Six days after Freedom dropped 100 points on the Oconto Falls boys basketball team, the Panthers had a chance to do the same in their next time on the court.
They came up just short but were able to pick up a 93-32 nonconference win over Coleman on Feb. 12 at Oconto Falls High School.
Three-point shooting helped the Panthers build a big lead early in the game that kept getting bigger. Seven of their 17 3-pointers during a 32-4 run in the first half increased the lead from 7-4 to 39-8. Referees stopped the game with 10:25 remaining in the first half after Jameson Beaman’s 3-pointer - one of his seven in the game - made him the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Oconto Falls led 54-13 at halftime and opened the second half with an 18-2 run.
“We moved the ball well, found the open guy and knocked down the shots, the ones we know we can hit all the time,” coach Ross Kraszewski said.
Beaman led all scorers with 27 points, including 22 in the first half alone. JJ Pytleski and Teagan Tate also finished in double figures for the Panthers with 17 and 11 points, respectively, while Nicolas Corona-Pyawasay led Coleman with 11.
The win is the first time the Panthers played since a 100-53 North Eastern Conference loss to state-ranked Freedom on Feb. 6.
“The starters wanted to stay in so they could go for 100 tonight, too,” Kraszewski said. “It was definitely on our minds that, ‘Hey, you don’t want to be a Coleman Cougar, tonight because we’re going to bounce back after a loss.’”
The Panthers improved to 14-6 overall and 6-1 in nonconference games.
“We’re a confident scoring team, but what can make the difference for us and what has helped us down the stretch here where we’ve won a lot of games is we’ve ramped up our defense,” Kraszewski said. “We figured out that we can score, but we also have to get stops on the other end. If we put those two things together, we’re tough to beat.”
Oconto Falls’ JJ Pytleski and Coleman’s Nicolas Corona-Pyawasay keep their eyes on the action in the first half. (Greg Seubert)
Oconto Falls’ Mason Berg slaps the ball out of the hands of Coleman’s Zach Ziemer. (Greg Seubert)
