Shooting woes leave Badgers eight points behind Blackshirts
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School boys’ basketball team lost a non-conference match-up with Waukesha South at home last Friday night 57-49.
Badger exploded for 26 points in the first quarter and built up a nine-point lead less than a minute into the second quarter. Lincoln Wieseman led the way with 12 first-quarter points.
Unfortunately Badger was held to 23 points the rest of the game due to turnovers and ice-cold shooting. Wieseman scored just four points after the first quarter to finish with 16. No one else cracked double figures.
Coach Darin Lottig said he was pleased with the team’s offense in the first quarter but turnovers killed them after that. Badger had zero turnovers in the first quarter but had 13 after that. Lottig also said his defense did not get the job done.
One thing that helped Badger in the first quarter, Lottig said, was that South’s coach, Bo Richter, decided to start a new lineup. The Blackshirts’ leading scorer, Trent Prater, started the game on the bench. Once he entered the game mid-way through the first quarter, things changed rapidly. Wieseman was able to score at will before Prater entered the game but found the going more difficult after. South’s starting line-up featured no one taller than 6 foot. Prater, at 6 foot 4 inches, matched up much better with the 6-foot-5 Wieseman.
Prater only scored five in the first quarter but ended the game with 18 to lead all scorers. South’s Cody Hurtado also gave them a lift off the bench. Hurtado came into the game averaging about six points per game but scored a season-high 12 against Badger.
Badger (4-4) got a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter by Tony Ashley to give the Badgers a 26-18 lead at the break. A free throw by Bryant Sontag to open the second quarter gave Badger its biggest lead of the night, but then South’s Tanner Hill nailed two three-pointers to cut the lead to 27-24.
Badger pushed the lead back to six on a basket and a free throw by Wieseman. A basket by Prater and yet another three from Hill made it 30-29 Badger. After turning away two Blackshirt attempts to take the lead, the Badgers finally gave it up when Hurtado made a basket with under a minute to play in the half. Badger answered back with a basket by Ashley to lead at the half 32-31.
Hurtado opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and a free throw that gave South (4-5) a 35-32 lead but Sontag tied it with a three of his own. Logan Tenney, who had some success inside in limited action, scored twice and Badger led 39-36. Badger built its lead back to six at 44-38 but a basket by South’s Anthony Johnson and a buzzer-beating three from Prater made it 44-43 after three.
Prater hit another three to start the fourth quarter and South took a lead it would never relinquish at 46-44. South gave Badger a chance to claw its way back into it by missing the front end of bonus free-throw situations twice, but Badger continued its cold shooting and managed just five points in the quarter compared to South’s 14. South also out-rebounded Badger most of the night and especially in the deciding fourth quarter.
The closest Badger would come was 51-47 on a basket by Evan Gibson with just over a minute to play.
Badger was led by Wieseman’s 16 points. Gibson added eight. Prater led South with 18, Hurtado and Hill added 12 each.
Badger played at Hamilton on Tuesday night and hosts Whitewater on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
