Grafton boys fall to tall, talented Cedarburg

In the second marquee match-up featuring four Division 1 seniors on the floor — two in basketball and two in football — all standing at least 6 feet, 5 inches tall, Cedarburg High School’s basketball team got the best of Grafton, 72-55, last Friday.

The Black Hawks made their first three three-pointers, the final one giving them their last lead of the game at 9-7.

But the Bulldogs, led by 6-10 Logan Landers who has committed to Kansas State, and 6-5 Drew Biber, who has committed to Purdue as a wide receiver, built a 42-22 halftime lead.

“You can’t give a team 20 points and dig yourself in a hole,” Grafton coach Damon James said.

The Hawks made it a contest in the second half. After scanning for a teammate to pass to, 6-7 Brock Heffner, who has committed to the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, launched a three-pointer that cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 61-50 with just more than five minutes to play.

The Bulldogs answered with a 7-0 run — six came from Biber, including a slam dunk — to put the game on ice.

“It was a tale of two halves. In the second half, I thought we competed way better than in the first. Our toughness was there in the second half,” James said.

“Lesson learned. Don’t spot people 20 points and come out and play with toughness for 36 minutes.”

Heffner led all scorers with 24 points on 5-for-9 shooting. He was 3-for-8 behind the arc and made all five of his free throws. He also had nine rebounds and four assists.

His teammate J.P. Benzschawel, headed to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to play offensive line, scored seven points and had five rebounds.

Guard Bennett Hildenbrand had eight points and four assists. He was 2-for-4 on three-pointers.

Landers had 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Biber had 20 points, four rebounds and four steals. Senior Matthew Pilch, standing 6-3, scored 17 points and had six assists.

“It’s always a game of match-ups. We just didn’t match up well with certain guys,” James said.

Not many teams match up well with the Bulldogs. Landers, despite being so tall, can drain outside shots and went 4-for-6 on three-pointers. Biber was 2-for-4.

The Hawks followed Friday’s game with a home 63-56 loss to non-conference opponent Brown Deer. Statistics weren’t available.

The Hawks are 8-4 in the North Shore Conference and 9-5 overall. Cedarburg is 11-1 in the NSC, tied for first place with Whitefish Bay, and 11-2 overall.

Grafton was to host West Bend East (6-6 NSC) on Wednesday, postponed from Tuesday due to snow, play at Homestead (6-6) on Friday and host Whitefish Bay on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Port Washington seeking first victory

The Port Washington boys lost two games last week and are still seeking to notch a positive number in the wins column.

Last Friday, Port lost at West Bend East, 64-44.

The Pirates were down, 21-19, at halftime, but the Suns took over in the second half, 43-25.

Ryan Burmesch led Port with 16 points. Nick Burmesch had six.

Dawson Rondorf and T.J. Sumner each scored 12 for the Suns, and Sam Geldnich had nine.

On Saturday, Port lost to Homestead, 51-33.

Nate Uselding had eight points and Patrick Lippe had seven.

For Homestead, Tim Franks scored 19 points and Solomon Garrison had 13.

Port, 0-11 in the NSC and 0-13 overall, was to play at Slinger (4-8 NSC) on Wednesday — moved from Tuesday due to weather — host Nicolet (8-4) on Friday, host non-conference foe Random Lake (6-9 overall) on Saturday and play at West Bend West (4-8 NSC) on Tuesday, Feb. 2.