Shawano Community High School was unbeaten on the road entering Friday night’s game at Luxemburg-Casco.
The Spartans put a stop to that, defeating Shawano 55-47 in Bay Conference action.
“I think we’re more comfortable on the road, to be honest,” Shawano coach Chris Kellett said. “Playing with the adversity from the crowd, it kind of feeds into how hard they play. I thought the kids couldn’t have played any harder tonight. It was just we missed some bunnies early, which kept them in the game.”
Shawano (4-2, 3-2 Bay Conference) led by as many as seven points in the second quarter, but Luxemburg-Casco figured out how to attack the Hawks’ defense.
“(Carson) Falk hit a couple of shots on us and then they got us out of our game,” Kellett said. “I thought we controlled the tempo in the first half, and once we were down we had scramble a little bit, which led to some lay-ups. They hit their free throws and we missed four or five, so I think that’s what sums it up. They controlled the tempo in the fourth and we didn’t.”
Playing against Luxemburg-Casco wasn’t an easy task. The Spartans (6-0, 3-0 Bay Conference) were coming off an upset 10-point victory over West De Pere, ranked No. 9 in Division 2 in the latest WisSports.net coaches poll.
“They’re very similar to how we were last year. We kind of came out of nowhere,” Kellett said. “They have three guys that can play college basketball. Anytime you have a kid like (Jake) Zeitler, Falk and (David) Vlotho, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
The Hawks led 4-0 before Luxemburg-Casco scored its first points 3 minutes, 50 seconds into the game. The Spartans tied the game at 10 before the Hawks ended the first quarter on a 5-0 run as Zeke Gueths scored his ninth point on a put-back basket.
The Hawks upped their lead to 19-13 in the second quarter, but the Spartans scored the next five points. Shawano didn’t tally a point in the final 4:37 of the half but still led 19-18 at the break.
Shawano’s defense played well in the first half, and Luxemburg-Casco coach John Hampton had to make a few halftime adjustments.
“They’re a good defensive team and we didn’t expect anything different out of them,” Hampton said. “We just had to kind of loosen them up by starting to attack. They weren’t going to give us anything free or easy, so we had to work for it. That started by putting the ball on the deck and going to the rack, and that opened up our shooters.”
In the third quarter, Luxemburg-Casco took only its second lead of the game, 28-27, after Spencer Kanz scored a hoop. Gueths, who sat on the bench for four minutes after getting in foul trouble, hit a bank shot at the top of the key as the third quarter ended. However, the Spartans took a one-point, 33-32, lead into the final eight minutes.
When Shawano had the lead midway through the third, it wasn’t able to pull away.
“We just had to finish some shots down low,” Kellett said. “Zeke had a couple and then he got in foul trouble, which was huge. Him and (Jack) Lacy both got out in the second quarter and late in the third quarter. Without those two guys on the floor, it’s going to be tough for us.”
Luxemburg-Casco opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers by Vlotho and Bryce TeKulve, and the home team was up 39-32. Gueths cut Shawano’s deficit to six, 43-37, with a 3-pointer with 4:15 remaining. However, the Spartans drained 11 free throws in the fourth quarter and six in the final 1 minute, 33 seconds to ice the game.
Gueths scored a game-high 22 points and was 2-for-3 from beyond the 3-point arc. Lacy added 10 points for the Hawks.
Luxemburg-Casco was led in scoring by Falk with 20 points. Fellow senior Vlotho chipped in 13.
“Just controlling the tempo ourselves,” Kellett said. “We’re kind of a grind-it-out type team, and we’ve just got to get back to that.”
story created on Friday 12/
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