Baraboo Thanksgiving Results

My first game of the year started out on a bit of a down note. As I arrived at Baraboo high school and was greeted with the fact that they had apparently ran out of programs. This seemed strange to me for the fact that if your going to run a two day tournament don't you need to print off twice as many programs? When I asked if they would be printing off more programs I was told no, which shocked me again. I have been to a few other games where they have run out of programs but, usually someone makes a run to the office copy machine and starts running off copies. So I had to deal with no programs which cause me to not keep track of players scoring for the first game between Lacrosse Logan and West Depere. Finally during halftime I managed to go under the bleachers and find a program that had been disregarded by another fan. One thing I forgot to mention was that there was maybe 50 to 75 people at the game which led me to believe that they had only printed off maybe 50 programs for two days worth of games.

I had seen each team play once last year so I knew what to expect in the first game. Just like last year Lacrosse Logan looked to go to their star big man senior 6'7 Trevor Jorgenson and the guards, just like last year, were unable to get him the ball in a good position. Unlike last year though the rest of the Logan team came to play and they were able to knock down the outside shots and completely dominated the offensive glass throughout the first half. A pair of juniors 6'3 Ryan Koel and 6'2 Vincent Kube really carried Logan offensively. Koel was hot from the outside knocking down threes, Kube was able to slash to the hoop and score or pull up for the mid range jumper, and then 6'3 senior Hans Erickson chipped in knocking down a couple midrange shots.

West Depere on the other hand really struggled off the tip and shot brick after brick including some shots that missed the rim all together. Some threes kept them in the game but, at the end of one quarter Logan was up 33-19. In the second quarter West Depere really tightened up the defense and trimmed the half time lead to 36-25. In the second half the rebounds seemed to really evened out for both teams and Logan continued their hot shooting and West Depere seemed to settle in on the offensive end. In the fourth quarter West Depere finally broke through and were able to get a one point lead late in the game thanks to hustle play and some sloppy offensive play from Logan. In the end came down to West Depere missing a free throw and Logan coming down and looking to Koel in the post who was able to get the game winning bucket to go in and leaving West Depere with a half court heave at the end.

Top Players
Ryan Koel 6'3 junior Lacrosse Logan- Very smooth shot from the outside and connected on numerous three point shots and showed a nice post game despite not being able to score on the post. Did score the game winning basket on a post up.
Vincent Kube 6'2 junior Lacrosse Logan- Just a scorer that can score in a variety of ways. Can shoot the three, hit the midrange shot, or drive to the hoop. Also ran the point when Erickson was out of the game.
Alex Hooyman 5'11 senior West De Pere- Just the ultimate hustler that always seemed to be around the ball. Has a nice runner in the lane that he used and was able to bank in a couple of those runners.
Brad Ambrosius 6'4 sophomore West De Pere- Did a nice job of rebounding and battling the much bigger Jorgenson in the post.

Box Score courtesy of wishoops, starters in italics
Logan 66- Koel 20 Kube 19 Jorgenson 10 Erickson 8 Drew Escher 6 Jonah Waite 3 Joe Rank 0 Alex Stekel 0 Alex Collins 0
WDP- Hooyman 19 Shane Gulseth 16 Tanner Kackl 12 Brad Ambrosius 8 Jordan Forrest 7 Keagan Wirtz 2 Eric Pannier 0 Jake Kocken 0 Bruce Ward 0 Alex Ludwig 0


Game two saw host Baraboo taking on Racine Park. Last year Park's full court pressure defense was just too much for Baraboo to handle and figured Park would come out and do the same thing and the question was gonna be whether Baraboo could handle it.

Just as expected Park came out playing their pressure defense but, they got in foul trouble early on including their star point guard junior 5'11 Taron Edwards. Baraboo got in the double bonus very quickly which led to their 19-10 lead after the first quarter scoring most of their points from the free throw line. Parks halfcourt offense was terrible leading to numerous turnovers and contested outside shots which were not falling. Late in the second quarter Park turned up the pressure which led to five straight turnovers to end the first half and Park pulled within 12 with a 39-27 half time score.

Second half continued much of the same as Park had no offense outside of the fast break and Baraboo seemed to have the game in hand then Park up the defense a bit and Baraboo's guards fell apart again and began turning the ball over. Park got the game to 55-39 at the end of third. In the fourth Park's offense was just give the ball to Edwards and let him drive to the hoop. Park seemed to score every time they got the ball but, just couldn't stop Baraboo who was eventually able to break the Park press and get easy layups. In the end Baraboo cruised to the 78-63 win.

Top Players
Sean McGann 6'4 jr Baraboo- Did a great job of finishing in transition and was money from the free throw line. Also did a good job of helping the guards handle the Park pressure.
Mark Kowalke 6'7 sr Baraboo- Controlled the boards and was hitting the threes and the free throws.
Josh Statz 5'11 sr Baraboo- Did a nice job of taking the ball strong to the hoop and scoring. Another guy that was hitting his free throws.
Taron Edwards 5'11 jr Racine Park- Was able to drive to the hoop at will and finish with contact and get the end one where he'd make the free throw. Had very quick hands and was able to get steals and easy baskets.
Jordan Payne 6'2 jr Racine Park- Very tough in the post where he was able to score against smaller defenders.

Box Score
Baraboo 78- McGann 27 Kowalke 17 Statz 17 Tyler Fish 11 Mike Weinke 4 Corbin Lebo 2 Jesse Kink 0 Emerson Halbach 0 Joe Becraft 0 Erick Anderson 0 Zach Tower 0 Jed Traxler 0 Ryan Vorndran 0
Park 63- Edwards 21 Payne 15 Dominic Fumbanks 12 Frank Gutierrez 6 David Campbell 5 Darrias Lewis 4 Tucker Iverson 0 Devan Hall 0 Devon Hall 0 Rondell Brumby 0 James Orth 0 Kyle Spranger 0 #34 0

They weren't the greatest games but, it was nice to finally get to watch a little basketball. Will probably be going to a couple games this week so will probably be having a couple write ups coming.