Red Hawks fly past Mauston, Bangor to open season
G-E-T's Brecken Ebersold dribbles in the post while being defended by Bangor's Brody Edwards during their non-conference tilt last Friday. (Times photograph by Zach Rastall)
For those worried about the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau boys basketball team losing their scoring punch with the graduation of Cody Schmitz, the first two games of the 2024-25 season should provide at least a little relief.
The Red Hawks (2-0) have opened the new campaign in emphatic fashion, winning handily against both Mauston and Bangor in non-conference play. The season opener against the Golden Eagles gave a glimpse of junior guard Mason Brone’s potential to take the mantle as G-E-T’s go-to scorer, while the home opener against the Cardinals allowed the Red Hawks to flash a more balanced attack.
G-E-T is on the road this week to face both La Crosse Logan on Tuesday and Onalaska Luther on Thursday, with the latter serving as the Red Hawks’ conference opener.
G-E-T 81 Mauston 60
For G-E-T fans who are used to seeing dominant individual scoring performances, the team’s first game of the 2024-25 season had a welcome familiarity.
Mason Brone staked his claim to possibly be the Red Hawks’ next dynamic scorer with an electric 44-point performance against Mauston. Brone shot 15 of 21 from the field, splashed a trio of threes and went 11 of 15 from the line.
Jackson Burns, Omar Jimenez and Brecken Ebersold all tallied eight points apiece as well in the win. Mauston freshman Jase Navis posted an impressive double-double with 33 points and 11 rebounds while Will Miller tacked on 12 points.
G-E-T only led the Golden Eagles (1-2) 36-33 at the half before outscoring them 45-27 over the final 18 minutes.
G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Seiling 1/2-0/0-1-4-2; Porello 1/1-0/0-1-2-2; Benrud 1/2-0/0-1-0-2; Burns 4/7-0/1-4-2-8; Brone 15/21-11/15-4-2-44; Jimenez 2/3-3/3-2-4-8; Ebersold 1/7-6/8-4-2-8; Herman 1/4-0/0-2-2-2; O’Neill 0/0-2/2-1-1-2; Giemza 0/0-0/0-0-1-0; Thell 0/1-0/0-1-1-0; Theisen 1/3-0/0-0-4-3.
G-E-T 84 Bangor 42
From the opening tip to the final buzzer, it was pure domination for the Red Hawks against the Bangor Cardinals (0-3) on Friday in Galesville.
G-E-T came flying out of the gates to score the first 21 points of the game and had already built up a 33-6 lead just over eight minutes into the contest. Just about everything was falling for the Red Hawks in the first half: a battle for an offensive rebound that accidentally deflected up and in for a basket, a free throw by Jackson Burns that banked in.
About the only thing that didn’t drop was Mason Brone’s steal and half-court heave at the buzzer, though even that caught iron and only narrowly missed. All told it was a 55-28 halftime lead for G-E-T that made the second half academic.
G-E-T junior Travis Theisen used his size advantage to put up a game-high 21 points in his varsity breakout performance. Other leading scorers for the Red Hawks included Burns with 16 points, Brone with 10, Kyle Seiling with nine and Brecken Ebersold with eight.
Bangor’s Brody Edwards led his team with 11 points in the loss.
“I think we came out strong — it was like 20-0 — and that led to some easy buckets for everyone, including me,” Theisen said. “I think it was a good team performance.
