Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
The Tomahawk boys basketball squad came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders in dunking Wittenberg-Birnamwood 62-34 in their season opener last Tuesday night, and proceeded to hand Chequamegon a similar fate on Thursday by a 64-50 tally.
Although a bit more of a competition than Tuesday’s game, the Screaming Eagles had difficulty hanging with the Hatchets from the very start, as Tomahawk mounted a 36-25 lead at intermission.
The home-court Eagles tightened things up a bit in the 2nd half, but not quite enough as the Hatchets held a 3-point shooting spread to the final buzzer.
“We played well again defensively, limiting the open looks they got,” commented coach Tim Albert. “I thought we controlled the dribble well, too, but we didn’t rebound as well, and gave them some second chances. We shot the ball well in the first half, and did a really good job moving the ball against their zone. We hit 5 3’s in the half, and those were open looks because of good ball movement and making the extra pass.
“We really attacked the basket in the second half and either scored or got to the foul line. We continued to play well defensively and forced them to take perimeter shots, but we gave up a few too many offensive rebounds. We need to continue to improve, as we need to take better care of the basketball.”
TWK: 36 28-64
CHQ: 25 25-50
Scoring: Justin Jarvensivu (21p); Easton Phalin had (14p); Jackson List/Riley Tollison/Isaac Weber/Jacob Zietlow (6p).
Witt-Birn whoopin’
The Chargers got a good dose of ‘Hatchet-ball’ right away as Tomahawk jumped out to an overwhelming 23-9 lead at the half. The Hatchet juggernaut showed no signs of letting up in the second half as the guys out-scored Witt-Birn 39-25 to seal the deal.
“Our defense was excellent in the first half,” Albert adds. “I thought we had good ball pressure, and really did a nice job of cutting off driving lanes. We challenged their perimeter shots very well, and did a great job on the defensive boards.”
“We struggled at times offensively in the first half, but overall it wasn’t bad for the opener. We drove well and got opportunities from the free throw line (5-8), but we had some missed opportunities. The biggest thing we did in the second half was take advantage of our opportunities. We adjusted our half-court offense and found some openings and again were able to create chances with the drive. Again, we were able to get to the foul line (9-14) by being aggressive.”
“We have a young group, varsity experience-wise, and I thought we had some nerves in the first half. We worked those out, though, and were better with the ball in the second half. This was a nice win for us.”
WBN: 9 25-34
THK: 23 39-62
Scoring: Jarvensivu (11 p,16 r, 1 bl, 1 a); Phalin (8 p, 6 r, 2 st, 2 a); List (6 pts, 3/5FG, 3 reb, 2 ST).