Ozaukee boys win their first game

Rebounding from a pair of lopsided losses, the Ozaukee High School boys’ basketball team earned its first victory, 61-50, last Saturday against visiting Howards Grove.

The Warriors opened the week’s action Dec 8, when they were routed by visiting St. Mary Catholic, 113-80, on Dec. 8.  Last Thursday, Ozaukee was on the short end of a 77-35 loss at Sheboygan Lutheran.

“It was a week of growth for the team,” coach Bob Domach said.

There was plenty of offense to go around when the Warriors hosted St. Mary Catholic. Each team had three players score at least 20 points.

Ozaukee’s defense had a hard time against the Zephyrs’ outside shooting, allowing 16 three-pointers.

Daniel Griffith and Cole Uhlenbrauch each poured in six of those. Both finished with 25 points. Griffith also dished out 12 assists.  Quincy Fields scored 20 points and pulled down 17 rebounds.

Noah Miller led the Warriors with 24 points and six rebounds. Simon Bares and Matt Miller each scored 20 points, and Miller had six rebounds.  

Braxton Gahan had seven rebounds.

At Sheboygan Lutheran, the Warriors played better.

“We struggled on the defensive side early in the week versus St. Mary Catholic, and improved on the defensive end against a really good Sheboygan Lutheran team,” Domach said.

“Noah Miller did a great job limiting one of the better players in the conference, Casey Verhagen.”

The normally high-scoring Verhagen finished the game with just 11 points.

“However, we had too many turnovers and we couldn’t score against Lutheran,” Domach said.

The Warriors turned it over 27 times.

Jesse Schauer had nine points and Matt Miller had eight points and eight rebounds.  

Ozaukee’s top scorer Noah Miller, who was blanketed by double coverage most of the night, finished with six points and seven rebounds.

Gahan had 10 rebounds.

Lutheran was led by Ander Verhelst with 18 points. Jackson Holzheimer had 14 points and Jonah Jurss had nine.

In Saturday’s win over Howards Grove, the Warriors had their most balanced scoring attack of the young season and excelled at the other end of the court.

“Our defense really stepped up and that proved to be the difference,” Domach said.

Five Ozaukee players scored at least eight points, led by Noah Miller, who had 20 points and eight rebounds.

Gahan posted his first double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Freshman Bret Hamm had a career-high 10 points. Schauer and Matt Miller each scored eight points.

Matt Miller, Noah’s cousin, also had nine rebounds and four assists.

The Warriors led, 27-16, at halftime.

The Tigers pulled within three points at the 13:33 mark in the second half, at 31-28.  

The Warriors built the lead back to nine points with 5:14 to play, 51-42.

Howards Grove rallied again and came within five points with just under three minutes to play, at 53-48, but that was as close as the Tigers would get.

Tiger Tanner Schumacher scored 20 points and Owen Sorenson had 14.

The Warriors, 1-3 in the Big East Conference, host Kohler Thursday, play at Manitowoc Lutheran on Saturday and at Cedar Grove-Belgium on Monday, Dec. 21.