Arcadia blows by Bangor, comes up just short against Luther
Ted Teske of Arcadia went for a layup early during the team’s loss to Onalaska luther on Friday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
The Arcadia boys basketball team was not happy with how things went against Westby at the end of January. Against a team they had beaten on the road earlier in the season, the Raiders were outscored by eight in the second half in a 56-50 home loss to the Norsemen in their Jan. 31 rematch.
Arcadia responded with a renewed focus at its next practice and followed that up with a lopsided road win against Bangor early last week.
“We just kept that fire — that feeling you feel when you’re in the locker room and you can hear them celebrating on the other side,” said Arcadia senior guard Kaiden Rotering. “It’s that fire that brings you to the next game, that gives you motivation to push through.”
Though the Raiders were not able to notch their biggest win of the year several days later, they did give Onalaska Luther about all they could handle in what was a stark improvement from the first meeting between the two teams.
Arcadia (10-9, 4-5 Coulee) has nothing but home games for the remainder of the regular season, including a clash with Coulee leader West Salem Friday at 7 p.m. and a non-conference battle with Altoona Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Arcadia 67 Bangor 46
From essentially the opening tip, the Raiders left no doubt on who’d be winning their game against Bangor. Arcadia never trailed on its way to 21-point win over the Cardinals (7-11) this past Monday in Bangor.
The Raiders broke things open early with a 13-0 run that allowed them to build a 20-5 advantage that the Cardinals never seriously threatened the rest of the way. Arcadia sat ahead 32-19 at halftime and led by as much as 25 in the late minutes of a fairly stress-free the second half.
Arcadia was led by the senior duo of Kaiden Rotering and Ted Teske. Rotering led all scorers with 21 points and Teske posted a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while also recording seven assists and three steals.
“I think today was a great team win,” Teske said. “We were moving the ball. We were playing great defense and that great defense led to a lot of transition buckets for us.”
Other Raider leaders included Carter Wegman with 14 points and six rebounds, Deklyn Grzadzielewski with seven points and six assists and Nolan Smith with 10 rebounds.
Bangor scoring leaders included Hayden Massman with 12 points, Eli Tucker with nine and Brody Edwards with seven.
Arcadia (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Grzadzielewski 2/7-1/2-3-3-7; Rotering 7/15-3/4-2-1-21; Teske 7/10-2/2-11-4-16; Conner 0/1-0/0-1-0-0; Pronschinske 0/5-0/0-1-0-0; Slaby 0/0-0/0-2-0-0; Olmos 0/1-2/2-1-0-2; Sanchez 0/1-0/0-0-0-0; Wegman 5/12-0/0-6-3-14; Smith 2/5-0/0-10-3-4; Blaschko 1/5-0/0-4-0-3.
Luther 47 Arcadia 43
In the first matchup between Arcadia and Onalaska Luther back in December, the Knights came into the Wanek Center and handed the Raiders a resounding 69-48 defeat. The rematch was a much different story, though in the end Luther was able to escape with a season sweep.
The Knights (14-4, 7-2 Coulee) conjured up the game-ending run they needed to scratch out a four-point win over Arcadia last Friday in Onalaska.
In a close game all throughout, the two sides were locked in an 18-18 tie at the midway mark and that theme continued in the second half. The Raiders were narrowly ahead 36-35 late in the game until Luther’s Brody Greeno buried a three with about 4:30 remaining. That jumpstarted a 9-1 run that propelled the Knights to the win.
Rotering and Grzadzielewski each scored 12 points in the loss while Wegman and Smith had six points apiece. Luther’s Will Huelskamp and Jackson Kendall finished with 17 and 14 points, respectively.
