G-E-T boys team splits non-conference games
With potential postseason seeding ramifications on the line, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau boys basketball team split a pair of hard-fought non-conference games last week.
Last Tuesday, G-E-T picked up perhaps their biggest non-conference win away from home this season, scoring a season-high in a win over Altoona. Then on Saturday, the Red Hawks played Mauston close until the final buzzer, but came up just shy of another big win. The 1-1 week moves them to 8-10 on the season, and they remain fifth in the Coulee Conference at 5-4.
G-E-T enters the final two weeks of the regular season with three conference games remaining, and needing some help to win a share of a Coulee Conference title. To even have a chance at a tie for the title, the Red Hawks must win out their remaining Coulee games on Thursday at Arcadia, next Monday at Westby and the following Thursday at Black River Falls. They would also need West Salem to drop one of their two remaining games, which included a game at Arcadia on Monday and another road battle next Thursday at Viroqua.
G-E-T 81 Altoona 71
The Red Hawks picked up an upset win on the road last Tuesday while making the most of turnovers and free throw opportunities.
G-E-T led 35-30 at half before putting up 46 points in the second half for their highest-scoring single half of the season. They built that lead off of 22 Altoona turnovers leading to 31 G-E-T points for the game, as well as 20-28 shooting at the line for the game.
Leading the way in scoring were Grant Beirne’s 31 points, but it was Sawyer Schmidt’s stat-stuffing that also generated a great deal of the offense. Schmidt tallied 22 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and six steals to narrowly miss a triple-double. Kyle Scherr added nine points, followed by Lance Lettner’s six, Luke Vance’s five, Tyler Hammond’s four and Roger Niederkorn and Trent Harshman each with two points.
Beirne also added eight boards and three assists, while Hammond and Lettner each had four assists as well to round out stats leaders.
Mauston 71 G-E-T 69
Late turnovers cost the Red Hawks as a slight lead slipped away in the final minute on Saturday against Mauston.
Leading by two with just over a minute to play, a Beirne turnover led to a game-tying Mauston layup. On the ensuing G-E-T possession, a switch to a 1-3-1 zone by the Golden Eagles induced a Hammond turnover leading to another layup to give Mauston the lead. Lettner drove to the rim on the following possession with four seconds left and drew a foul, but missed the first attempt. He tried an intentional miss to draw a favorable bounce for the tying bucket on the rebound, but missed the rim.
G-E-T got one more chance on a last-second heave from Schmidt after an empty free-throw chance by Mauston, but the cross-court shot missed.
The Red Hawks were led by 18 points from Beirne, 17 from Scherr, 13 from Schmidt, 10 from Lettner, six from Harshman, three from Vance and two from Hammond.
