Gary Seymour, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Contrary to dogma, this time what they didn’t know, hurt them.
Pacelli High School never got much of a look at Bonduel center Peyton Czarapata the first time around, as the Bears’ 6-4 junior spent much of the Jan. 16 meeting on the bench, saddled with foul trouble.
Possibly not mindful of the impact that a free-roaming Czarapata could make, the visiting Cardinals were caught unawares Friday night, as Czarapata’s strong play underneath netted 19 points and helped lift the Bears to a 55-44 win that their coach called the team’s most impressive performance of the season.
“This was a huge game for us,” Bonduel coach Duke Copp said. “We hadn’t played very well lately, but this was the most intensity we played with all year, it was the best defense we played all year, and we were hitting our shots.”
That pretty much summed it up for the Bears (16-5, 10-3 Central Wisconsin Conference-8), who stayed true to their game plan of putting the clamps on Pacelli’s Division 1 horse, James Gollon, and pounding the ball inside on offense.
The Ohio University-bound Gollon racked up a game-high 22 points but was not able to operate with the same impunity he enjoyed during the Cardinals’ five-point win over Bonduel last month. Eleven of his points were of the lost-cause variety, deep into the fourth period when the Bears had safely iced it.
“I think it might’ve made a little difference, not being in foul trouble this time,” Czarapata said. “They didn’t really see what I could do the first time we played, and we were moving it around and working it inside really well tonight. We’re playing good team ball now; we’re all on the same page.”
With Czarapata handling things in the paint, good looks became available from the outside, which was where Connor Rosin stepped in.
Rosin’s 17 points included four 3-pointers, which made defending the Bears even more difficult for the smaller visitors.
Czarapata had six points during Bonduel’s 12-0 first quarter run that gave the Bears a 16-10 lead that they would not relinquish. Bonduel led 32-23 at halftime and opened it up to 53-33 on Trevor Pedersen’s hoop with 5:31 left in the fourth quarter before the Cardinals (10-11, 7-6 CWC-8) made a futile late-game charge.
“This was a very encouraging performance for us offensively and defensively,” said Copp, whose club has a regular season-ending finale Feb. 26 at Iola-Scandinavia. “I like the way we’re playing right now. We’re just going to keep playing hard and see what happens in our regional.”
Pacelli (44)
Flugaur 1 2-2 5, Elliott 3 0-0 6, Gollon 7 3-8 22, Shibilski 1 0-0 2, Jamison 3 0-0 9.
Bonduel (55)
Pedersen 2 0-0 4, Berry 3 0-2 8, Rosin 6 1-2 17, Dobratz 2 0-0 5, Vanderlinden 1 0-0 2, Czarapata 8 3-4 19.
Pacelli 10 13 10 11 — 44
Bonduel 16 16 16 7 — 55