The eighth-seeded Bonduel High School boys basketball team rallied from a slow start to beat No. 9 Menominee Indian 63-46 Tuesday to open the WIAA Division 4 regional tournament.
Bonduel will face top-seeded Auburndale (21-1, 14-0 Marawood-South) on the road Friday.
“I’ll take the win,” Bonduel coach Duke Copp said. “It was a battle.”
The Bears (11-12, 5-9 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) fell behind 16-10 in the first quarter. The Eagles (9-12, 9-9 CWC-10) came out in a triangle-and-two defense and were able to take away Bonduel shooters Connor Rosin and Zach Zernicke.
“It took us a while to adjust,” Copp said. “Once we did, I think things went well. … We haven’t really practiced it that much, so we kind of had to wing it tonight.”
The Bears responded in the second quarter with a press defense and and took a 30-23 lead by halftime, getting two big 3-point shots from junior Colton Dobratz, who led the Bears with 16 points.
“He’s been hot numerous times this year,” Copp said. “Tonight we needed someone to score and he hit some big shots.”
The young Menominee Indian team, which has only one senior in Dallas Madosh, had trouble taking care of the ball on offense, stalling for only seven points in the second quarter.
“We didn’t take care of the ball, we didn’t execute and we had crucial turnovers,” Menominee Indian coach Brandon Frechette said. “For a time we were trying to live or die by the 3-pointer. It was an excellent learning experience for a young team.”
Rosin, a junior point guard, scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter to help the Bears seal the game.
Junior Michael Pecore led the Eagles with 12 points. Dustin Waupoose added 10.
Copp knows Auburndale, which is ranked No. 4 in Division 4 by The Associated Press, will be a tough test.
“I’ve seen them on film a couple of times,” Copp said. “They’re really good; they play hard. They’re one of the top teams in the state. We’re going to go play it.”
Menominee Indian (46)
Pecore 5 2-2 12, Madosh 4 0-3 8, Waupoose 3 4-5 10, Frechette 2 1-2 6, Smith 1 2-4 4, Corn 1 0-0 3, Lasley 1 0-0 3
Bonduel (63)
Pedersen 2 7-8 13, Rosin 3 6-9 13, Dobratz 6 2-2 16, VanderLinden 1 0-4 2, Zernicke 1 6-6 9, Czarapata 3 1-2 7, Berry 0 2-2 2, Fischer 0 1-2 1
Menominee Indian 16 7 13 10 — 46
Bonduel 10 20 9 24 — 63
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