If you weren’t moved by the proceedings at the Shawano Community High School gymnasium Tuesday night, it might be time to check yourself for a pulse.
In a swashbuckler of a Bay Conference showdown between the host Hawks and Luxemburg-Casco, Shawano demonstrated championship mettle throughout 36 frenetic minutes, overcoming a blown 10-point fourth quarter lead and finally outplaying the visitors in the overtime period to win 61-53.
With the victory, the Hawks avenged an earlier eight-point loss to the Spartans and improved to 14-3 overall and 9-3 in the league while dropping the visitors to 13-4 and 8-3 in conference.
The surfeit of heroes for Shawano included Eric Carl, whose 21 points all came on 3-point field goals, several of which swung the momentum 180 degrees in the Hawks’ favor.
“That was our game plan on offense,” the freshman guard said. “Work the ball around their 2-3 zone and hit the open man. It was a game of runs.”
Carl hit consecutive 3-pointers in the first and third quarters, the latter two of which broke a 31-all tie and put Shawano in position to open up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead.
“It was a great team win,” Shawano coach Chris Kellett said. “The kids never gave up. We bounced back after a slow start in the first quarter, and we came back after losing the 10-point lead. We matched up well with them and played hard. We’re staying on track. I don’t think we’ve played our best game yet.”
Tuesday’s gem had to have been close, though. Every Shawano player who stepped on the floor contributed to the win. Jack Lacy grabbed four of his seven rebounds in the OT, all of them tough boards in traffic, with the outcome still far from decided.
Center Zeke Gueths had six points and eight rebounds, and despite early foul trouble played strong defense against Spartans center Spencer Kanz (10 points, five rebounds). Sajen Knueppel’s nine points included a huge bucket with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter that gave Shawano a 48-46 lead.
Guard Zach Sousek, meanwhile, rolled in 16 points and did a masterful job handling the ball against Luxemburg-Casco’s zone pressure. Dylan Hintz gave Kellett some very productive minutes off the bench spelling the foul-riddled Gueths. Hintz forced a turnover with 1:35 left in the fourth quarter that led to Knueppel’s lead-giving hoop. Guard Braden Mueller likewise played hard defense and made the Spartans work for their shots.
Shawano led 43-33 on a put-back by Gueths with 6:44 left in the fourth before Luxemburg-Casco roared back behind the sharpshooting of guard Jake Zeitler, who finished with a game-high 25 points. Zeitler scored 11 of Luxemburg-Casco’s 13 points in a 13-0 run that wiped out the 10-point deficit that on another night may have demoralized the hosts.
But there would be no such letdown, and the overtime belonged entirely to Shawano. After Carl opened up the scoring with one of his signature long-range treys, Knueppel, Lacy and Sousek all hit buckets, and the determined Hawks defense put the clamps on any comeback notions the visitors might have entertained.
“It’s always a great feeling to get a big team win like that,” Kellett said. “We can feel good about it. But we’ve got another tough one coming up (Friday at West De Pere).”
Luxemburg-Casco (53)
Vlotho 3 0-0 8, TeKulve 2 0-0 5, Zeitler 9 4-4 25, Falk 1 3-3 5, Kanz 3 4-6 10.
Shawano (61)
Knueppel 3 3-5 9, Mueller 0 0-2 0, Sousek 6 4-5 16, Jack Lacy 2 1-2 7, Carl 7 0-0 21, Hintz 1 0-0 2, Gueths 2 2-2 6.
Luxemburg-Casco 16 6 9 17 5 — 53
Shawano 18 4 17 9 13 — 61
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