Our Lancer boys varsity started WIAA regional play this past Tuesday with a game at Oconto High School. We were the #9 seed traveling to play the #8 seed, and the Lancers came away with a decisive 76-61 victory. The boys had a rough first half of shooting including at least five airballs. Coach Scott Loberger noted, "Nerves were getting the better of us." Oconto also had their best shooting half of the season, but we still held a 37-35 lead at halftime. We came out of halftime with a 10-0 run to create a comfortable lead and finished the game giving up only 26 points in the second half.
The Lancers had some great stat lines on Tuesday, highlighted by senior August Hecker's triple double (11 rebounds, 13 assists, 12 points) while being 3 steals away from a quadruple double. Junior Aidan Franzen led all scorers with 23 points and 7 rebounds and senior Ethan Menges scored 22 points and had 16 rebounds to record another double-double.
The Lancers then advanced to the Regional semi-final on Friday, travelling across town to face the Jets from Roncalli High School who had the #1 seed in our regional. The Lancers' season ended with a 65-47 loss to the Jets. Roncalli came out hot and jumped to an early 10 point lead. Loberger commented, "The game really hovered around the 10-12 point mark for most of the game until we were forced to extend our defense, trying to get traps and/or steals. That eventually led to fouls which allowed them to open the game up to 20 points and ultimately win by 18."
Hecker led the way with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Menges had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Then a trio of Lancers, senior Sho Fukasawa, sophomore Noah Czarneski, and Franzen, each had 7 points.
The Lancers finish the 2011-2022 season with a 14-12 record (10-9 Big East). Thank you, boys, for representing Lancer Nation well both on and off the court this year!
Next week's Sports Update will include season recaps for all of our boys and girls basketball teams, as well as a list of honors that our players received at the year-end Awards Night held last night.
