WHS boys split Dairyland games

The Whitehall boys basketball team’s winning streak was extended to five games early last week, then snapped later in the week.

Whitehall pulled away from Augusta before halftime and held on for a 72-54 win last week Monday. On Thursday, however, they started slowly and couldn’t catch up to Eau Claire Immanuel Luther, losing on the road and ending a five-game winning streak.

The Norse enter this week with a record of 8-7 and 4-4 in Dairyland Conference play. They hosted Gilmanton on Tuesday of this week before heading to Alma Center Lincoln on Friday. This coming Monday, the Norse host Eleva-Strum before ending the regular season with a game at Melrose-Mindoro.

Whitehall 72 Augusta 54

Whitehall’s balanced scoring attack was more than the Beavers could chew.

The game was tied 8-8 before Aidan Sonsalla and Luke Beighley hit consecutive three pointers. The Beavers stayed close at 18-12 before Kevin Carroll hit from beyond the arc and Sonsalla scored on a fast break to give the Norse a 23-12 lead with 5:24 left.

The Beavers were back within seven at 23-16 before Devon McCune knocked down a three  and Greg Santos capped a break with a layup to put the Norse ahead 12.

Whitehall took a 34-20 lead into halftime then broke the game wide open, outscoring Augusta two-to-one in the first eight minutes of the second half as the lead grew to 52-29.

Five Whitehall players finished in double figures as McCune led the way with 15, Pank scored 14 and both Carroll and Beighley finished with 12. Sonsalla scored six, Seth Lambeck chipped in with five while Santos scored four and both Michael Spare and Brayden Lisowski had two.

ECI 67 Whitehall 55

Whitehall couldn’t recover from a slow start.

The Norse fell behind by nine at halftime and had a difficult time slowing down the Lancers in the second half. Whitehall got within one at 46-45 after a three pointer by Sonsalla with less than five minutes left, but the Lancers executed down the stretch, pulling away at the free-throw line.

While they finished a hair under 40 percent from the field, ECI shot 23-for-26 from the free-throw line. They also had six made three pointers. Ryan Zimmerman finished with a game-high 24 points while Britton Rutz scored 23. Zimmerman was 11-for-11 on free-throw attempts.

McCune led Whitehall with 16 points, four more than Sonsalla. Both Pank and Skoyen scored eight, Beighley finished with five and Carroll and Thorn both scored three.