Tigers stay hot thrash Resorters
by Greg Ceilley of The Review staff
HOWARDS GROVE – The Howards Grove Tigers are peaking at the opportune time, evidenced again here Tuesday night as they rolled over Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, 69-27, in a boys basketball matchup.
It was the Tigers’ seventh straight victory and improved their Central Lakeshore Conference record to 12-5 (15-6 overall). The winning streak is highlighted by an overtime win over CLC leader Oostburg which is ranked No. 12 in Division 3.
“We’re on a roll now,” said Tiger head coach Chris Schroeder.
“Beating Oostburg was probably the linchpin in the winning streak, and we also beat Cedar Grove – two teams we had lost to earlier in the season. It kind of snowballed from there.”
“My team is just focused on taking each game to the next level,” Schroeder said.
The Tigers dominated Elkhart from the start in all phases and continued to look sharp as the game went on. Howards’ quick man-to-man defense smothered the Resorters – forcing 19 turnovers, including 14 steals, many of which were converted into baskets.
Howards raced to a 17-3 lead only 5:10 into the first quarter. Junior forward Josh Horness keyed the run with seven points, including a three-point play off a layup that was set up by Eric Bruesewitz’s steal.
Resorter head coach Jeremy Harrison was very disappointed in his team’s performance.
“We need to try to get back on track. This was one of our worst games ever,” Harrison said.
Elkhart, 2-15 in the CLC (3-18 overall), was coming off a win Monday night against St. Lawrence Seminary (Mount Calvary).
“We just had no intensity,” Harrison added.
All 12 Tigers were in the scoring column, led by Bruesewitz with 11 and Horness, 10. Horness also had a team-high seven rebounds.
Bruesewitz paced his team in steals with four. Zach Morgen led in assists with four. Dane Blake paced Elkhart scorers with 10 and shared rebounding honors with Jon Petrie at seven each.
Blake led the Resorters in steals with five.
Schroeder thought Mike Davis and Nathan Bitter, who were called up from the junior varsity, played well. The coach said Paul Elzinga was very active and did several things well.
Elzinga had nine points, five boards, two steals and three assists off the bench.
JV GAME
Noah Steines hit 16 points and Thomas Brickner added 14 to lead the Tigers to a 74-23 rout in the JV contest.
Elkhart’s top scorers were Tom Pritzl and Devin Pfeifer with six apiece.
| BOYS
| |
| BASKETBALL
| |
| ELKHART | 27 |
| LAKE | |
| HOWARDS 69 | |
| GROVE | |
Score by Quarters
Elkhart Lake……………7 3 5 12 – 27
Howards Grove.……..21 10 23 15 – 69
Elkhart Lake scoring: Zach Schoenborn 2, Dane Blake 10, Jon Petrie 8, Justin Schneider 4, Mike Henzel 3.
Howards Grove scoring: Eric Dickmyer 7, Ryan Bruesewitz 1, Mike Davis 2, Paul Elzinga 9, Eric Bruesewitz 11, Josh
Horness 10, Jacob Schultz 2, Nathan Bitter 4, Aaron Wagner 8, Matt Wleklinski 2, Zach Morgen 4, Ashton Holzman 9.
Three-point goals: Blake 2, Henzel 1, Dickmyer 1, Elzinga 1, E. Bruesewitz 2.
Field goals: Elkhart Lake 10-32, 31%; Howards Grove, 29-59, 49%. Free throws: Elkhart Lake 4-4, 100%; Howards
Grove 6-7, 86%.
___R_e_b_o_u_nd_s_:_ E_lk_h_a_r_t L_a_k_e_ 2_3_,_ H_o_w_a_rds Grove 32. Turnovers: Elkhart Lake 19, Howards Grove 8.
