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Boys open season by crushing Wilton
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · December 07, 2017
The Bears scored more points in the final quarter than the visitors did in all four in a crushing 58-18 victory over Wilton to open the season on Nov. 28.
Wilton scored six points in the opening quarter and seven in the second and went down from there, struggling to get more than a handful of baskets to sink despite numerous attempts.
And while West Branch Head Coach Tom Burger expressed his pleasure with the win, he thought the boys basketball team fell short of their potential.
“I was happy we got up into people’s faces and that was just our half-court defense,” Burger said. “But what I thought was really good tonight was our full-court defense and our three-quarter court. And then we adjusted and dropped into a little bit of zone. So we got to show a lot of things and hopefully it’s going to be harder (for opponents) to prepare for us.”
Wilton Head Coach Mark Patterson said the Beavers “have a lot of unknowns this year.”
“And we knew that coming in,” he said. “So this is a chance for us to work on ourselves and see what we can do to improve.”
The Wilton coaches need “to stress that to our guys because we’re going to be the underdog of every game we play,” he said.
Patterson said the Beavers defended well in the first half, but otherwise “we had some bad mistakes.”
“We need to understand that and come out and work on what we do and we’ll get better,” he said.
Offensively, the Wilton team “got some looks.”
“In the second half, the press hurt us and that’s something we need to work on — ball-handling and decision-making,” the Beavers coach said. “We’re giving up easy baskets and West Branch is a good team with good athletes and guys who can shoot. If we give up the opportunity, it’s going to get away from us, and it did.”
Burger referenced West Branch’s trip to Iowa Mennonite the previous Friday as a sign of how well the team can do.
“We had a Hall of Pride scrimmage against IMS and that was probably our show down there,” he said. “We held (IMS) to 37 points on their own court, and it’s not common to hold IMS to less than 40.”
The Bears also had a good week of practice leading up to this home opener.
“I think sometimes what looks really good is our transitions, our conversion from defense to offense, and in a game you probably run that more than your half-court offense,” the West Branch coach said.
He compared the Wilton game to last season’s opening game against Monticello.
“We came out and really played well right away and did some good things, and then we kind of fell asleep and we started jacking things up and that’s what happened in the second quarter (tonight). That was not a good quarter and we just need to be patient there,” Burger said.
West Branch’s third quarter held the visitors to a single basket, while the Bears scored 17.
“We came out on fire and wow,” Burger said. “We felt like, as a coaching staff, we needed to press them. We needed to pick up the pace and make them handle the ball on the full speed and if we weren’t going to be patient on the half-court offense, we were hoping that our conversion back into offense would create some points for us, which I think it did.”
He noted that his players drew some charges, “and that’s huge.”
“Those are great for momentum,” he said.
West Branch shot 36.2 percent from the field, 18.5 percent from three-point range and 60 percent from the free-throw line. Wilton shot 21.4 percent from the field and 10 percent from three-point range with 55.6 percent from the line.
Brady Lukavsky put the first five points on the board for West Branch with two baskets, followed by two points by younger brother Tanner Lukavksy and another two from junior Beau Cornwell for a 9-0 start.
Wilton got on the board with a two-pointer from junior Jared Townsend. Cornwell then drained a basket and two treys for another eight Bear points for a 17-2 lead. Wilton seniors Cole Rabedeaux and Jacob Shepherd dropped in a basket each as the first quarter closed. Score 17-6 Bears.
A foul on West Branch put Townsend on the line, and he sank one of two. Wilton junior Chase Miller followed up with a three-pointer to put the Beavers into double digits. B. Lukavsky returned the favor with his own trey to double up on the visitors, 20-10, After Rabedeaux sank the front end of a one-and-one, Wilton called time-out; Rabedeaux made the second attempt upon his return.
Cornwell dropped in a basket and Rabedeaux made one of two freebies to end the half with West Branch ahead 22-13.
In the third quarter, T. Lukavsky got things going with the first basket, then Cornwell drew a foul and sank two from the line, followed up by two more baskets from the field. After eight straight points from the Bears, Wilton wanted another time-out.
Back on the court, junior Brett Schiele joined the scoring with a layup, and Cornwell slipped under the basket for a reverse, drawing a foul and sinking the extra point. With another Bear basket and West Branch ahead 37-13, Burger called for a time-out.
Wilton junior Garrett Bohnsack broke the Bears’ streak with a two-pointer, then West Branch junior Jack Dragovich plugged in one to regain the 24-point lead.
At the end of three, the home team led 39-15.
Beaver’s Miller drew a foul and put in one of two to open the final quarter, then West Branch followed with a string of six two-pointers from Cornwell, Schiele, and Ben Thompson for a 51-16 Bear led.
Miller sank what would be the final Beaver basket to put Wilton up to 18 points. With the final four minutes, junior Zach Thompson let fly a two- and three-pointer while sophomore Trey Eagle took a turn between those shots to sink a field goal of his own.
Final score, 58-18, West Branch.
1 2 3 4 T
WB 17 5 17 19 58
Wil 6 7 2 3 18
West Branch stats: Cade Aspelmeier 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 foul; Beau Cornwell 11 3-3 27, 2 3-pointers, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 steals, 1 foul; Ben Kyllingstad 1 assist; Brady Lukavsky 3 0-2 8, 2 3-pointers, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 fouls; Zach Thompson 2 0-0 5, 1 3-pointer, 1 rebound; Brett Schiele 2 0-0 4, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 foul; Tanner Lukavsky 2 0-0 4 3 rebounds, 7 steals, 2 blocks, 2 fouls; Ben Thompson 3 0-0 6, 2 rebounds, 1 foul; Ted Bridges 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 fouls; Trey Eagle 2 0-0 2, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks; Matt Whaley 1 steal; Jack Dragovich 1 0-0 2, 2 rebounds, 1 foul
Wilton stats: Garrett Bohnsack 1 0-0 2, 1 assist, 2 fouls; Chase Montagna 1 rebound; Jacob Shepherd 1 0-0 2, 1 rebound, 1 steal; A.J. Bosten 1 steal; Isaac Hunter 3 rebounds, 3 assists; Chase Miller 2 1-2 6, 6 rebounds, 1 steals, 2 fouls; Cole Rabedeaux 1 3-5 5, 4 rebounds 1 steal, 2 fouls; Charles Martin 1 steal; Brock Hartley 2 rebounds; Jared Townsend 1 1-2 3, 6 rebounds, 4 fouls.
Monticello 68,
West Branch 58
West Branch junior Beau Cornwell broke a school record for career three-pointers in the Bears 68-58 loss to Monticello.
Cornwell had 95 at end of his sophomore year and in the second game of the season reached 102, breaking the old career record set by Mason Hays with 101.
1 2 3 4 T
Mont. 17 12 12 27 68
WB 9 20 17 12 58
Stats: Cade Aspelmeier 1 1-2 3, 1 rebound, 2 fouls; Beau Cornwell 15 5-11 37, 5 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 foul; Brady Lukavsky 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 5 fouls; Brett Schiele 1 0-1 3, 1 steal, 3 fouls; Tanner Lukavsky 2 0-0 4, 6 rebounds, 1 asist, 1 steal, 3 fouls; Ben Thompson 2 7-8 11, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 5 fouls; Ted Bridges 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 fouls; Jack Dragovich 1 foul. Team totals: 21 10-14 58, 6 3-pointers, 24 rebounds, 10 assists, 9 steals, 21 fouls.
The team shot 38.9 percent from the field with 45.5 percent from two-point range and 28.6 percent from three-point range. The Bears shot 71.4 percent from the free-throw line.
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