Greg Bates, Leader Correspondent
A lot of uncertainty surrounded the Bonduel boys basketball team entering its first game.
Head coach Duke Copp feels he was able to learn a few things while watching his youngsters grow up.
Bonduel led host Suring three-quarters of the game, but a late 8-0 run by the Eagles helped them down Bonduel 47-45 in nonconference action on the road Monday.
“I told the kids I thought we played really hard, I just love that,” Bonduel head coach Duke Copp said. “They played with great effort, competing. We’re just young. Most of these kids haven’t even played varsity, so it’s going to be a little while. We had some mental breakdowns at the end and missed some easy bunnies.”
It’s the first time in four years Suring has knocked off Bonduel. The Bears had won the previous three matchups.
“It’s a great confidence builder,” Suring coach Jim Keeffe said. “I think there was some uncertainty. I know on my part there was some uncertainty how we’d run as a machine, because it was the first time in three years we had a different point guard. You never what that’s going to do.”
Bonduel returned just one starter from last season, 6-foot-4 forward Brandon Olsen. Sophomore Parker Bohm, who was nursing an ankle injury, earned plenty of playing time a year ago. The two played important roles in the season opener with Olsen scoring 8 points and Bohm 9.
Junior forward Bryce Weier was impressive in his debut for Bonduel with a team-high 16 points on five 3-pointers.
Bonduel launched a lot of 3-pointers on the night, hitting eight. Without a major threat in the paint early in the season, Copp knows his team is going to rely on its outside game.
“We’re going to work on that,” Copp said. “We have a few kids that we think can shoot pretty well. Hey, Suring, they’re athletic out there and they’re tough. They played varsity last year a lot. We would like to work it inside more.”
Suring (2-0) jumped out to a 10-7 lead midway through the opening half before Bonduel got its offense going. Bohm hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored seven straight points as the Bears used a 14-2 run to go up 21-12. A three-point play by John Christensen in the final minute sent Suring into the locker room at halftime down 24-20.
Bonduel (0-1) pushed its lead to 31-24 on a Bryce Weier 3-pointer. Suring countered with a 9-1 run fueled by a 3 by Ryan Mahoney and an inside hoop by Scout Gerndt to give the Eagles a 33-32 lead. Another Weier 3-pointer gave the Bears the lead back momentarily, but Mahoney tied it at 39-39 with a 3 with 4:11 remaining in the second half. Both teams had plenty of chances to break the tie, but it was Christensen with a fine inside feed to Gerndt for a basket that gave Suring the lead for good with 1:49 left.
Chris Geniesse hit 1 of 2 free throws with 17.9 seconds on the clock to make it 46-41, but Bonduel wasn’t finished. Weier, who had a team-high 16 points for the Bears, drained a 3-pointer, was fouled and converted on the four-point play.
Copp called a timeout with his club down just one with 7.4 seconds left.
“We had talked in the timeout, ‘Let’s match up and deny like crazy,’ and we let a kid (get) wide open,” Copp said. “We’re young. We’re going to figure that out.”
Suring was able to elude the Bonduel players trying to foul as Geniesse finally went to the line with 1.4 seconds left. He hit one free throw to make it a two-point game. Bonduel’s 3-point heave with 1 second on the clock was waved off as the Bears player stepped out of bounds.
Suring closed out the win by hitting 6-for-10 free throws in the final 1 minute, 20 seconds.
Copp is using his team’s early-season nonconference games as building blocks and learning tools before heading into the tough Central Wisconsin Conference 8 schedule.
“We still have to figure out some roles for kids,” Copp said. “It’s going to be a little while.”
Bonduel (45)
Weier 5 1-1 16, Olsen 3 2-4 8, Letter 2 0-0 5, Engel 0 1-4 1, Allen 1 0-1 2, Bohm 2 3-6 9, Cairns 2 0-2 4.
Suring (47)
Christensen 4 7-9 15, Geniesse 0 3-6 3, Mahoney 4 5-7 16, Gerndt 3 2-2 8, Stegeman 2 0-0 5.
Bonduel 24 21 – 45
Suring 20 27 — 47