Bonduel boys basketball team picks up CWC-East win over Manawa

The Bonduel High School boys basketball team got a well-rounded effort in a 63-52 Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division win over Manawa on Jan. 3 in Bonduel.

The Bears trailed by as many as nine points in the opening half, but freshman big man Ryan Westrich heated up to give the hosts a halftime lead. Bonduel was trailing by five in the second half when the team caught fire from 3-point land, which helped the team pull away.

“This is just a great confidence booster,” said Westrich, who led the Bears with 20 points. “I mean, we just had a game yesterday (beating Sturgeon Bay) and two wins in a row is a lot, a lot of good things. We just got to keep it rolling, keep playing hard and keep winning games.”

It was a shaky start to the contest for Bonduel. The visiting Wolves scored on their first four offensive possessions to grab a quick 9-4 advantage.

After Westrich scored the team’s first four points, Noah Weier connected on a big three-point play to get the hosts within two. Manawa scored the next five points, only to have Bonduel get it right back on a basket from Owen Springborn and 3-pointer from Cade Johnson.

Westrich hit another shot and Colin Margelofsky knocked down a free throw over the next couple minutes, but the Bears couldn’t slow Manawa and were soon facing a nine-point deficit, 24-15.

Triples from Margelofsky and Johnson got the Bonduel offense going again before Westrich carried the team into halftime.

Westrich scored 10 of the team’s final 12 points in the half to give the hosts a 33-29 halftime advantage.

A three-point play got Westrich going before Margelofsky chipped in a bucket. After the Wolves went ahead 29-26, Westrich converted back-to-back buckets before capping a 16-point first half with a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer.

“First things first, I got to give credit to all my teammates,” said Westrich on what allowed him to be so successful. “They were dribbling and opening lanes which allowed for help defense and easy cuts toward the basket. We all did a pretty decent job of boxing out and I just had to finish from there when I got the ball.”

After getting hot late in the half, it appeared that Bonduel might run away with the game in the second half, but it was Manawa that scored 10 of the first 13 points — Johnson hit a 3-pointer for Bonduel’s points.

Weier knocked down a shot to put an end to an 8-0 Manawa run, but the Wolves scored the next four points to take a 43-38 lead.

Westrich converted his first shot of the second half to give the team a spark, and then the team caught fire from deep to completely take over the game.

Charlie Tauchen did the heavy lifting with four 3-pointers in a five-minute span.

“When I saw that first one go in, it felt good, so I kept shooting. We all made shots, it was a good team win,” said Tauchen. “The first half, it wasn’t falling. Second half, I got them falling and we made some plays on defense to get a good win.”

Tauchen’s first triple was followed by a basket from Weier. Tauchen hit another triple to force a Manawa timeout and then hit another 3 after the timeout to give the Bears a 51-43 advantage.

Manawa scored for the first time in over four minutes, but Margelofsky and Tauchen hit triples to end any thoughts of a comeback.

Westrich and Johnson each converted shots before a few free throws down the stretch finished off the contest.

Bonduel ended up hitting 24 field goals in the contest, with 10 coming from behind the 3-point line. Behind Westrich’s 20 points, Johnson and Tauchen each scored 12, while Margelofsky had nine and Weier seven.

“I think the defensive end — they’re a great team — we played well on the defensive side and that led to offense. It was a big win,” said Tauchen.

Manawa 29 23 — 52

Bonduel 33 30 — 63

Bonduel (63): Cade Johnson 1-3 12, Colin Margelofsky 1-2 9, Ryan Westrich 1-1 20, Charlie Tauchen 0-2 12, Josiah Basten 1-2 1, Noah Weier 1-2 7, Owen Springborn 0-0 2.

Manawa (52): Tanner Nienhaus 0-0 12, Keither Jepson 0-0 6, Hunter Schleuter 0-0 4, Trevor Krueger 3-4 6, Nathan Gorman 1-5 13, Brady Zemple 0-0 2, Rohan Hass 1-1 9.

sports@newmedia-wi.com