The Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School boys basketball team came out shooting in Friday’s Central Wisconsin Conference-8 road game against the Bonduel Bears.
The Chargers made five 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the game to build a 25-9 lead over the Bears en route to a 63-46 victory.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood would not make another 3-pointer after Bonduel head coach Duke Copp switched to a zone defense, which he admitted caused the Bears to give up size on the inside, but added, “I think we covered those shooters better.”
“We just stopped moving. We kind of just stood in spots. We didn’t get the ball inside-out,” Chargers head coach Lon Ebel said of his team’s effort against the zone. “We didn’t make real good decisions with the ball.”
Bonduel also was able to force a few turnovers, which included back-to-back fastbreak baskets off senior guard Trevor Pedersen’s steals to cut the lead to eight with 2:53 remaining in the half.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood sophomore Matt Kapitz had an old-fashioned 3-point play opportunity, but missed the free throw before the Bears finished the half on a 8-2 run but still trailed, 31-26.
The Chargers (6-7, 3-4 CWC-8) started the second half on a 12-3 run before senior center Peyton Czarapata hit a deep 3 from the left wing to cut the lead back under 10. After two free throws by Trevor Groshek, Bailey Dingeldein drew a foul on a made basket with 8:44 remaining in the game and 9-point deficit.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood then held Bonduel (5-8, 2-5 CWC-8) scoreless over nearly four minutes while expanding the lead to 15.
The Chargers made their free throws down the stretch, converting on 25 of 35 attempts in the game, while the Bears shot under 50 percent on 9-of-21 shooting from the charity stripe.
The Bears, Copp said, have been working on their free-throw shooting before school, but it has yet to pay off.
“We just aren’t playing well right now,” Copp said. “We are shooting well. We aren’t defending well.”
Czarapata, who had been held under 20 points only once in conference play prior to Friday, recorded 15 points. Senior Gage Petcka tallied 10 first-half points, but only added three in the second half.
The Chargers had four players reach double figures in scoring. Groshek (9 of 11) and Fraaza (8 of- 10) did the majority of their damage from the free-throw line, while Matt Kapitz and Casey Kerstner each hit two 3s to help them reach double-digits.
“We are definitely excited about (the win), but after tonight, we move on to the next guys,” Ebel said. “Hopefully we keep repeating that.”
The teams will meet again in the final game of the regular season on Feb. 25 in Wittenberg.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood (63)
Fraaza 2 8-10 12, Kapitz 5 0-3 12, Lehman 1 5-6 8, Szews 1 0-1 2, Groshek 3 9-11 16, Kerstner 3 3-4 11, Spoehr 1 0-0 2.
Bonduel (46)
Ballestad 1 0-0 3, Pedersen 2 2-3 7, Robaidek 0 0-2 0, Petcka 5 1-1 13, Dingeldein 1 0-1 2, Olsen, 1 1-4 3, Engel 0 1-2 1, Bohm 1 0-2 2, Czarapata 5 4-6 15.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood 31 32 — 63
Bonduel 26 20 — 46
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