As well as the Bonduel boys basketball team had played leading up to its return trip to state, that didn’t happen in the Bears’ semifinal matchup with Cambridge.
The Bears, the No. 1 seed in Division 4 at the WIAA State Boys Basketball Tournament, saw their season end March 19 with a 71-49 loss to fourth-seeded Cambridge at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Bonduel, playing at state for the second year in a row, ended its season with a 25-4 record, while the Bluejays improved to 20-9 and will play Milwaukee Juneau on March 21 for a state championship.
The Bears led for most of the first half until Ian Nelles’ 3-pointer gave the Bluejays their first lead – 20-17 – with 4:18 remaining before halftime. Bonduel never had the lead again, as Cambridge led 26-22 at the break and outscored the Bears 45-27 in the second half.
Jack Zernicke’s 3-pointer cut the Bluejays’ lead to three points a minute into the second half, but Cambridge scored the next 14 points, and the Bears never got any closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
“I guess it’s a little disappointing, but we didn’t play very good basketball tonight,” coach Duke Copp said. “We didn’t shoot well, and they shot really well.”
The Bears also turned the ball over 18 times, and Cambridge converted several of those turnovers into 18 points.
“That was one of our keys to the game: be strong with the basketball,” Copp said. “I think a lot of those were unforced early on. As the game went on, they played hard. That’s a good basketball team. They play as hard as anyone we’ve seen. We thought if we played good basketball, we could hang with them, but you need to take care of the basketball.”
The Bluejays held Bonduel’s top two scorers – Quinn Wesenberg and Ryan Westrich – to 12 and eight points, respectively.
Westrich fouled out late in his final high school game after grabbing 19 of his team’s 36 rebounds.
“They played tough defense,” he said. “I probably should have finished a little better, but that’s a story for another day.”
Jack Weier had nine points to go along with Wesenberg’s team-high 12, while Cal Nottestad led Cambridge with 16.
“Coming out of halftime, I felt confident,” Wesenberg said. “I knew we could play better basketball, and I really expected to play better basketball. I think of ourselves as winners that work hard and do what we need to do to win a game. It just didn’t work out like that.”
All three of the Bears’ regular-season losses to Brillion, Manitowoc Lutheran and Kewaunee came during a five-game stretch in the middle of the season.
The Bears regrouped and went on to win its next 11 games to repeat as Central Wisconsin Conference-East champions.
“Right now, this game feels like a big disappointment,” Copp said. “Down the line, the things they’re going to do in life are going to be far greater than what they’ve done on the basketball court.”
“It hurts to lose right now,” Westrich said. “It was not what we planned on doing, but eventually when we move past this, we’ll look back on the season and think of the success.”
Westrich made it to state as a junior and senior.
“Kids at school have dreamed of going to state for many, many years,” he said. “I’m thankful for being part of even one team that made it to state, let alone two. Two is an amazing accomplishment, and I’m so happy to be a part of it.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of my kids,” Copp said. “We had a lot of talent coming back. We weren’t really sure what was going on, but our kids just battled. We had a tough regular season with a lot of good teams we played. For a little school like ours to get down here two years in a row is pretty cool.”
Griffin Uelmen plays defense for Bonduel in the second half of the Bears’ loss to Cambridge. (Greg Seubert)
Quinn Wesenberg led Bonduel with 12 points March 19 in a 71-49 loss to Cambridge at state. (Greg Seubert)
Bonduel coach Duke Copp watches his team’s defensive effort against Cambridge. (Greg Seubert)
