Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Gresham Community School junior Neal Cerveny tries to create off the dribble in the second half of Tuesday’s 79-70 loss to Port Edwards. Cerveny scored a team-high 23 points.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Gresham Community School junior Ray Creapeau shoots a 3-pointer in the first half of Tuesday’s loss to CWC-10 leader Port Edwards. Creapeau finished with 17 points.
The Gresham Community School boys basketball team was able to quicken the pace Tuesday against Central Wisconsin Conference-10 leader Port Edwards, something it struggled to do in the first meeting.
Then foul trouble made it difficult for the Wildcats to play man-to-man defense late in a 79-70 loss that foiled Gresham’s bid to move into a tie with the Blackhawks atop the CWC-10.
Port Edwards made 30 of 34 free throws in the game. Gresham was 1 of 2.
Gresham junior guard Neal Cerveny had to play extended minutes with two fouls in the first half and four fouls in the second half, but still tallied 23 points for the Wildcats.
“Wow, what an offensive show from him. We had no way to stop him,” Port Edwards head coach Dave Gibbs said. “The only way to stop him was himself with the fouls.”
With the Wildcats trailing and 13:29 remaining, Cerveny scored 9 consecutive points, putting the hosts back up by 1.
After Cerveny went to the bench, sophomore Drew Haffner scored the next 5 points to give Gresham (16-3, 12-3 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) a 3-point lead.
In the final 8 minutes of the second half, the Blackhawks (19-1, 15-1 CWC-10) made just one field goal, a fastbreak layup off a steal. The remaining 22 points came from the free-throw line.
Port Edwards, which was ranked third in the most recent Associated Press Division 5 poll, was able to use dribble penetration and strong decision-making from its guards to get to the free-throw line.
“When you give up dribble penetration to someone, then Derrick (Bowman) has to step up off of (the center), then people aren’t stepping up and helping him,” Gresham head coach Jeff Zobeck said. “It exposed some things we can really work on and improve on.”
Jared Joslin, Port Edward’s center, scored 38 points, including 16 of 17 from the free-throw line. Joslin came into the game making 55 percent of his free throws on the season.
“It comes down to the gambling on their end resulting in fouls,” Gibbs said. “If you’re going to make 30 out of 34, I sure hope you are going to win the game.”
Gresham’s Ray Creapeau hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. Haffner added four 3s among his 15 points. Forward Derrick Bowman added 11 points.
“Now,” Zobeck said, “we can really focus on getting ready for regionals and making a deep run there.”
Port Edwards (79)
Hildebrandt 3 4-4 10, A. Gibbs 6 7-8 22, I. Gibbs 3 2-3 8, Rasmussen 0 1-2 1, Joslin 11 16-17 38.
Gresham (70)
Haffner 5 1-2 15, Skenandore 2 0-0 4, Creapeau 7 0-0 17, Cerveny 10 0-0 23, Bowman 5 0-0 11.
Port Edwards 32 47 — 79
Gresham 32 38 — 70