Jacy Zollar sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Bonduel senior Bryce Weier wanted to help his team win its first regional quarterfinal since his freshman season. He did it while breaking the school’s single-game scoring record with a dominating 46 points on Tuesday.
“I’m just shocked that I did that,” Weier said. “I was freaking out when I found out that I broke the record. I had no clue during the game that I was getting close to breaking it, and I definitely didn’t expect to have a huge game like that. I just wanted to get the regional win again.”
Weier combined with Parker Bohm (29 points) and Dalton Cairns (23 points) to lead Bonduel over Menominee Indian 106-92 in the WIAA Division 4 regional.
Weier, who topped the previous record set in 1989 by Greg Henn (45 points), hit seven 3-pointers and went 13-for-14 from the line, scoring his 46th point on the 13th free throw. The senior, who averages a team-high 17 points per game this season, capped his last game on Bonduel’s court with his best career performance.
“That was definitely the best I’ve ever played,” he said. “It means a lot to me to have been able to go out like that at home and have the crowd into it and my family. It’s awesome to know that hopefully I’ll have this record for many years to come.”
“What was really nice about (Weier) was that he was shooting within our offense against Menominee,” Bonduel head coach Duke Copp said. “He didn’t force any shots. Our teammates were looking for for him and it was just natural.
“Parker (Bohm) also had his best game of year. This is how we thought we could play all year,” Copp said. “We haven’t had all of our guys shoot well in one night, and in that game we did. It was the kind of game where it was like the first team to 100 points is going to win that thing, so it was the right time for them to turn it on.”
Bohm hit 13 of 16 field goals, Cairns went 9-for-11 from the line and Cole Letter had 14 assists.
Bonduel’s win comes after the team struggled in a 60-34 loss in its last regular season game to Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
“We just went back to work after that,” Copp said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game (against Menominee). There’s a lot of things going on, but ultimately if you make your shots you’re going to do fine, and we shot as well as we have all year.”
The No. 7-seeded Bears travel to No. 2 Shiocton on Friday for the regional semifinal, a team they lost to twice this year.
“We definitely need to prepare much better than we did last time against them,” Weier said. “The atmosphere there is crazy. The court’s dark, lights are dim. The fans are nuts. So it’s going to be a crazy game.”