There was a time when things were not looking good for the Shawano boys basketball team in its nonconference matchup with Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
The Chargers had used a 10-2 run to take a 38-28 lead over the Hawks early in the second half. Shawano chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit to a single point twice in the final three minutes but ended up on the short end of a 57-56 final score Dec. 22 on the Chargers’ home court.
Shawano fell to 2-4 with the loss, while the Chargers improved to 6-0.
A pair of 3-pointers from Grayson Swedberg and another from Anderson Schmidt helped give Shawano an 18-10 lead in the first half, but the Chargers quickly erased the deficit. Oliver Fraaza’s 3-point play gave Wittenberg-Birnamwood a 19-18 lead late in the first half, and the Chargers never trailed again.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood led 28-26 at halftime.
Will Verkuilen helped lead Shawano’s comeback by scoring all 11 of his points in the second half after he scored 44 points three days earlier in an 82-69 win over Clintonville.
“Will had three fouls in the first half (against Wittenberg-Birnamwood), and that got him out of his rhythm a little bit,”coach David Ambrosius said. “The biggest drive in our comeback was the tempo. We were sharing the basketball, making that extra pass and getting the open shot. We’re confident in the guys we have on this roster that can knock down open shots. We were able to get those tonight.”
Verkuilen’s second 3-pointer cut the Chargers’ lead to 48-46 with seven minutes remaining in the game. He later tied the game at 56-56 with just under two minutes to go, but Fraaza hit one of two free throws that turned out to be the difference in the game.
Shawano had a chance to go for the win after the Chargers turned the ball over with just under a minute remaining. Both teams took a timeout with 8.5 seconds to go and the Hawks set up a game-winning shot, but Austin Heling’s shot just before the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Zandyr Barke led all players with 21 points, while Fraaza finished with 16. Jackson Nordin led Shawano with 16 points, and Verkuilen also finished in double figures with 11.
Ambrosius said his team would have liked the opportunity to hand an undefeated team its first loss.
“The rankings just came out today, and this is a top-10 team in the state,” he said. “That would have been a nice little spark for us, another feather in our cap — one that looks really good when you get to the playoffs seeding point.
“The biggest thing we can take out of this one is we played a quality opponent down to the last possession. The record may not indicate the kind of team that we are or certainly what we’re going to be in the next four to six weeks.”
Although the Hawks are off to a 2-4 start, Ambrosius expects his team to get better as the season rolls on.
“They have a lot of fight in them,” he said. “We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole here tonight, but the team keeps coming back, grinding and finding ways to knock down shots. There are some things we can tighten up on the offensive and defensive ends. We come to work every day with our hard hats, ready to work.”
Shawano competes in the Bay Conference with Xavier, New London, Winneconne, West De Pere, Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Menasha and Fox Valley Lutheran.
“The Bay Conference might be the best it’s been in my 11 years in Shawano,” Ambrosius said. “You have Seymour, the No. 1 team in Division 3. You have Xavier, who’s always tough. You have Fox Valley Lutheran and Winneconne squads, who I think are really good. You have a New London team that’s gone to sectionals and has the returning (conference) player of the year in (Joseph) Daly. It’s tough.”
The Hawks have already dropped games to Fox Valley Lutheran and Winneconne and sit at 0-2 in the conference standings.
Playing in a competitive conference like the Bay is good for the Hawks, according to Ambrosius.
“It gives you an edge,” he said. “You cannot take a night off in that league, because whoever your opponent is is certainly going to get you. It puts you in the right mental head space, because you have to come locked in and ready to play every single day.”
