Papermakers power past Phantoms

By Murray Gleffe

Correspondent

DE PERE - The No. 3 ranked Kimberly Papermakers (17-2 overall) put their full arsenal of talent on display, Monday, Feb. 11, as they defeated West De Pere, 80-61, in a non-conference boys' basketball game played at West De Pere High School.

Jake Buchanan led the 'Makers with 19 points, and Levi Nienhaus-Borchert added 18.

Jake Karchinski finished with a game-high 23 points for the Phantoms, who fell to 8-9 overall.

“We had it down to nine on a few different occasions to start the second half but just couldn’t get the stops we needed,” said West De Pere head coach Andy Werner. “They are a very good team. It’s hard when you try to stop No. 3 and 32 and then their other guys make shots as well.”

For the first nine minutes of the game, West De Pere hung right with Kimberly behind the guard play of Jovan Webb and Garrett Kempen.

That’s when the Papermakers turned a three-point margin into a 15-point lead (40-25) at the break. Oddly enough, it was the Kimberly bench that fueled the run.

Karchinski came out of the locker room and couldn’t miss to start the second half. He hit two long range bombs - each one from the corner to keep West De Pere within shouting distance.

“I saw they (Kimberly) were playing off me a bit to start the second half, and I just trusted my shot to go down,” said Karchinski.

The problem for the Phantoms wasn’t on the offensive end but rather on defense, where they simply couldn’t get a stop.

“We made some mistakes defensively that hurt us,” said Werner. “We just couldn’t keep pace with them, and they showed how explosive they can be with multiple kids scoring offensively.”

After Kempen nailed a triple from the top of the key to cut the Papermakers' lead to 43-34 with 14:28 remaining, Kimberly went on a decisive 13-5 run to build their lead back up to 17 at 56-39.

Both teams continued to trade baskets midway through the second half, with the visitors holding onto a double-digit lead throughout.

Down the stretch, both coaches called off the starters and reserves finished out the contest with the game well in hand for Kimberly.

“It was a big non-conference victory for us,” said Kimberly head coach Lucky Wurtz. “I thought our ball movement was really good in the second half. They made some tough shots, but overall I thought our defense played pretty well.”

Box score

Kimberly: 40, 40—80

West De Pere: 25, 36—61

Papermakers: Buchanan 19, Nienhaus-Borchert 18, Miller 10, Thies 8, Bartol 8, Alt 6, Jacobson 3, Reschke 3, Pendleton 2, Martzahl 2, Wnek 1

Phantoms: Karchinski 23, Kempen 11, Webb 11, Jensen 5, Wall 4, Rusch 3, Edinger 3, Darrow 1