The Suring High School boys basketball team has a lot of ability in its lineup. It doesn’t have a lot of height.
When matching up against teams with a true center, there is certainly a mismatch. The Eagles found that out the hard way on Jan. 26.
Bonduel got 29 points from 6-foot-5 center Peyton Czarapata and dominated the inside as the host Bears beat Suring 70-59 in nonconference action.
Czarapata had 18 points in the opening seven minutes.
“We knew Czarapata was a load and he can score with his back to the basket, he can come out and face the basket, he can hit it from deep,” Suring coach Jim Keeffe said. “It’s a guy we look for, but we couldn’t seem to find an answer for him.”
Czarapata, who came into the game averaging 20.9 points per game, shot 12 for 17 from the field and scored 20 of his points in the paint. Bonduel controlled the inside, outscoring Suring 36-26.
“We tried to run through our offense, get the ball inside,” said Czarapata, who added eight rebounds, four on the offensive glass. “We knew we had the size mismatch, and that’s basically what we had to do.”
Suring (7-7) went with a 2-3 zone in the first half, but Bonduel (6-8) scorched that for 45 points.
“If you want to take hindsight, I wouldn’t have started out in zone,” Keeffe said. “I would have started out in man and we would have packed it in. That’s what we did the second half, went five or pack line. I thought we did a better job.”
For the game, the Bears shot 44.3 percent (27 for 61) from the field, while the Eagles hit 34.4 percent (21 for 61).
It was all Czarapata early for Bonduel. The big man had four straight baskets – 10 points during the stretch – to put the Bears up 19-7.
Keeffe used an athletic player in John Christensen to guard Czarapata. Christensen is a good 3 inches shorter than Czarapata and has a smaller frame.
The Eagles also struggled defensively with Bears guard Trevor Pedersen, who finished with 13 points.
“Pedersen beat us in the paint and if we stepped in to help with Pedersen, Czarapata moved in and Pedersen found him,” Keeffe said. “We struggled tonight on defense.”
Brandon Olsen also had a nice first half for the Bears with 9 points during a couple-minute stretch to put Bonduel up 45-24 at halftime.
Down 21, Keeffe had a few goals for his players for the second half.
“I said to the kids, ‘Your man doesn’t get a rebound.’ That’s what we talked about at halftime,” said Keeffe, whose team gave up 18 offensive rebounds. “I really wasn’t concerned about the score. I said, ‘Find a way to keep your man from getting a rebound and if we can do that we’ll close the gap.’”
Suring opened the second half on a 7-2 run as Ryan Mahoney, who scored a team-high 20 points, drained a 3-pointer to make it 47-31. However, Bonduel answered with a 9-2 spurt to go back up 23 points. With 6 minutes remaining, Suring went on a 13-0 run to cut its deficit to 11 points.
Christensen, who finished with 19 points, scored 7 points in the run.
With 1:46 left, Pedersen drained a 3-pointer to all but end the game.
Cutting a 27-point deficit to 11 was big for Suring.
“It’s one of those things you can point to as a positive, but you still come into the game wanting to compete and wanting to win,” Keeffe said. “We thought we could compete, and obviously we’ve got to get a little better.”
Suring (59)
Christensen 7 5-7 19, Geniesse 4 0-0 10, R. Mahoney 6 4-4 20, Hischke 1 0-0 2, Runge 3 2-5 8.
Bonduel (70)
Pedersen 4 2-4 13, Robaidek 1 0-0 2, Petcka 3 0-0 7, Olsen 4 3-5 11, Czarapata 12 4-4 29, Thiel 1 0-0 3, Bohm 1 0-0 3, Allen 1 0-0 2.
Suring 24 35 – 59
Bonduel 45 25 – 70
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