Turnovers doom Arcadia boys against Westby as Raiders ‘learning’ to win

The Arcadia High School boys basketball team was in control in the final minutes of last Friday’s Coulee Conference game at Westby. The Raiders had just battled back from a 10-point deficit to tie the game, and the ball was in their possession with a chance to take the lead as time dwindled.

Moments later the visitors turned the ball over, allowing Westby to run down the court and score. The swing propelled the hosts to a 48-44 win.

“We didn’t have great spacing,” Arcadia coach Ryan Sonnentag said of the possession. “It seemed like there were too many guys who wanted to be the guy to make the play instead of just playing the game. But that comes with experience and learning how to win.”

Arcadia (1-2 overall, 0-1 Coulee Conference) also lost to Sparta last Monday. The Raiders were scheduled to visit Eleva-Strum this Tuesday as well as Tomah on Thursday.

Learning how to win is a skill and the Raiders are trying to master that, Sonnentag said. Arcadia had a handful of possessions in the final four minutes on Friday where they had a chance to steal the lead, but they couldn’t close the deal.

Missed free throws and poor ball-handling were part of that. The Raiders stress valuing each possession, Sonnentag said, and sometimes a turnover is the result of trying to force a play.

“There’s some passes that we’re trying to make where we’re trying to hit a guy for a layup and it gets deflected. But the ones that we control, the ones that we’re throwing to the other team, we’ve got to shore those up for sure,” he said.

Senior Connor Weltzien nearly tied things up again in the dying seconds, but a three-point try rolled off the rim and Westby hit a pair of free throws to secure the win. 

Weltzien tied the game at 44 with a three-point play thanks to a foul late in the game and finished with 27 points to lead all players. Maverick Drazkowski added nine for the Raiders.

“He’s really taken his game to the next level,” Sonnentag said of Weltzien. “His ability to get to the rim and finish. … he had an absolutely fantastic game and we’re relying on him quite a bit. … and he’s really risen to that challenge,” he said.

Turnovers and fouls to end the first half ballooned Westby to a 27-19 cushion at halftime. Caleb Johnson ended Friday with a team-high 15 points for the Norse.

The final result was not what Arcadia hoped for due to missed free throws and some miscues, but Weltzien called the game a step in the right direction for an inexperienced team.

“I was really proud of our resolve and our grit. Battling back like that is not an easy thing to do, especially against a good defensive team like Westby,” he said.

“When we tied it late, I think there were a handful of possessions that we maybe just didn’t execute as well as we wanted to to get the shots we wanted, and a couple turnovers kind of hurt us late, too.”

Sparta 75 Arcadia 62

Sparta flipped the script in the second half of a nonconference game on Monday at Sparta High School. The Spartans rattled off 45 points after the break to overcome a 31-30 Arcadia advantage at halftime.

Drazkowski led Arcadia with a 21-point showing – including a two-handed slam dunk -- and Weltzien scored 20 on a night Arcadia shot four-for-29 from beyond the arc. Sparta had a pair of 20-point scorers also in Gavin Rhead (23) and Layden Bender (20).

Arcadia (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Lockington 0/1-0/0-0-2-0; Rotering 3/8-0/3-5-3-6; Teske 1/4-1/2-6-1-3; Scow 3/11-2/2-2-4-10; Drazkowski 8/21-5/12-10-3-21; Baier 0/3-0/0-5-4-0; Olmos 1/1-0/0-0-0-2; Weltzien 7/22-3/5-5-4-20.