With their top two scorers back from a season ago, the Oconto Falls boys basketball team has a solid base to build off.
Seniors Riley Gruetzmacher (6-foot-5) and Mike Fifield (6-foot-8) combined for 37 percent of the team’s scoring, 17.7 points per game, and are the only two returning starters.
“They both are going to be expected to do a lot this year,” head coach Kirk Hirst said.
Gruetzmacher (9.4 points per game) played on an all-star baseball team over the summer, and Hirst believes that helped him mature a lot. Fifield (8.3) competed in the AAU last summer.
“I think we’ll be taller than a lot of teams in our conference,” Hirst said. “Our front line is as big as anybody. It’s just a matter of getting the ball into their hands and making some plays. If we do that and our guys slow down and run what we should do, I think we’ll be alright, I really do.”
The Panthers (4-18) will be without nine graduated seniors, including Alex Young (6.1 points), Tyler Kowalczyk (5.9), Bo Shroyer (5.2) and James Salscheider (5.2).
Hirst calls this the most complete and talented team he’s had during his four seasons in the program, including one season as an assistant coach.
“On paper, I think we’re better than we were last year,” Hirst said. “Then again, you still have to throw the ball up and cross the line and do what you need to do.”
The Panthers nearly upset Peshtigo in the second round of sectionals, leading by five entering the fourth quarter before falling, 64-54. Hirst considers it a building block for the team’s future.
“It gave them confidence that we can play at that level,” Hirst said. “That big game meant something. I think we’ve taken a step in the right direction. … I think the program is starting to move ahead.”
Junior guards Mike Manns and Tyler Hagemeier have impressed Hirst after a season on the junior varsity team.
“We’ve got some ball handlers now this year that have more confidence in themselves, so to speak, that we didn’t have last year,” Hirst said.
Along with Gruetzmacher and Fifield, another notable senior is Jordan Koppa. The forward added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason and gained experience on last year’s junior varsity squad.
“That fifth starter is between Koppa and who knows, maybe Jack Huberty,” Hirst said. “I think it might depend on who we’re playing and what kind of avenue we want to go defensively.”
Huberty, a junior, and senior Connor Sefcik will be in the rotation this year.
“I think we’ve got a good inside-out game,” Hirst said. “Mike Manns can drive, can shoot the ball inside. Tyler Hagemeier has just improved so much in the last year with his confidence because he’s been in the weight room.”
Juniors Wesley Brabant, who can spell Fifield on the inside, and Austin Kowalczyk will try to work their way into getting some time on the court.
“What we may lack in size, I think we’ll be better in the IQ side of it, in my opinion,” Hirst said.
Hirst doesn’t think scoring will be an issue this season for his team after posting 41 points per game last year.
“If we can get eight, nine guys averaging six, seven points a night, that’s perfect,” Hirst said. “If a guy goes off one night, great. We’ve got a couple guys that can go 15, can go 20. Riley, I think, can be that guy and Mike (Fifield), if he stays aggressive.”
Hirst thinks Gruetzmacher, who led the Bay Conference with 9.5 boards last year, and Fifield can each average double-doubles this season.
Two areas that Hirst has been hammering home to the team are minimizing turnovers and a stronger defense.
“I think we have the ability to give some teams some problems,” Hirst said. “We just have to do the little things. That’s what we preach in practice, ‘Guys, just do the little things, and if we do the little things, big things will happen.’”
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