lead.
Dehn scored a team-high 16 points.
Up 35-17 at halftime, the onslaught continued in the second as Hohol tallied eight of his 12 points to give De Pere its biggest lead, 61-29.
“Ethan had a good, all-around game,” Winchester said. “His energy on the defensive end was great. He rebounded the heck out of the basketball, and he had a few back cuts at the beginning of the second half that got us rolling offensively.”
Hohol got a couple of easy looks thanks to Maddax Shinners, who finished with a team-high five assists.
“I’ll take the ball to the rim myself and try and make my own plays, but I work off my teammates a lot more than the average player,” Hohol said. “If I can work my teammates to get those open looks, some nights I won’t have as many points as I did tonight, but if I can continue getting open shots, it’s a good night for me.”
Pulaski (1-4, 0-2 FRCC) was led by Jonah Klingeisen with 10 points.
Even with his team up 20-plus points in the second half, Winchester kept striving for his kids to keep executing and continue to learn early in the season.
“My message early on in the game – we were maybe up 16, 18 – in the first timeout was not to play to what the scoreboard says,” Winchester said. “When you start doing that and you’re up 18, now we can put it on cruise control, that’s where it can catch you. We didn’t do that for the most part. We had a few quick offensive possessions, but I thought we did a good job trying to execute what we needed to do.”
Out to an undefeated start to the season is what Hohol envisioned for his team.
“I know we’re not even close to what we’re going to reach, but this is what I expect out of my teammates,” Hohol said. “We push each other in practice, and this is the outcome.”