Boys Basketball: Oconto Falls falls to Clintonville

Panthers on wrong side of second-half run
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

OCONTO FALLS — The Oconto Falls High School boys basketball team could not recover from an early second-half run in a 67-55 North Eastern Conference loss to Clintonville on Friday.

The visiting Truckers went on an 18-2 run in the second half to break open a game that Oconto Falls controlled for most of the first half.

“I thought we had some poor offensive possessions. It’s not like we were missing good shots — we were taking some bad shots,” said Oconto Falls coach Gary Regal. “That was the tale of the second half. At crucial times, even when we got back into it, we started forcing some things and then had two (defensive) possessions in a row where we lost our guy and gave two wide-open 3s. That really hurt us.”

Down 47-34 with 11 minutes, 39 seconds to play, Oconto Falls was able to bring the score within 10 points on multiple occasions, but it couldn’t string enough defensive stops with points on the offensive end together to overcome the deficit.

Jarod Parsons converted two straight field goals to make it a seven-point game, 49-42, with just under six minutes to play, but Clintonville responded with an and-one.

Panther senior Zach Parsons answered with a three-point play of his own, only to have Clintonville hit a 3-pointer on the other end to make it a 10-point game with 4:25 to play.

After the Truckers pushed the lead back up to 13 points, Oconto Falls got field goals from senior Joey Walters and Jarod Parsons before a free throw from senior Mitchell Manns made it it 58-50 with 1:47 to play.

Clintonville was able to seal its win from the free-throw line, converting its next six attempts to go back up 14.

Junior Garrett Vervelde hit a triple and Jarod Parsons converted another shot down the stretch, but the hosts eventually ran out of time.

“They started hitting some 3s. We had some mental lapses on defense where guys weren’t covering where they were supposed to and they just started hitting 3s,” said Jarod Parsons of the early second-half run by Clintonville. “On the offensive end, they started to pressure us a little bit more and then we just couldn’t get back in our rhythm.”

Jarod Parsons converted seven field goals in the game and led Oconto Falls with 16 points. Walters added 12 points, while Manns had 10.

Despite allowing Clintonville to score on its first three offensive possessions of the game, it was the Panthers that were able to work out to an 18-9 lead. Manns scored six points during the run, while Jarod Parsons converted a pair of and-ones and had eight points.

Clintonville was able to trim the deficit to two, but then had its leading scorer (Aiden Polzin) go to the bench with two fouls.

The Panthers looked to be on their way to taking over the game in the final minutes of the half after going up 30-24 on a Manns’ 3-pointer, but Clintonville grabbed the momentum by ending the half on a 5-0 run.

Clintonville 29 38 — 67

Oconto Falls 30 25 — 55

Clintonville (67): Cameron Mauel 4-6 15, Presley Rosenow 0-0 3, Jesse Wilson 0-0 3, Cole Rosenow 2-2 2, Klay Barkow 0-0 2, Nathan Morse 2-4 19, Aiden Polzin 7-9 23.

Oconto Falls (55): Joey Walters 1-2 12, Dylan Thomson 0-1 0, Garrett Vervelde 0-0 6, Mitchell Manns 2-4 10, Isaac Raddatz 2-2 6, Jarod Parsons 2-2 16, Daylen Hischke 0-0 2, Zach Parsons 1-1 3.

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