EagleHerald Sports Editor
MARQUETTE – After starting the season with a convincing win against North Central last Tuesday, the Menominee basketball teams faced two very good squads on Thursday in Ashwaubenon and Friday in Marquette when the Maroons posted their first two losses of the season.
Against Ashwaubenon, Menominee managed to hold out for most of the first half as he came out of the goals vigorously, attacked the edge and put pressure on the defense.
The Maroons had a lead up to the seven-minute mark of the first half when Bellisle scored 11 goals and Cooper Conway and Brady Badker each had four, while Menominee led 28-26 until Ashwaubenon’s Marcus Tomashek gave his team a 31-28 lead with a triple and a basket inside with 5:56 left in the first half.
Badker responded with a scoop layup and Bellisle followed an Ashwaubenon bucket with a floater to keep the score at 32-31, but Menominee began losing shooters defensively, coupled with a couple of costly turnovers leading to 3-pointers on the other End.
Matt Imig and Tomashek took turns with 3-pointers as Ashwaubenon used a 13-6 run to finish half-time and take a 48-36 lead.
“We came out with a lot of energy and had good dribble penetration early in the game. I liked the way we attacked the rim and put pressure on its defense,” said Menominee coach Sam Larson. “We had a couple of properties towards the end of the first half that we lost Tomashek and Imig on and that really seemed to fuel their offensive.”
The Maroons continued to play well at both ends of the course, but with Ashwaubenon in the 21st game and the Maroons in second place, the Jaguars were able to maintain a nearly 20 point lead from the eight-minute mark.
“Overall, I thought we did a good job defensively,” said Larson. “It’s an excellent offensive team with 21 games. It was a great experience for us to play a team of this caliber. We have a lot of things in the film that we can do better. “
One player Ashwaubenon couldn’t find an answer for was the Maroons’ Bellisle, who finished the game with a smooth 30 points and seven rebounds for his second 30-point stake in a row.
“Aidan did a great job getting in the color,” said Larson. “I think Ashwaubenon had a hard time finding an answer for him, but we also had a hard time finding an answer for some of their boys.”
Conway added 13 points and nine rebounds and Badker threw in 10 points and three boards for the Maroons, who shot 31 out of 63 (49 percent) out of the field but only 4 to 18 (22 percent) out of the 3 point range the 100-70 loss.
Friday’s Great Northern Conference matchup against Marquette was the opposite of Thursday night, when the Maroons came out sluggish and flat and Marquette’s top two goalscorers gave two candid looks in the first minute of the game as the Redmen stormed an early lead.
“For some reason we came out flat to start the game,” said Larson. “We understand it’s been a tough week but we cannot excuse the lack of defensive intensity we showed in the first half of this game.”
Menominee’s fighting continued in the second quarter when Marquette was nearly 20 points clear at half, but momentum for the Maroons shifted after a Marquette player missed a dunk early in the second half.
That got the Maroons going a little and Menominee opened the second half with a 17-2 run to close the gap to seven points, but every time the Maroons got closer the Redmen had an answer.
“We had some great possessions on either side of the ball to start the second half,” said Larson. “But every time we approached we had a defensive failure that allowed them to get going again. I thought Brady (Badker) did a pretty good job on (Kam) Karp, but we gave the rest of her guys too many candid looks. “
Although the Maroons didn’t play a great game in the 69:54 loss overall, Larson still sees a lot of positive results coming from the game as Menominee saw the basket offensively out of their crimes that just didn’t did not fall.
“We’re doing a lot of good things offensively,” said Larson. “Our distance and ball movement look good for this point of the season as we only had two contact exercises. The focus for us will be on improving our defenses to get the teams to shoot harder against us. We have a great group of people this year and we gained a lot of experience in that first week. We will learn from our experiences and grow from them. “
MENOMINEE (70)– Bellisle 30, Conway 13, Badker 10, Schultz 5, Uecke 4, Laurin 2, Starzynski 2, Coduti 2. FTs: 4-7.
MENOMINEE (54)– Bellisle 17, Waara 11, Conway 11, Schultz 7, Badker 5, Uecke 2, Starzynski 1. FTs: 3-5.
Comments are closed.