Falcons fall short in OT

Brandon Gries scored a game-high 35 points to lead the Kiel Raiders to a 75-66 overtime victory over the Sheboygan Falls Falcons in Eastern Wisconsin Conference boys basketball action Friday, Dec. 11, in Sheboygan Falls.

Gries, who came into the contest averaging 26.7 points per game, carried the Raiders on his back, scoring 12 points in overtime period. The Falcons failed to secure a victory in regulation, missing two free throws and a couple of shots before the buzzer.

Falls drops to 0-2 in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference (2-2 overall). Kiel stays undefeated at 2-0 in the EWC (4-0 overall).

“We played hard at the end of the fourth, but we didn’t have an answer for Gries,” said Falcons coach Eric Spielman.

Both teams traded leads throughout the game, until late in the fourth quarter, when a steal by Gries gave Kiel a 53-47 lead, with 3:47 left.

The Falcons didn’t cave in to the EWC’s leading scorer, as junior center Nick Roelse rallied his team with eight straight points in the fourth to cut Kiel’s lead to 55-52.

Moments later, senior guard Dan Duda hit a 3-pointer, with 1:38 to go to tie the game.

Then, a lay-up from the Raiders Derek Meyer and a missed free throw from Gries gave Falls a slim chance to tie the game, with 33 seconds remaining.

Falcons forward Zach Berg got open from the 3-point arc and sank it, with 18 seconds left.

“We hit some big shots to come back,” said Berg. “Gries was too much. He was a tough player to guard.”

After forcing two turnovers, Falls had its chances to win at the end, but failed with two missed free throws with eight seconds remaining and two shots at the buzzer.

In overtime, Kiel looked to its leader Gries as they went on a 9-2 run, with Gries scoring seven points. Later, Gries added a 3-point shot to put an exclamation mark on his big night, in which he sank 14-of-21 field-goal attempts.

Kiel was up 70-65 with less than a minute left, before Meyer stretched the lead to 73-66, with a threepoint play.

The Falcons struggled early with foul problems in the first quarter, as Roelse and Berg picked up two fouls each.

Kiel took advantage of the Falls fouls, hitting 5-of-8 throws and outscoring Falls 16-11 by the end of the first quarter. Falcons’ junior Alex Grabowski hit a jumper at the buzzer to keep it close.

The Falcons came back strong in the second quarter. With junior forward Matt Hasler leading the way, Falls embarked on a 15-6 run to take a 26-22 lead.

Hasler scored eight straight points to start the second and Berg put in a 3-pointer to push the Falcons ahead.

Kiel came back with six straight points to regain the lead. However, Duda scored on a nice assist from senior Lewis Halverson to tie the game 28-28 at halftime.

The third quarter saw the lead change hands five times, as Kiel held a slim 45-44 edge going into the fourth period. Junior Jason Fenner stepped up for the Falcons with five points off the bench in the third quarter.

“We gave up too many loose balls and had some shots that should have gone in,” stated Spielman. “I didn’t feel we boarded well on offense.”

Roelse led Falls with 17 points and nine rebounds. Berg finished with 14 pointers, including four 3- pointers and Duda added 13 points. Halverson made five assists.

Gries set an all-time scoring record, with 1,135 total career points for Kiel. He also had 11 rebounds and four assists. Joey Burris scored 12 points and Peter Kraus led in rebounding with 13 boards.

“Gries guarded me well,” said Roelse. “We didn’t hit our free throws and take advantage of turnovers,”

The Falcon junior varsity team was outscored 26-2 in the second quarter and never recovered, as Kiel notched a 64-46 victory. The loss dropped Falls to 0-2 in the EWC (2-2 overall).

Sophomore Bobby Musil led Falls in scoring with 16 points.

“We obviously have a lot of work to do,” said coach Jeff Duda. “Our defense wasn’t there tonight.”

Falls pounded Kiel in the freshman game 53-26. Jake Meyer had a game-high 22 points, as the Falcons improved to 2-0 in the EWC (3-0 overall).

“We played with good intensity and pressed well on defense,” said coach Paul Houwers.

BOYS
BASKETBALL
KIEL
	75
SHEBOYGAN
FALLS 66

Score by Quarters
Kiel………………......16 12 17 13 17 - 75
Sheboygan Falls...11 17 16 14 9 - 66
Kiel scoring: Isaiah Herzog 6, Joey Burris 12, DJ Driscoll 2, Sam Moehring 6, Brandon Gries 35, Derek Meyer 6, Peter
Kraus 7.
Sheboygan Falls scoring: Alex Grabowski 2, Jason Fenner 5, Dan Duda 13, Lewis Halverson 7, Matt Hasler 8, Zach
Berg 14, Nick Roelse 17.
Three point goals: Kiel, Burris 2, Gries 3. Sheboygan Falls, Duda 2, Berg 4.
Statistics: Kiel – field goals 26-64 (41 percent), free throws 18-27 (67 percent), rebounds 43, turnovers 20 Sheboygan
Falls – field goals 25-47 (53 percent) free throws 10-20 (50 percent), rebounds _______________________ 29, turnovers 13.