Gresham boys basketball team knocks down 17 triples in win over Tigerton

The Gresham Community High School boys basketball team connected on 17 3-point shots to roll to an 86-17 win over Tigerton on Dec. 18 in Gresham.

Gresham junior Lukas Pecore led the 3-point barrage, hitting seven triples to lead the team with 23 points. Juniors Belasaire Vele and Austin Sperberg each connected on four 3-pointers, scoring 16 and 12 points, respectively. Junior Will Jensen hit the final two triples and finished with 15 points.

“I think a big difference tonight over previous games — and we’re a good 3-point shooting team. We got three, four guys that can shoot it pretty consistently, so that’s a bonus — is we got good ball movement," said Gresham coach Jeff Zobeck. We created for each other for good opportunities instead of coming down, one pass and jacking them up.”

“Out of all of our games this year, I think we moved the ball better tonight and shared the ball and spread out those shots, and everybody was on tonight.”

It was Tigerton that scored the first five points of the contest — a 3-pointer from sophomore Colby Wanta and bucket from sophomore Ryder Graham — before Gresham used a 15-0 run to take control. Senior Jake Hoffman got the Wildcats on the scoreboard with a 3-point play before Pecore and Vele knocked down their first 3-pointers of the contest.

After a field goal from Graham, Pecore scored the game’s next two baskets, both 3-pointers. After Tigerton junior Zeke Griepentrog hit a shot, Gresham went on a 13-0 run, with two triples from Sperberg and another from Vele during the run.

Gresham finished the first half on a 12-0 run, with Vele hitting two more 3s and Pecore one to cap a 46-point half that included 10 3-point makes.

“All of our teammates played together,” said Vele. “We shared the basketball and made really good quick passes. Everyone understood their roles. We have some really good 3-point shooters and when on their game, they are hard to stop.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it, to be honest with you,” said Tigerton coach Kent Wheeles of Gresham’s 3-point shooting. “If feels like they shot at least 80%. That took us out of the game real early, there’s really no adjustment we could make. They just made all the shots.”

The second half started similar to the first, with Graham hitting a pair of shots for Tigerton, but then Gresham’s 3-point shooting heated up again.

Pecore knocked down two 3s and Sperberg one during a quick 11-0 Wildcat run. Tigerton then knocked down a free throw with 9 minutes, 43 seconds left, which turned out to be the team’s final point.

While finishing the game on a 25-0 run, Pecore, Sperberg and Jensen all hit triples. Jensen hit two of them and tallied eight of his points in the final three minutes of the game.

“We hope to keep that going in our games to come and try to move the ball faster and smarter, being a threat both behind the arc and in the paint because if we can make a threat in both areas that makes (us) a hard team to beat,” said Pecore of the team’s offensive outburst.

Graham finished with nine points to pace Tigerton on the offensive end of the floor.

No other Tiger had over four points.

“I give major respect to Gresham’s team,” said Tigerton senior Kaeden Miller. “I’ve never seen a high school team shoot that well from beyond the arc.”

“You can never just flush a game away, there’s always something a team can learn from wins and losses. We have to do a better job executing against the press and calming down around the arc, make them force the ball down low, avoid threes at all costs.”

Tigerton 11 6 — 17

Gresham 46 40 — 86

Gresham (86): Belasaire Vele 0-0 16, Will Jensen 3-3 15, Lukas Pecore 0-0 23, Austin Sperberg 0-0 12, Weston Schick 0-0 8, Jonah Surprise 0-2 4, Jake Hoffman 2-5 8.

Tigerton (17): Colby Wanta 1-2 4, Justin Knaup 0-0 2, Ryder Graham 0-0 9, Zeke Griepentrog 0-2 2.

sports@newmedia-wi.com