B-T boys drop two

After losing a pretty close game to the top team in the conference so far, the Blair-Taylor boys basketball team fell to Nekoosa last week.

Coach Randy Storlie said his team was in its game against Dairyland Conference Large Division-leading Whitehall for most of the contest, but the Norse made free throws down the stretch for a 70-60 victory (see story elsewhere in Sports). B-T had the lead at halftime against Nekoosa, but the Papermakers put up 40 points in the second half to get a 64-48 win. Storlie said it was the first time Nekoosa has ever defeated B-T.

The Wildcats began this week with a 1-5 overall record with a 1-2 mark in DC play. They played at Eleva-Strum on Tuesday and will head to Independence/Gilmanton in Independence on Friday. Next week Wednesday, the team will play in a tournament at River Ridge.

Nekoosa 64 B-T 48

Storlie said turnovers were the difference in the second half as three straight B-T turnovers led to three straight Nekoosa three pointers, shifting the momentum.

“Man, this was a good game and we held the lead late in the second half but their halfcourt pressure really gave us problems,” Storlie said.

The B-T coach said his team was ahead by two before three consecutive turnovers turned into nine Nekoosa points. The Papermakers made nine three pointers in the game, compared to two for B-T. “It is hard to make up that many points,” Storlie said of the difference in three-point shooting.

B-T was ahead 25-24 at halftime.

Ethan Kniseley and CJ Dummer both scored 11 for B-T while Ryan Oldendorf and Easton Arneson finished with nine, Tavian Shramek scored five and Michael Waldera finished with three.