Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
This evening, the #2 seeded varsity Bluejay Boys Basketball team will open their 2018 WIAA Tournament run, when they open the gates of the MHS Field House to seventh-seed Hortonville for the WIAA Regional Semi-Finals.
The ‘Jays are coming off an uplifting 52-46 win over Shawano to end the regular season, and a strong three-way third place tie in the WVC with Wisconsin Rapids and D.C Everest at 7-5 (14-8 overall). Despite hailing from an equally competitive conference, the Polar Bears didn’t fair quite as well as their adversaries this season; finishing 7th of the 10 team Fox Valley Association (FVA) at 7-11 (9-14) overall. On the flip side, while Merrill enters the contest fresh with a first-round bye, the ‘Bears come in with one battle patch earned already; following a 66-43 drubbing of Antigo on the ‘Bears home court Tuesday evening.
In looking at the numbers, the Bluejays clearly have a jump on the Polar Bears in terms of scoring and production.
Hortonville will be led by top scorer Senior Jay Welson (164 points/11.7 PPG).
Welson will be accompanied by Sophomore Cole Warning (133 pts/10.2 PPG) and Chandler Guyette (88 pts/9.8 PPG)
The Bluejays however will bring an arsenal of formidable weapons in leading scorers Junior Quinn Steckbauer (390 points/17.7 PPG) and Senior Zach Mootz (379 pts/17.2 PPG) along with Chase Bonnell (216 pts/9.8 PPG) and Jared Ollhoff (196 pts/8.9 PPG) respectively.
The winner of tonight’s bout will advance for their shot at the regional title and square off with the winner of the New London/Lakeland in the regional championship bout tomorrow at 7 PM.
Tonight’s contest is set to begin at 7 PM at the MHS Field House