Playing in a new conference this season, the Oconto Falls High School boys basketball team is taking on opponents it’s not used to facing.
One of those teams is Wrightstown.
The Wolves, ranked No. 2 in Division 3 in the latest WisSports.net Coaches Poll, have shown early in the North Eastern Conference schedule it is the team to beat.
Oconto Falls was down just four points eight minutes into Thursday’s game against Wrightstown, but then the Wolves turned it up another gear. Wrightstown closed out the final 10:10 of the opening half on a 31-5 run to take a commanding lead. From there, they cruised to a 69-25 victory in Oconto Falls.
“They’re not the No. 2 in the state for nothing,” Oconto Falls coach Kirk Hirst said. “We’re not going to play a team like that in a long time. Luxemburg will be good, but a team like that, they’re good.”
Oconto Falls dropped to 0-6 overall and 0-5 in conference.
Hirst was disappointed in how his team competed against Wrightstown. He said losing by such a large margin should be an eye-opener for his players.
“Like I told those guys, ‘When you’re in practice and you’re screwing around and doing some ridiculous stuff, just remember you got beat by 44.’ That’s what you take away from that,” Hirst said. “Those guys are a very good team; they’re very physical, and it just tells us that our whole program’s got to get stronger.”
Oconto Falls shot just 23.4 percent from the field and 21.4 from 3-point range. Wrightstown hit 50.9 percent of its shots and 45 percent on 3s.
The Panthers turned the ball over 15 times compared to the Wolves’ six. Wrightstown outscored Oconto Falls 16-2 on points off turnovers.
“What they do real well is they really screen well,” Hirst said. “What it comes down to is they’re really strong kids. You can’t get through them. They’re very well coached. They’re very physical. And when you’re physical like that and can screen the way they do and you’ve got kids that can shoot it, they are tough to beat.”
In the first half, Michael Manns cut Oconto Falls’ deficit in half, 8-4, with a basket at the 10:10 mark. Wrightstown (8-0, 5-0 NEC) responded with a 17-2 advantage led by 6 points apiece from Zac Haese and Stephen De Cramer. Wrightstown’s defense spurred the run and provided separation on the scoreboard.
“I thought defensively from the get-go one of our focuses was to really own that pack area, that 15-foot from the rim area, and keep the ball out of there off the bounce or off the pass. I thought we did a pretty good job,” Wrightstown coach Cory Haese said. “We took them out of a lot of their actions and sets they wanted to throw at us. I think we frustrated them with our ball pressure and our activity.”
With just four first-half field goals and trailing 39-9 at halftime, Hirst wasn’t pleased by his team’s effort. He offered a brief message to his players in the locker room.
“I went in and said, ‘If you don’t want to compete and if you don’t want to play, it’s embarrassing how you’re playing. If you want to continue doing that, take your uniform off and don’t come out because I’m not going to put up with that,’” Hirst said. “If we compete and give everything we’ve got and dive on the floor and we get beat by 30, I’m good. But if we don’t compete and get beat by 30, then I’m upset. I was upset at half, and they knew it.”
Oconto Falls went on a 9-2 run early in the second half as Manns scored 7 points and Tyler Klimpke hit his only shot of the game. Wrightstown closed the game by scoring 24 of the final 28 points.
Manns finished with a team-high 9 points and Tyler Hagemeier, who averages 16.8 points per game, was held to 6 points. He fouled out with 10:29 remaining in the game.
Derek Zwick, who came into the game averaging 8.7 points, scored a game-high 19 for the Wolves.
Wrightstown (69)
De Cramer 6 0-0 12, De Cleene 0 2-4 2, Haese 4 0-0 11, Hansen 5 0-0 11, Zwick 7 2-3 19, Froehlke 2 0-0 4, Opichka 2 0-0 5, Waters 2 0-0 5.
Oconto Falls (25)
Hagemeier 2 0-0 6, Kurth 1 0-4 2, Huberty 1 0-0 2, Manns 4 0-0 9, Fletcher 1 0-0 2, Sefcik 1 0-0 2, Klimpke 1 0-0 2, Virtues 0 0-2 0.
Wrightstown 39 30 – 69
Oconto Falls 9 16 – 25
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