The Shawano Community High School boys basketball team struggled offensively in the first half Friday, leaning on senior center Zeke Gueths to do the majority of the heavy lifting against West De Pere.
With the defense also focused on Gueths, the Hawks did not have enough offense to make the full comeback in a 51-42 Bay Conference loss.
Gueths, the only Hawk to finish in double figures with 20 points, scored on an early layup, but the Hawks went scoreless for the next eight minutes as Gueths went to the bench with two fouls. He returned to score the next six points for Shawano.
“We just tried to give help anywhere we could,” West De Pere head coach Andy Werner said. “He’s a man. There’s no other way around it. He’s a great player; he’s a good kid. He does it the right way. We just did everything we could to stop him.”
Austin Kohl was Shawano’s second player to find the basket, at the 3:24 mark in the first half, as the Hawks closed the half on a 9-1 run, but still trailed 28-17 at the half. The Hawks’ run included a 3 by Jacob Lacy and two free throws from Tyrell Hesse.
“We have guys that are good shooters, and we were just a little tentative tonight,” Shawano head coach Dave Ambrosius said. “I don’t know if it was just the crowd, or what, but we were just a little tentative.
“Once we settled in there, after we were down 19, we finally got into a good rhythm. Once again, we spotted them a lot of points. Against a good basketball team, you just can’t do that and expect to come back.”
It took a balanced attack for the Hawks (5-7, 4-2 Bay) to make a second-half comeback, as Adam Bartz posted 5 second-half points and Cole Nelson added 6.
“We had some guys get some good looks, shooting them with confidence,” Ambrosius said. “When you make one shot, one leads to three, leads to four. Everybody just continues to get more and more confidence with every shot.”
Shawano was able to get within 10 points after a 7-0 run from a Gueths layup, two free throws and a Bartz 3 at the 9-minute mark in the second half.
The Hawks cut the lead to 6 points after Hesse made two more free throws with 1:03 remaining. It could have been even closer, but Shawano allowed three offensive rebounds from missed Phantoms free throws in the closing minutes that led to 3 more points for the visitors, just enough to seal the game.
“We got everything we wanted. We just didn’t get the rebound, and then we had to foul them again. It took all the momentum we had away from us and really just helped them ice the game,” Ambrosius said. “It’s a credit to them. They went after them more aggressively than we did.”
Gueths added seven rebounds, while Bartz and Nelson each recorded four assists.
The Phantoms (10-3, 4-2 Bay) shot 54 percent from the free-throw line, including 11 of 21 in the second half, including 7 of 12 in the final three minutes.
Noting the Shawano students section under the basket, Werner said, “They got the good setup with the crowd there and they are thinking about stuff. It’s just the way it goes. We just have to step up and knock down free throws.”
West De Pere was led by Luke Pannier’s 19 points. Luke Reimer chipped in 12.
West De Pere had a large crowd for a visiting team, even making the gymnasium seem like a road game at times for the Hawks.
West De Pere (51)
Zellner 3 1-2 8, Kempen 5 2-3 12, Pannier 5 7-10 19, Rahn 2 0-2 5, Janus 2 1-3 6, Norton 0 1-2 1.
Shawano (42)
Richards 1 0-1 2, Nelson 2 2-6 6, Lacy 1 0-0 3, Hesse 0 4-5 4, Bartz 2 0-0 5, Kohl 1 0-0 2, Gueths 7 6-9 20.
West De Pere 28 23 — 51
Shawano 17 25 — 42
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