Gary Seymour, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Photo by Jen Kuhn Shawano Community High School senior center Zeke Gueths goes up for two of his game-high 18 points Thursday night during the Hawks’ regular season finale, a 56-40 win over visiting Bay Conference opponent Denmark.
Photo by Jen Kuhn Shawano Community High School senior guard Sajen Knueppel scored 13 points Thursday in his last regular-season game, which the Hawks won 56-40 over visiting Bay Conference opponent Denmark.
After a season marred by question marks, Sajen Knueppel had not only the last word in Shawano Community High School’s regular season finale, but also the exclamation point that came after it.
Knueppel missed much of the Hawks’ outstanding regular season with a torn right quadricep he suffered in the fourth game of the season but was in fine fettle for Thursday night’s 56-40 Bay Conference win over Denmark.
He scored six of his 13 points in the final half-minute, all on breakaways, and saved the best for last — a thundering dunk as time ran out that drove an already jacked crowd wild.
“To be honest, I was trying to go for (the slam) all three times, but I just didn’t have position until that last one,” Knueppel said. “It’s been a rough year for me, coming off the injury, but tonight was very satisfying. It was a good way to finish.”
It was gratifying on a number of levels, the main of which was how the Hawks (17-5, 11-5 Bay Conference) clicked as a unit heading into next week’s regional action.
Shawano coach Chris Kellett started five seniors who normally come off the bench — Knueppel, Noah Bell, Theodore Mickelson, Cole Reuter and Cole Huntington — and that quintet responded by holding the Vikings (8-14, 7-9) to two points over the first six minutes of the game.
When the time came to bring on the regulars, it was a familiar story — senior point guard Zach Sousek turned in another outstanding floor game running the offense, and senior center Zeke Gueths (game-high 18 points) was almost unstoppable underneath.
“We’re starting to jell as a team,” said Sousek, whose deft ballhandling set up multiple easy buckets for Gueths. “We know to get it inside to Zeke — he’s got the big body, he’s smart and he can shoot.”
“Zach is a phenomenal point guard, probably the best in the league,” Kellett said.
Shawano, which led 12-3 after the first quarter and 33-14 at half, was never seriously threatened down the stretch, which gave Kellett an opportunity to send his upperclassmen out for a final run in the waning minutes.
“Senior Night is always special,” Kellett said. “For Sajen to finish it like he did will be something he’ll remember for a long time. But all of the seniors who we started played well. To hold them to two points for as long as they did … their defense set the tempo for us tonight.”
Shawano, by virtue of its No. 1 regional seed, has a first-round bye before playing at home March 6 against the winner of Tuesday’s Waupaca-New London tilt.
“Our goal all year is to be playing our best by the end of the season,” Kellett said. “We have to keep working, but we’re getting to where we want to be.”
Denmark (40)
Deprey 2 1-1 5, Umentum 4 3-3 13, Brunner 0 1-2 1, Rabas 3 0-0 6, Derricks 1 2-2 5, Bonlander 0 5-6 5, Pelischek 1 0-0 2, Collins 1 1-2 3.
Shawano (56)
Reuter 0 3-5 3, Mickelson 2 0-0 6, Knueppel 5 3-3 13, Mueller 1 1-2 3, Huntington 0 1-2 1, Sousek 0 2-2 2, Bell 1 0-0 2, Carl 1 1-2 4, Hintz 2 0-0 4, Gueths 7 3-3 18.
Denmark 3 11 13 13 — 40
Shawano 12 21 6 17 — 56