Rockets get nearly everyone in the box score

The Cedar Grove-Belgium High School boys’ basketball team did better than the 12 days of Christmas all in one game at Random Lake on Dec. 16

Fourteen Rockets scored in a 91-48 thrashing of the young and rebuilding Rams.

The Rockets led, 54-25, at halftime, and coach Jake Hock pulled his starters with 12 minutes left in the game.

Senior Carter Schmitz scored 25 points, all in the first half on 10-for-16 shooting. 

“He really played well, but a lot of his points were team points. We forced 20 turnovers in the first half. We were able to get the ball up in transition really quick. It was a lot of layups and open shots,” Hock said.

The Rockets didn’t press but were aggressive.

“Just went straight up, nothing fancy. We jumped in passing lanes and really made guys have to make tough decisions for them,” Hock said.

Griffin Knight had 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting and had 10 rebounds. 

Senior Owen Gulke, who eclipsed 1,000 career points last season, scored 13 on 6-for-14 shooting.

“It was good to get everybody in and different experiences for guys,” Hock said. “It was cool to get guys opportunities like that they might not get.”

Other scorers included Noah Lukens, Thomas Wiesner and Sawyer Knutson, each with six points; Grady Ketterhagen, five; Wylan Reichle, four; Austin Hopeman and Jack Meinen, three each; Brad Mentink, Davis Wieberdink and Gavin Aponte, two each; and Evan Halleman, one.

“We’re unselfish. Almost every single guy is willing to give up a good shot for one extra pass to get a great shot,” Hock said.

“I have such a great group of guys and one of the things I love about them is they are such a selfless team. They are willing to let other guys have that moment.”

Freshman Michael Merlo led the Rams with 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting. He also had five assists. Freshman Oskar Steinbauer has 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting and eight rebounds.

Last Thursday’s game at St. Mary’s Springs was postponed due to weather, and the Rockets’ game against Sheboygan Falls on Monday was canceled.

The Rockets, 4-2 overall, host a holiday tournament next week. Howards Grove faces Martin Luther at 5:30 p.m. and Oakfield plays Cedar Grove-Belgium afterward on Monday, Dec. 29.

The consolation game is at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30, with the tourney’s title game to follow.

Warriors double their wins total

Ozaukee earned its second win of the season last Friday, defeating visiting nonconference foe West Bend West, 61-25, and moved to 2-4 overall.

Ozaukee coach Bob Domach said his team “played our best game of the season so far.

“We took lessons from our early season tough schedule and showed how much we have grown as a team. We competed our butts off and didn’t fold when West made a few runs at us.

“The coaching staff is really proud of this big step forward. We had contributions on both ends of the court from so many players.”

The Warriors opened the game by outscoring the Spartans, 14-5, and led, 35-29, at halftime.

Ozaukee battled foul trouble. The Warriors finished the game with four players with four fouls each.

“We had some foul trouble, and the next man up came into the game and played a big role in the win,” Domach said.

“We have been emphasizing taking charges in practice and that carried over into the game as we took four, with Mason Schroeder taking two of those charges.”

The Warriors were led by Chase Mills with 22 points and seven rebounds. Braydon Lowrance-Eischen had a double-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Nick Schubert added nine points, and Schroeder had eight points and six rebounds.

The Spartans were led by Eli Kopidlanski with 11 points and Teagan Ongert with nine.

On Dec. 16, the Warriors were walloped, 80-27, by the visiting Oostburg Flying Dutchmen,  ranked No. 2 in the Division 3 Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports Boys Basketball Media Poll

“Oostburg is the best team in our conference and one of the top teams in Division 3. When we play against such a tough opponent, we need to bring our ‘A’ game, and we brought our ‘Z’ game,” Domach said.

“I believe Oostburg played their best game of the season and we obviously played our worst. The refs allowed physical play and that took us out of what we wanted to do on offense.

“We need to learn when stuff happens out of our control, and that we need to keep battling through adversity. We will grow and learn from this game.”

As a sign of what was to come, Oostburg raced out to a 13-0 lead to start the game. By halftime they led, 52-11.

No Ozaukee players reached double digits. Mills scored eight to lead the Warriors and Dylan Budzisz chipped in six.

The Dutchmen got 31 points from Jamison Zavachin and 17 from his brother Westin. Cade Dirkse scored nine and dished out 14 assists.

Ozaukee plays at nonconference foe Hustisford on Tuesday, Dec. 23.