Story originally printed in the Onalaska Life or online at www.onalaskalife.com
Published - Saturday, March 01, 2008
Adams-Friendship bedevils OHS boys cagers in regional semifinal
All someone would need to know about the Onalaska High School boys basketball team's Division 2 regional semifinal at Adams-Friendship could be summarized in one statistic. Green Devils junior forward Tommie Gaston had more dunks, four, than Onalaska had two-point field goals, three, in the first three quarters. Not surprisingly, A-F scored at will early and often in a 59-28 win that ended the Hilltoppers season at 6-16.
Adams opened the game on an 11-2 run, capped by a Gaston two-handed dunk in transition. The Green Devils also scored the final eight points of the first period.
A Gaston steal and one-handed dunk allowed A-F to extend its lead to 25-5, while another Gaston dunk off a post-up pushed the Devils lead to 29-8. OHS was able to cap the first half in style when sophomore guard Johnny Liu banked-in a 26-foot three, but that only allowed Onalaska to get within 31-11.
“They got in our head with turnovers,” Hilltoppers head coach Daren Simms said. “We floated a few passes and we weren't aggressive coming out to meet the ball.
“We thought we had a good practice yesterday, but when you get guys with long arms that are used to playing it, it can cause you a lot of trouble. At the same time they handled the ball very well, especially in the first half. And we weren't an offensive powerhouse to begin with by any means.”
The Liu three appeared to have given OHS and modicum of hope for an improved second half. That ended quickly, as Gaston's fourth dunk off a steal capped a 10-0 rally to begin the third quarter. Onalaska did not match A-F's first-quarter total of 19 points until 6:13 remained in the fourth quarter on a Tyler Hougom free throw.
Mike Price led the Hilltoppers with seven points, while Kyle Stewart added five points. Mike Puls contributed two 4th-quarter buckets, while three points each from Clint Ferguson, Hougom, Tyler Adams and Liu completed the OHS scoring.
The loss capped a rough second half of the season for Onalaska, which entered the playoffs on an eight-game losing streak. The Hilltoppers lost their last seven MVC games, including a 17-point home loss to 4-8 Tomah, a one-point loss to 1-11 Sparta and a 31-point loss at Aquinas.
“We knew we were going to struggle to score,” Simms said. “We didn't have many guys that could fill it. We had 12 guys and in the group we probably had 10 different types of jump shots.
“Our returning kids need to do a better job of shooting year-round instead of just shooting during the season. And nobody wants to shoot the 10- to 16-foot shot anymore.”
Self-admittedly part of the struggles was Stewart, a first-team all-MVC choice a year ago.
“Coming off last year's season, I had a lot of expectations for myself,” Stewart said. “I probably put too much pressure on myself. I'm disappointed in the way I played this year.”
Stewart did miss Onalaska's first two games after sustaining an injury in a preseason scrimmage with Luther.
“I think the injury had a lot to do with his season,” Simms said. “Throughout the year he was keeping his feet away from his opponents' feet. He's not used to playing hurt.”
Stewart said, “We struggled all year. We had a few games in the middle of the season where we played well, but that was about it.
“The biggest problem we had all year was not being able to score. I really don't know why we had so much trouble on offense. It was a really frustrating year. We had a lot of expectations for ourselves.”
Sports editor's note: Please check out next week's editon of the Community Life for more on the team.
All stories copyright 2006 Onalaska Life and other attributed sources.