Boys Basketball: Letter, Kakwitch reach 1,000 points in CWC-East battle

KESHENA — Bonduel’s Cole Letter and Menominee Indian’s Norman Kakwitch each topped the 1,000-point mark in their high school careers during an entertaining Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division boys basketball clash on Thursday.

Bonduel led the entire game, fending off several Menominee Indian runs and picking up an 83-67 victory.

Needing seven points, Letter knocked down a corner 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the first half to hit the 1,000-point mark.

“It’s definitely a dream come true,” said Letter. “Kids put in a lot of time, I know I put in a lot of time to this. It’s something I lay in my bed and think about. It’s the reason I get up at 5:45 every morning to go to the gym and shoot. It’s indescribable.”

Kakwitch needed to score 28 points to reach the milestone, and he achieved the mark with 2:41 remaining in the game after converting a shot in the lane despite being fouled. Teammates then swarmed the senior and led him out of the gym in celebration.

“It’s been one of my high school dreams ever since I saw one of my idols, Ron Frechette, hit it my freshman year. It’s one of the goals I was working for every summer and all my hard work finally paid off,” said Kakwitch.

Both coaches subbed the 1,000-point scorers — who both thanked their teammates, coaches and families for their support along the way — out so a packed gym could applaud each player one last time.

While Letter’s first points didn’t come until halfway through the first half, he helped set up his teammates as the team jumped out to an early double-digit lead.

Menominee Indian had a difficult time getting into a rhythm on offense, with Kakwitch providing the first seven points to keep the team in it.

Bonduel got its lead up to 15 points a couple times in the first half, including after Letter’s triple for his 1,000th point.

“It’s fantastic. Seriously, I’ve been coaching 22 years, and I’ve never had a kid that’s worked as hard as Cole Letter does,” said Bonduel coach Duke Copp. “He’s a phenomenal leader. He does everything the right way and I knew back when he was in fifth, sixth grade when I took over, I said, ‘I can’t wait to get that kid in my program.’ He came in as a freshman and has been dynamite ever since.”

Bonduel junior Carson Robaidek tallied nine first-half points, while Letter and junior Garrett Engel had seven and senior Justin Bahr six. Kakwitch had half of Menominee Indian’s 24 points at halftime.

Like many of the team’s previous meetings, the game remained competitive despite one team seeming to be in control.

Menominee Indian was able to trim the deficit down to six early in the second half on a 3-pointer from Kakwitch.

After the team’s battled back and forth for the next several minutes, Bonduel used a 8-0 run to create some breathing room and go up 19 points. Senior Noah Beilfuss hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions during the Bears’ run.

A pair of Kakwitch 3-pointers kept Bonduel from running away with the win. His three-point play to reach 1,000 points got Menominee Indian within 13 points, but the hosts couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.

“He’s a student of the game. He understands and watches film and wants to get better. Throughout the season, you’ve seen him start to get in the flow of things, start to let the game come to him and then the points really started to come. Tonight’s success is the product of everything he’s done so far,” said Menominee Indian coach James Oshkeshequoam of Kakwitch.

Letter helped the Bears put the game away by knocking down nine of the 10 free throws he attempted in the second half. He led Bonduel with 20 points.

Engel added seven more points in the final half to finish with 14 points. Robaidek tallied 13 points in the contest.

Kakwitch tallied 20 second-half points to finish with 32 for the contest. Senior Menom Powless scored 10 of his 13 points in the final half.

Bonduel 36 47 — 83

Menominee Indian 24 43 — 67

Bonduel (83): Carson Robaidek 3-5 13, Kole Jashinsky 1-2 1, Garrett Engel 4-4 14, Reece Stoltenow 1-2 8, Cole Letter 9-10 20, Noah Beilfuss 0-0 6, Will Beaumier 0-0 2, Justin Bahr 0-0 8, Dylan Burch 3-3 7, Brody Wussow 2-2 4.

Menominee Indian (67): Tiger Dixon 1-2 6, Menom Powless 0-0 13, Ashton Corn 0-0 3, Andre Corn 0-0 4, Mason Frechette 0-2 3, Raymond Fish 2-3 6, Norman Kakwitch 10-13 32.

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