A short road trip led to another win for the Bonduel boys basketball team.
The Bears headed down state Highway 29 on Feb. 17 and returned home with a 56-39 win over Pulaski.
Although the win didn’t count in the Central Wisconsin Conference-East standings, it will help the Bears’ cause when it comes to seeding for the upcoming WIAA state tournament, according to coach Duke Copp.
“We needed this one big, because Iola-Scandinavia and St. Mary (Catholic) are right behind us in the seeding, and we have a couple more tough games yet this week,” he said. “We had to get this one.”
Bonduel never trailed in the game and improved to 18-3 on the season, while Pulaski fell to 9-12. After both teams exchanged baskets to open the contest, the Bears went on a 14-0 run that included three 3-pointers from Quinn Wesenberg and another from Carter Moesch.
Although the Red Raiders cut the deficit to five points with an 11-2 run and trailed 22-17 at halftime, they never got any closer.
Pulaski held Ryan Westrich to four points in the first half, but he scored 13 of his game-high 17 points over the final 18 minutes, including seven in a row at one point that turned a 10-point lead into a 15-point advantage.
Wesenberg and Moesch also finished in double figures for Bonduel with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Copp said the Bears made adjustments at halftime that helped keep Pulaski from taking the lead.
“We talked about being patient,” he said. “They were overly patient, and we knew that was going to happen. We had some really good offensive possessions and got some layups out of it, so that was huge. I didn’t really sub tonight. I told the five guys that we’re going to win with those guys. They made big play after big play. It seemed like someone stepped up and made a big play every time we needed one.”
Bonduel also didn’t allow a Pulaski player to reach double figures, as Benjamin Shaw and Bohdan Schmidt led the Red Raiders with eight and seven points, respectively.
“We seldom play it, but we used a 3-2 zone (defense) tonight,” Copp said. “I thought that was the best defense for us to play against them tonight, and it worked out really well.”
He said there are good and not-so-good points to adding bigger programs like Pulaski to the nonconference schedule, especially late in the season.
“It’s scary, because you want to win games, but I think it’s battle-testing our kids,” he said. “It’s tough, because we have three games this week. All these kids playing had a big run last year. They’ve been in bigger games than this last year. I told them if we can beat a team like Pulaski in their gym like this, we can go beat anybody.”
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Jax Urben brings the ball up the court for Pulaski in the Red Raiders’ nonconference matchup with Bonduel on Feb. 17. (Greg Seubert)
Pulaski’s Benjamin Shaw guards Bonduel’s Quinn Wesenberg. (Greg Seubert)
Bohdan Schmidt scored seven points for Pulaski in a 56-39 loss to Bonduel. (Greg Seubert)
