Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Bonduel High School sophomore Jared Wondra looks to pass to a teammate while trapped along the baseline in the first half of Friday’s 69-54 victory over Menominee Indian.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Menominee Indian High School senior Charles Lasley attempts to drive past Bonduel’s Canaan Szoszorek in the second half of Menominee Indian’s 69-54 loss Friday in Bonduel. Lasley finish with 14 points.
With two of Menominee Indian’s best players on the bench with four fouls, the Bonduel boys basketball team made its run.
Trailing by six points, the Bears settled things down and got back to their game plan, finishing the game on a 31-8 run for a 69-54 victory at home Friday night.
“I thought we battled and played tough basketball, and then followed our game plan,” Bonduel head coach Duke Copp said.
With the game tied, Menominee Indian’s Ron Frechette and Warren Wilber were called for fouls, sending them to the bench in a span of 10 seconds. But the Eagles jumped ahead by six points, anyway, via their fast-break offense.
Sophomore Parker Bohm scored seven of his team’s next nine points to pull Bonduel within one before Bryce Engel hit a corner 3 to give the hosts the lead for good.
“He hit that huge 3, and you could tell all the kids loved that,” Copp said. “That’s exciting.”
Bryce Weier finished out the game with 14 of his game-high 27 points over the final six minutes. The Eagles managed just six points in the closing minutes.
“Late in the second half, if we find ourselves in a deficit, we definitely want to attack,” Menominee Indian head coach James Oshkeshequoam said. “We kind of settled a little bit here and there. Maybe our legs were a little bit tired. I’m not sure.”
Frechette scored all 15 of his points in the first half before picking up two fouls in the first 2 minutes and 27 seconds of the second half.
When he was on the court, the Bears struggled to find ways to slow him down.
“Honestly, we knew he was going to get points, and I don’t know if we could stop him,” Copp said. “We wanted to attack him on our offense to get him in foul trouble, and we had to discuss that in the first half a little bit. At halftime, we had a good talk, and the kids came through and got that done.”
Frechette posted 14 of his team’s first 16 points before finding ways to get his teammates involved.
“In practice, we work on just getting in rhythm and being confident with everything he does,” Oshkeshequoam said. “It definitely carried over into the game tonight.”
With the Bears (2-8, 0-3 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) collapsing on Frechette in the paint, it opened up the perimeter for Menominee Indian senior Charles Lasley to knock down two 3s in the final two minutes of the first half.
The Eagles (3-5, 2-3 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) then get a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Wilber to cut the halftime deficit to just 3 points.
“It was a great environment,” Oshkeshequoam said. “There’s going to be a lot of adversity during a season, and it’s very good for our kids to go through that adversity and find ways to win.”
Bohm finished with 20 points. Copp said Bohm played a tough game, helping the Bears begin their comeback with back-to-back baskets.
Senior Brandon Olsen also played one of his finest games of the season, according to Copp.
“I’m happy with everyone,” Copp said. “It’s fun to get a win.”
Menominee Indian (54)
Wilber 2 0-0 5; Rohr 5 3-9 13; Munson 1 1-2 3; King 2 0-2 4 Lasley 5 0-2 14; Frechette 6 1-3 15.
Bonduel (69)
Weier 9 8-11 27; Olsen 4 0-0 8; Letter 1 4-6 6; Engel 1 0-2 3; Szoszorek 0 5-6 5; Bohm 7 5-9 20.
Menominee Indian 31 23 — 54
Bonduel 34 35 — 69