Greg Bates, Leader Correspondent
Photo by Josh Thompson Shawano Community High School junior Adam Bartz takes a shot against Ashwaubenon during Tuesday’s session of the Sun Drop Shootout at the Kress Events Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Shawano won, 48-42.
Photo by Josh Thompson Shawano Community High School junior Zeke Gueths takes a shot against Ashwaubenon during Tuesday’s session of the Sun Drop Shootout at the Kress Events Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Shawano won, 48-42.
The Hawks hung around just long enough.
The Shawano Community High School boys basketball team stayed with Ashwaubenon for three quarters and then went to work. Shawano used a 9-0 run to start the fourth and then never trailed again en route to a 48-42 victory Tuesday night in the Sun Drop Shootout at the Kress Events Center on the campus of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
“We had some good looks not fall in the first half. We missed five, six layups,” Shawano coach Chris Kellett said. “We kept telling the kids, ‘Keep getting them. They’re going to start to fall.’
“Zeke (Gueths) worked his butt off tonight sealing guys down low and he got fouled probably 10 times. I have to tip my cap to Zeke. I thought he was fantastic tonight.”
Ashwaubenon entered the game ranked No. 8 in Division 2 in the WisSports.net Coaches Poll.
“This is a huge win,” said Gueths, who finished with 20 points. “We came off a close game against Green Bay West, and this is the spark we needed to continue. We’ve got some momentum and we’re ready to get the next one.”
Neither team shot well from the field – Shawano 13 for 33 (39 percent) and Ashwaubenon 15 for 48 (31 percent), including 3 for 16 from 3-point range.
Shawano did a solid job containing Jaguars star Kyle Monroe. The senior scored 20 points, but was only 6 for 18 from the field.
“Our goal was to make him work as hard as he had to get buckets,” Kellett said. “Adam Bartz, who doesn’t start for us, came in and ended up guarding him for three-fourths of the game. Kyle Monroe played pretty well, but I thought Adam Bartz held him in check for the most part.”
Ashwaubenon coach John Miron thought his team was sluggish all night.
“Even in that first quarter when we had a decent lead, we were just sluggish offensively,” Miron said. “Shawano did a good job getting it low to (Gueths). When we sagged down, they kicked out and hit some good shots. We have to find some other people besides Kyle that can carry us. Hats off to them, they played good D and we didn’t.”
Ashwaubenon (4-3, 2-1 Fox River Classic Conference) jumped out to a 7-0 before Kellett called a timeout to settle down his guys. Down 10-2, Shawano (5-2, 2-2 Bay Conference) hit its first field of the game as Braden Mueller hit a jumper with 1:57 remaining in the first quarter.
The Jaguars led 12-4 after the first quarter and upped their advantage to 10, 16-6. Shawano responded with a 7-0 run as Gueths hit back-to-back field goals and Mueller hit a 3-pointer to get the Hawks back into it.
Up by double digits, Ashwaubenon had a chance to pull away, but Shawano wouldn’t let that happen.
“That was huge,” Kellett said. “Any time shots start to fall and the momentum kicks in, your defense and kids play harder. Braden (Mueller) hit a 3 there to get us going. Once that happened, we calmed down and started playing our style of basketball.”
With Ashwaubenon clinging to a 20-18 lead, Shawano had two chances to either tie or go ahead, but the Jaguars went into half up 22-18.
Shawano trailed by three in the third quarter when Jack Lacy hit his second of two 3-pointers to tie the game at 26-26. With the Hawks down 1, Gueths got a putback hoop inside to get their first lead of the game, 31-30, with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter.
Ashwaubenon reclaimed the lead by the end of the third to go up 32-31. Shawano started the fourth on a 9-0 run as Gueths scored six points and Zach Sousek added three to make it 40-32 at the 5 1/2-minute mark. Sousek hit six straight free throws in the final 1:30, and Ashwaubenon could only get within five points late.
“We all did what we could to try to grab the lead,” Gueths said. “I can’t do my job with the guards bringing the ball up the court, and it was a team win.”
Sousek finished with nine points and Lacy had six on the two key 3-pointers.
“Jack’s able to do that, and I think that’s what really stretched the defense a little bit, which opened it up for Zeke down low,” Kellett said. “We don’t really have one single guy that can score 20 for us, but Zeke did tonight.”
Kellett is hoping the win gets his team back on track as Shawano gets into the heart of the Bay Conference schedule next week.
“We’ve just got to go game by game,” Kellett said. “It’s a very long season and we’ve got Sturgeon Bay on Saturday. Any team is capable of beating anybody on any night, and we’ve got to keep improving day by day, and hopefully by the end of the year we’re playing our best ball.”