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www.fvasports.net/page/show/1251334-boys-basketball
For more information go to Boys Basketball Homepage
2014-15 Boys Basketball
| Head Coach: Mark Ziebell | |||
| Number | Name | Grade | Height |
| 3 | Caleb Goldstein | 10 | 6’0″ |
| 4 | Justin Maratik | 11 | 6’0″ |
| 5 | Said Mahamed | 12 | 6’1″ |
| 10 | Kyler Bogenschneider | 11 | 5’11” |
| 12 | Matt Schneider | 11 | 5’11” |
| 14 | Sam Fredrickson | 10 | 6’7″ |
| 20 | Jake Walgenbach | 11 | 6’3″ |
| 23 | Marcus Ruch | 12 | 6’6″ |
| 32 | Brain Luteyn | 12 | 6’5″ |
| 33 | Coy Paulson | 11 | 5’10” |
| 50 | Mark Dilling | 11 | 6’1″ |
2014-15 Boys Basketball Schedule & Game Results below
Freshmen Games 5:40 JV Games 5:45 Varsity 7:15 Unless designated
FDL 56 @ Menasha 63
FDL 49 @ Oshkosh West 63
FDL 30 (H) Oshkosh North 85
FDL 49 (H) West Bend West 37
FDL 52 (H) Appleton North 43
FDL 31 (H) Neenah 56
Stevens Point Holiday Tournament
FDL 37 Wisconsin Rapids 61
FDL 44 Stevens Point 76
FDL 42 @ Kaukauna 75
FDL 31 (H) Appleton East 45
FDL 50 @ Appleton West 58
FDL 59 (H) Hortonville 65
FDL 41 (H) Kimberly 67
FDL 57 (H) Oshkosh West 48
FDL 49 @ Oshkosh North 87
FDL 49 @ Appleton North 55
FDL 43 @ Neenah 71
FDL 51 (H) Kaukauna 54
FDL 54 @ Appleton East 52
FDL 50 (H) Appleton West 44
FDL 66 @ Hortonville 61
FDL 27 @ Kimberly 48
Kimberly crushes Fond du Lac 48 – 27
The Papermakers grabbed a share of the Fox Valley Association title with a dominant win over the Cardinals.
Kimberly jumped out to a 22-4 lead after the first quarter and never looked back en route to the win.
Jake Johnson led Kimberly with 13 points, while Austin Weyenberg added 11. Ben Boots chipped in with 10 points.
Caleb Goldstein led Fond du Lac with seven points and Brian Luteyn had six.
| FOND DU LAC | 4 | 6 | 10 | 7 | — 27 |
| Kimberly | 22 | 2 | 15 | 9 | — 48 |
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 7, Fredrickson 4, Walgenbach 3, Maratik 3, Luteyn 6, Ruch 4. 3-pointers: 1. FTs: 2-4.
Kimberly — Johnson 13, Weyenberg 11, Boots 10, Carew 2, Tessner 6, VandenBoom 2, Janssen 2. 3-pointers: 7.
Fond du Lac 66 Hortonville 61
Caleb Goldstein scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Cardinals past the Polar Bears in Fox Valley Association play.
Goldstein hit five of Fond du Lac’s eight 3-pointers on the night. The Cardinals outscored Hortonville 22-15 in fourth quarter to turn a two-point deficit into a five-point win.
Brian Luteyn added 21 points for Fond du Lac, while Jake Walgenbach had eight.
| FOND DU LAC | 14 | 10 | 20 | 22 | — 66 |
| Hortonville | 19 | 16 | 11 | 15 | — 61 |
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 22, Jorgenson 5, Fredrickson 5, Walgenbach 8, Head 2, Luteyn 21, Ruch 3. 3-pointers: 8 (Goldstein 5, Jorgenson, Walgenbach 2). Fouls: 16.
Hortonville — Killoren 3, Sommers 4, Witthuhn 22, Thompson 2, Krueger 12, Schabo 17, Stoeger 1. 3-pointers: 5 (Schabo 3, Krueger, Witthuhn). Fouls: 17.
Fond du Lac holds off Appleton West 50 – 44
The Cardinals used a big second quarter to take the lead on the Terrors and held on from there to win in Fox Valley Association play.
Brian Luteyn paced Fond du Lac with 15 points, while Marcus Ruch added 12. Caleb Goldstein chipped in with nine.
| APPLETON WEST | 11 | 9 | 9 | 15 | — 44 |
| Fond du Lac | 7 | 18 | 14 | 11 | — 50 |
Appleton West — Thompson 11, Owens 12, Majors 5, Leadley 8, Reader 1, Flynn 7.
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 9, Jorgensen 3, Fredrickson 2, Walgenbach 5, Luteyn 15, Ruch 1
Fond du Lac escapes against Appleton East 54 – 52
The Cardinals held off the Patriots to pick up a Fox Valley Association win Thursday night at Appleton.
Appleton East’s Parker Ourada scored at the buzzer to tie the game 54-54 at the end of regulation, but the referees conferred and decided he didn’t get the shot off in time.
Jake Walgenbach led Fond du Lac with 18 points on the night, hitting three 3-pointers. Marcus Ruch added 12 points for the Cards, while Coy Paulson had seven. Brian Luteyn chipped in with five.
| FOND DU LAC | 16 | 13 | 9 | 16 | — 54 |
| Appleton East | 12 | 17 | 8 | 15 | — 52 |
Fond du Lac — Walgenbach 18, Goldstein 3, Jorgenson 3, Luteyn 5, Paulson 7, Ruch 12.
Appleton East — Herrmann 11, Thome 16, Brice 5, Hanlon 3, Brunker 3, Meyer 3, Ourada 5.
Fond du Lac nearly pulls upset Kaukauna 54, Fond du Lac 51
The Fond du Lac boys basketball team nearly pulled out the upset over top-ranked Kaukauna Tuesday night, but fell 54-51 in a Fox Valley Assocation game played at home.
Down 52-48, Fondy’s Brian Luteyn hit a 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left to cut it to 52-51. But the Galloping Ghosts hit both free throws in the end to come out with the win.
The Cardinals trailed 17-7 after the first quarter and 32-19 at the half. Fondy finally cut it to single-digits going into the fourth and a Drew Jorgensen 3-pointer eventually tied the game up at 41 with just under six minutes left.
Fondy can’t complete comeback – Appleton North 55 Fond du Lac 49
The Cardinals rallied, but couldn’t complete the comeback as they fell to Appleton North in Fox Valley Association play.Down 39-25 entering the fourth quarter, Fond du Lac attempted a comeback against the Lightning but was unable to overcome the intial deficit.
Sam Fredrickson led the Cards with 12 points, while Jake Walgenbach added 11. Caleb Goldstein had nine points.
Fond du Lac shuts door on Oshkosh West 59 – 48
A week ago, the Fond du Lac boys basketball team held a five-point lead going to the fourth quarter against Hortonville. On Tuesday, the Cardinals had a five-point lead on Oshkosh West heading into the fourth. Unlike last week, when Fond du Lac couldn’t close out the Polar Bears, it made sure to snuff out any hopes of a Wildcats rally.
Caleb Goldstein led the Cardinals with 12 points and Fond du Lac made its free throws down the stretch as it defeated Oshkosh West 59-48 in Fox Valley Association play at Fond du Lac. “We’re gaining experience. We’re still a young team, getting used to some of the situations,” Fond du Lac coach Mark Ziebell said. “Being through it one time (last week) I think is important. I thought we made our free throws. I though Brian (Luteyn) made some tremendous plays in the fourth quarter defensively with some huge blocked shots. We did just enough rebounding as well.”
Leading 39-34 entering the fourth, Fond du Lac (3-11, 2-8 FVA) never allowed Oshkosh West (7-6, 5-5 FVA) to get closer than four points. Luteyn scored seven of his 11 points in the final eight minutes, including the first five of the period for the Cards. After Oshkosh West closed to within 46-42 on consecutive 3-pointers from Ben Zuleger, Fond du Lac responded by going 6-of-8 from the free throw line to make it a double-digit lead once again. The Cardinals finished 17-of-25 for the game from the foul stripe, including a 14-of-17 mark in the fourth. “We really were strong with the ball at the end,” Luteyn said. “We made sure to be strong with the ball and we knocked down our free throws when we got fouled.”
In a back-and-forth first half, Fond du Lac took the lead for good late in the second quarter on a Justin Maratik 3-pointer. Maratik added another basket to push the Cardinals’ lead to five and Fond du Lac went into the break up 24-19. “Justin Maratik really sparked us going into that second half,” Fond du Lac forward Marcus Ruch said. “This whole week we focused on gaps on defense so we were really stressing on them not punching the gaps on offense and having them get wide open driving lanes.”
The third quarter saw West close to within two points, but Goldstein’s buzzer-beating jumper at the end of the period once again gave the Cards a five-point edge. Apart from Goldstein and Luteyn, Maratik added 11 points for Fond du Lac, while Jake Walgenbach had nine. Jake Guenther had 14 points to lead Oshkosh West, while Blake Johnson added 13. The Wildcats also had a good day from the free throw line, going 18-of-23.
“I think it’s important (to get this win),” Ziebell said. “We spent some time on Sunday re-assessing goals and where we’re at in the season and made some new goals. We really took a look at what it’s going to take to achieve those goals. … I think we worked a little bit harder today and I think we’re starting to cover the ground on some of the things we want to do.”
| OSHKOSH WEST | 8 | 11 | 15 | 14 | — 48 |
| Fond du Lac | 9 | 13 | 15 | 20 | — 59 |
Oshkosh West — Zuleger 6, Guenther 14, Johnson 13, Kroll 2, Courchene 6, Vils 2, Henke 5. 3-pointers: 3 (Henke, Zuleger 2). FTs: 18-23. Fouls: 21 (Courchene).
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 12, Schneider 3, Jorgensen 3, Fredrickson 5, Walgenbach 9, Head 1, Maratik 11, Luteyn 11, Ruch 4. 3-pointers: 3 (Schneider, Maratik, Jorgensen). FTs: 17-25. Fouls: 20
State-ranked Kimberly dominates Fond du Lac 67 – 41
There wasn’t much mystery about what to expect going into Friday night’s Fox Valley Association boys basketball game between Fond du Lac and Kimberly. The Papermakers were going to play hard-nosed, man-to-man defense paired with efficient offense. If the Cardinals didn’t keep up, they weren’t going to be in it for long. Nearly that exact scenario played out as Kimberly grabbed an early lead and never let up en route to a 67-41 win over the Cardinals at Fond du Lac.”You can tell that is a veteran group that’s played together for a long time,” Fond du Lac coach Mark Ziebell said of Kimberly. “They’ve played under a system for a long time. I think they’re solid competitors. Spectacular defensively and offensively you can see how they can shoot the basketball. … Veteran team and they played like it today.”
Kimberly (11-1, 8-1 FVA), ranked No. 6 in Division 1 in the latest Associated Press poll, never trailed in Friday’s game, taking a 8-0 lead only minutes into the contest. The Papermakers led 16-8 after the first quarter before using a 13-0 run early in the second to grab firm control.
Fond du Lac (2-11, 1-8 FVA) was able to stay relatively competitive throughout the second half, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, but never seriously challenged the Papermakers.
Colin Tessner led Kimberly with 17 points on the night, while Ben Boots added 14. Austin Weyenberg chipped in with 10. The Papermakers made nine 3-pointers on Friday, including four from Boots and two apiece from Tessner and Weyenberg. Weyenberg drained both of his 3-pointers in the first quarter to propel Kimberly to the early lead before Boots stole the show after that, making a 3 just before half to extend the Papermakers’ lead to 20 at the break.
Ziebell acknowledged that’s it tough to defend a team shooting that well, but knows his squad needs to figure out a way to do it. “Some of the shots were tough 3s and players are going to make tough 3s. We can live with those,” he said. “We’re still learning and working to get out and contest those 3-point shots a little bit better. I think it was a combination of us defensively plus them hitting some tough shots.”
Jake Walgenbach led Fond du Lac with 10 points, while Marcus Ruch added six. Drew Jorgensen, Kyler Bogenschneider and Peyton Head all had five. The Cardinals relied heavily on long-range shooting, making seven 3-pointers. Walgenbach and Ruch each had two with Jorgensen, Bogenschneider and Head adding one apiece.
Fond du Lac struggled to work the ball inside as it drew only six fouls and attempted just two free throws, compared to 15 attempts for Kimberly. “We were not aggressive. We didn’t attack,” Ziebell said. “I think we settled early on, especially with their pressure. I thought we settled throughout the majority of the game. We got a little bit better in the fourth quarter attacking the basket, but when you don’t attack the basket and you’re not playing in the paint, you’re not going to get many fouls or free throw attempts.”
Fond du Lac hosts Oshkosh West on Tuesday.
| KIMBERLY | 16 | 19 | 14 | 18 | — 67 |
| Fond du Lac | 8 | 7 | 9 | 17 | — 41 |
Kimberly — Johnson 2, Tessner 17, VandenBoom 3, Lefeber 3, Weyenberg 10, Behnke 4, Boots 14, Anderson 3, Chevalier 5, Janssen 6. 3-pointers: 9 (Weyenberg 2, Tessner 2, Boots 4, Anderson). FTs: 10-15. Fouls: 6.
Fond du Lac — Jorgensen 5, Bogenschneider 5, Fredrickson 4, Walgenbach 10, Head 5, Maratik 4, Luteyn 2, Ruch 6. 3-pointers: 7 (Walgenbach 2, Ruch 2, Jorgensen, Head, Bogenschneider). FTs: 2-2. Fouls: 17.
Fondy can’t finish off Hortonville 65 – 59
Fond du Lac boys basketball coach Mark Ziebell knows it’s just part of the process. The Cardinals, which came into Tuesday’s Fox Valley Association game with only two wins, hasn’t been in the position to close out games too often. So when Fondy entered the fourth quarter with a lead, things started to fall apart.
Leading 47-42 going into the fourth quarter, the Cardinals started to take bad shots and allowed Hortonville to get to the line 14 times as the Polar Bears rallied for a 65-59 win in a game played in Fond du Lac. It was Fondy’s (2-10, 1-7 FVA) eighth straight loss. “That’s part of it all, getting back to learning how to win a game like this,” Ziebell said. “I thought a part of learning how to win was is the shot selection on offense and I feel like we rushed shots and took some 3s that we normally wouldn’t take. “I think end of quarters are important, finishing the quarters. Both the second and the third quarters they (Hortonville) scored in transition. It’s the little things that we are still learning how to do. We just need to keep working on it.” One of the Polar Bears’ (6-6, 3-5) biggest transition bucket came at the end of the third quarter. Fondy, which used a 10-0 run to start the second half to get out to a double-digit lead, allowed Hortonville to cut that to just five points after connecting on a basket and a foul with just 2 seconds left.
Fondy had a 43-33 lead but Hortonville closed the third with a 9-4 run in a span of two minutes. Then in the fourth, Fondy started to force some shots. Hortonville’s Jake Sommers hit two free throws to put the Polar Bears up 50-49 and never lost that lead again. Hortonville went 12-of-14 in the final quarter from the free throw line.
For three quarters it looked as if Fondy was playing on another level — something they haven’t been playing on much this season. The Cardinals attacked Hortonville’s pressure, mostly in that third quarter. “I felt like we did a nice job of attacking their pressure, I thought at times that was our best offense,” Ziebell said. “We got some easy baskets from that. I thought we had a couple from our defense, too, which helped us stretch the lead. But it was rebounding and poor shot selection that allowed them to get back in it.”
Fondy led 11-10 after the first quarter before Hortonville led 27-26 at the half. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Sam Fredrickson and Marcus Ruch, along with a layup from Jake Walgenbach gave the Cardinals a quick 34-27 lead early in the third quarter.
Walgenbach led Fondy with 13 points while Ruch, Caleb Goldstein and Fredrickson each added 10. Brian Luteyn and freshman Drew Jorgensen added eight points for Fondy. Sean Killoren led Hortonville with 14 points while Sommers had 12.
| HORTONVILLE | 10 | 17 | 15 | 23 | — 65 |
| Fond du Lac | 11 | 15 | 21 | 12 | — 59 |
Hortonville — Knuppel 2, Frederick 1, Killoren 14, Sommers 12, Witthuhn 11, Krueger 16, Schabo 9. 3-pointers: 6 (Schabo, Krueger 3, Killoren, Witthuhn). FTs: 15-19. Fouls: 16.
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 10, Jorgensen 8, Fredrickson 10, Walgenbach 13, Luteyn 8, Ruch 10.
Fondy goes cold in loss to Appleton East 45-31
Something had to give in Friday night’s Fox Valley Association matchup. Fond du Lac and Appleton East, two teams that started the season slow and came into the game with four game losing streaks, despite playing some top-ranked teams in the state – someone had to pick up the slack. Both teams came out cold after the first quarter but the Patriots used nine 3-pointers and a late run to get past the Cardinals, 45-31, in a game played in Fond du Lac.
The win gives the Patriots (4-6, 2-4 FVA) their second win in the conference season while Fondy (2-8, 1-5) drops its fifth straight. “I think you could see where they’re at, is where we want to get to as far as terms of fundamentals,” Fondy coach Mark Ziebell said of Appleton East. “They play good, fundamental basketball. If you take a look, look how many footwork travels we had against them. It comes down to those little things when you play a team like that. They have got those down and we are working to get there.” It was evident that Fondy was struggling with those fundamentals throughout the game, but it was also evident that it was just plain cold from the field shooting.
Fondy managed only three points after one quarter and was held to 31 points, tied for the second lowest they have totaled all season long. While the Cardinals struggled to open the game offensively, so did Appleton East. There were only three baskets made – all 3s – in the first quarter as the Patriots led 6-3. But that scoring drought didn’t last too long. Appleton East knocked down four 3-pointers within the first six minutes of the second quarter to jump out to a double-digit lead and it was all Patriots after that. Leading 20-10 at that point with just two minutes left in the first half, Fondy managed to cut the lead to single digits going into the third quarter. The Cardinals even got it to six points twice in the third quarter, but each time they did, the Patriots responded with a big three-pointer to cushion their lead. “I thought we did some good things defensively, I thought (Jake) Walgenbach did a nice job of chasing and that’s a lot of work … I thought he did a good job,” Ziebell said of the junior’s defense. “But It’s a team defense and if the help side is not there, that’s a suffer. The ball pressure is not there then, then you don’t get on the shooters, you don’t rebound.” Appleton East was able to swing the ball and get second chance opportunities, allowing its shooters to knock down the big 3s.
Meanwhile, Fondy couldn’t get anything going inside, despite having the height advantage on East. “We knew that was going to be the case,” Ziebell said. “Inside out means a lot of different things, it’s just not feeding the post it’s dribble penetration to get to the paint and I thought the times we were able to do that we were successful. “I thought with our post touches, our post guys were a little rushed to feel like they had to make a play instead of finding an opening. That’s part of the learning.”
The Cardinals were still without Marcus Ruch – a 6-foot-6 senior who is second on the team in scoring at 8.2 points per game – and Ziebell said that was a little bit of a factor. The biggest missed opportunity to make a comeback was late in the third quarter when Fondy trailed 27-21. But from that point, Appleton East went on a 16-2 run to make it 43-23. The Cardinals went on an 8-0 run to end the game. Caleb Goldstein led the Cardinals with 12 points while Walgenbach added six. Sam Herrmann led East with 12 points while Michael Thome chipped in 10.
| APPLETON EAST | 6 | 16 | 11 | 12 | — 45 |
| Fond du Lac | 3 | 11 | 7 | 10 | — 31 |
Appleton East — Herrmann 12, Thome 10, Brunker 8, Meyer 5, Ourada 2, Murphy-Pociask 2, Kuklinski 5, Meissner 1. 3-pointers: 9 (Herrmann 4, Brunker 2, Meyer, Thome 2) . FTs: 8-10. Fouls: 7.
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 12, Maratik 2, Fredrickson 3, Walgenbach 6, Luteyn 5, Jorgensen 3. 3-pointers: 4 (Frederickson, Goldstein 2, Jorgensen). FTs: 3-4. Fouls: 11.
Neenah powers past Fond du Lac 56 – 31
The Fond du Lac boys basketball team hung with Neenah for the first quarter of Tuesday’s Fox Valley Association game at Fond du Lac. Then the Rockets showed why they’re one of the best teams in the state. Trevor Entwisle led all scorers with 22 points as Neenah powered past the Cardinals.
While Fond du Lac (2-4, 1-3 FVA) held Marquette recruit Matt Heldt to only eight points on Tuesday, it struggled to get much going on offense. Trailing 10-6 after the first quarter, the Cardinals couldn’t get any closer against a Rockets squad ranked as the No. 4 team in Division 1 in the latest Associated Press poll.
Marcus Ruch led Fond du Lac with 10 points on the night, while Sam Fredrickson chipped in with nine.
Fond du Lac rides defense to first FVA win
Fond du Lac 52 Appleton North 43
It was only a week ago that the Fond du Lac boys basketball team walked off its home court stinging from an embarrassing 85-30 blowout loss to Oshkosh North — a game in which the Cardinals were dominated in every facet.
What a difference seven days can make.
Using stout defense and efficient offense, Fond du Lac picked up its first Fox Valley Association win of the season Friday night with a 52-43 victory over Appleton North at Fond du Lac, putting its loss to the Spartans firmly in the rearview mirror. Friday’s win, paired with Tuesday’s nonconference victory over West Bend West, spelled quite the turnaround for the Cardinals. “It happens in sports. You see the (University of Wisconsin) Badgers (football team) get beat in the Big Ten Championship Game the way they did and we got beat that way by North,” Fond du Lac coach Mark Ziebell said. “We got together that Sunday for practice and kind of had a heart-to-heart with the kids and talked about goals and what we want to do with this group and where we’re going. We talked about a lot about character. We have one like that, let’s see what we’re made out of.”
Fond du Lac (2-3, 1-2 FVA) looked like a completely different team Friday against Appleton North (1-5, 0-4 FVA) than the one that took the floor against Oshkosh North last week. Perhaps the biggest difference was on the defensive end, where the Cardinals held the Lightning to 43 points, with a bunch of them coming in garbage time with the game essentially decided. Leading 30-27 entering the fourth quarter, Fond du Lac used a quick 9-0 run to put some distance between itself and Appleton North. Brian Luteyn scored seven of his game-high 19 points during that stretch as the Lightning never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. Appleton North relied on long-distance shooting, hitting eight 3-pointers on the night, just to stay in the game as the Cardinals held strong in the paint. “Our hands have gotten a lot better defensively,” Ziebell said. “I thought we did a fairly good job of being in the gaps to eliminate their dribble-penetration. We talked a lot about how they like to dribble penetrate and they do have some athletes that are good at getting to the basket. We thought we had to eliminate that. And like anybody else, you’ve got rebound the basketball.”
Along with Luteyn’s 19, Caleb Goldstein added 10 points for the Cardinals, while Marcus Ruch and Justin Maratik each had six. “We played with a lot of energy today,” Luteyn said. “That was a big thing that Coach (Ziebell) stressed was that we get the 50-50 balls and all the rebounds and just play physical the whole game. We did a really good job of that and it paid off.” Spencer Christensen paced the Lightning with 12 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while Jacquan McGraw added nine points. Fond du Lac got to the free throw line 21 times on Friday, compared to just five for Appleton North.
“We’re not blessed with a lot of great skill, per se. We’ve got some skilled kids, but not a lot overall, so how are you going to win games?” Ziebell said. “One way to score some points is to get to the free throw line and we’ve made that a point this year to talk about doing the little things. Get that ball inside, pick up those fouls, get to the early bonus and knock free throws down. Today we were able to do that.” The Cardinals also had a fairly clean night in the turnover department, committing 10 for the game. With Appleton North switching from a man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone a few times throughout the contest, Fond du Lac needed to adjust accordingly on offense, which it did. “We knew there was going to be some adjustment,” Ziebell said. “We have some size so we knew we were going to have to handle that. We worked a lot in practice and I think you saw the result. Just working on it in practice, nothing more, nothing less.”
| APPLETON NORTH | 8 | 12 | 7 | 16 | — 43 |
| Fond du Lac | 13 | 9 | 8 | 22 | — 52 |
Appleton North — Mologne 2, Mattioli 5, Christensen 12, Gasick 4, Valk 3, McGraw 9, Bellin 8. 3-pointers: 8 (Mattioli, Christensen 4, Bellin, Valk, McGraw). FTs: 2-5. Fouls: 17.
Fonddu Lac — Goldstein 10, Maratik 6, Fredrickson 4, Walgenbach 2, Ruch 6, Luteyn 19, Paulson 5. 3-pointers: 1 (Goldstein). FTs: 17-21. Fouls: 14.
Ziebell, Cardinals pick up first win
Fond du Lac 49 West Bend West 37
Mark Ziebell picked up his first win as the Fond du Lac boys basketball coach as the Cardinals picked up a 49-37 nonconference win against West Bend West at home Tuesday night.
Marcus Ruch had 14 points to lead Fondy while Sam Fredrickson added nine.
The Cardinals trailed 15-10 after one quarter and didn’t take its first lead until the third quarter. Fondy then used a big fourth quarter (16-6) to seal the win.
Fond du Lac overwhelmed in blowout loss to Oshkosh North
Really only one word can describe the Fond du Lac boys basketball team’s game against Oshkosh North on Friday night. Ugly. Really, really ugly.
Fond du Lac struggled mightily in just about every aspect of the game as it fell 85-30 to Oshkosh North in Fox Valley Association action at Fond du Lac, a rough way to start off its home schedule even against one of the better teams in the state. “We just didn’t execute anything that we wanted to do,” Fond du Lac coach Mark Ziebell said. “I thought we had some decent practices. I thought we were prepared. We simply didn’t execute anything we wanted to do. It’s very, very disappointing.”
It was apparent very early on that Fond du Lac (0-3, 0-2 FVA) was in for a tough night against Oshkosh North (3-1, 1-1 FVA). Brian Luteyn gave the Cards a quick 2-0 lead, but it was the only one Fond du Lac would experience on Friday as the Spartans scored the next 15 points. Oshkosh North would lead 24-4 after the first quarter and 48-6 at halftime. Not only did the Spartans shoot the lights out, hitting 11 3-pointers for the game, but their defense forced 26 Fond du Lac turnovers — 20 in the first half. “We had a whole week to prepare, so veteran, young (team), whatever, there’s no excuse,” Ziebell said. “We just didn’t execute the things that we wanted to do.”
The third quarter saw the Cardinals play competitively against the Spartans, actually outscoring them 18-17, but the fourth quarter was all North again as it held a 20-6 scoring margin.
Oshkosh North used a balanced offensive attack to exploit the Cardinals in just about every way imaginable as 12 players found the scoring column, led by star sophomore Phillip Flory’s 17 points. Blake Marquardt added 12 points, while Tyrese Haliburton, Ben Leib, Austin Trochinksi all chipped in with nine points. Seth Taylor had eight. Whether it was long-range shooting — Haliburton had three 3-pointers and Marquardt, Trochinski and Leib had two — or taking advantage of numerous Fond du Lac turnovers, the Spartans carved up the Cardinals defense with ease.
One of the few bright spots for Fond du Lac was the play of sophomore guard Caleb Goldstein, who finished with 15 points, draining five 3-pointers. Sam Fredrickson added seven points, but there was virtually zero offensive production after that. Jake Walgenbach had four points and Luteyn and Marcus Ruch both had two. Ziebell did point out that his team will use Friday’s game as a learning experience, but other than that, it was nearly a complete and total loss as far as positives go. “I think it’s something we can use somewhere down the road as we build this program and turn things around,” he said. “We can say ‘Hey, remember how against North we got it handed to us at the JV level, how we got it handed to us at the varsity level. Now look at where we are.’ That’s where it can become helpful.”
Fond du Lac will look to get back on track Tuesday when it hosts West Bend West in nonconference action.
| OSHKOSH NORTH | 24 | 24 | 17 | 20 | — 85 |
| Fond du Lac | 4 | 2 | 18 | 6 | — 30 |
Oshkosh North — Wissink 3, Bauer 6, Ellestad 1, Haliburton 9, Leib 9, Gabrilska 2, Trochinski 9, Taylor 8, Madut 6, Flory 17, Hassman 3, Marquardt 12. 3-pointers: 11 (Marquardt 2, Haliburton 3, Flory, Trochinski 2, Bauer, Leib 2. FTs: 16-20. Fouls: 15.
Fond du Lac — Goldstein 15, Fredrickson 7, Walgenbach 4, Ruch 2, Luteyn 2. 3-pointers: 5 (Goldstein 5). FTs: 3-10. Fouls: 19.
Fondy can’t escape slow start in loss to Wildcats
The Fond du Lac boys basketball team started slow and couldn’t recover as the Cardinals fell 63-49 to Oshkosh West Friday night in a Fox Valley Association game played in Oshkosh.
Oshkosh West took an 11-4 lead after the first quarter, but after that, Fondy played the Wildcats close. “I thought we were OK against their pressure and I thought we handled it OK, I just thought early on they made a lot of shots,” Fondy coach Mark Ziebell said.
Brian Luteyn had 19 points to lead Fondy while Marcus Ruch chipped in 12. “I think Brian’s a tough matchup for people, he’s strong inside, he can go both ways and he can take one or two dribbles from the perimeter as well,” Ziebell said of Luteyn. “He’s certainly our go-to guy and I think we have to find some ways to get him more touches and more space to operate and that’s something we need to take a look at in practice before our next game.” Jake Guenther led Oshkosh West with 21 points.
| FOND DU LAC | 4 | 17 | 13 | 15 | — 49 |
| Oshkosh West | 11 | 20 | 15 | 17 | — 63 |
Fond du Lac — Luteyn 19, Goldstein 5, Fredrickson 7, Paulson 2, Maratik 4, Ruch 12. 3-pointers: 3 (Ruch, Goldstein, Fredrickson). FTs: 5-11. Fouls: 16.
Oshkosh West — Guenther 21, Cottrell 3, Johnson 10, Kroll 3, Couchene 6, Vils 2, Gabrielson 3, Henke 8, Miller 7. 3-pointers: 7 (Johnson 2, Guenther, Kroll, Cottrell, Henke, Miller). FTs: 12-13. Fouls: 16.
Boys Basketball preview
It may be Mark Ziebell’s rookie season as head coach of the Fond du Lac boys basketball team, but don’t mistake that for weakness. Ziebell has been a high school boys basketball coach in Wisconsin for the past two-plus decades, most of it spent at St. Mary Central in Neenah, and he knows what it takes to build a winning program. That’s exactly what he’s planning to do with the Cardinals. That being said, it’s not like flipping a switch. Fond du Lac struggled mightily a season ago, finishing 5-17. Teams don’t go from bottom-dweller to championship contender in an instant. It can take years and Ziebell is ready to invest that time and energy into transforming the Cardinals into winners despite playing catch-up with other schools in the rugged Fox Valley Association.
“Schools in the FVA for sure, those schools have had their program in place for a decade or more and you’re trying to play catch-up,” Ziebell said. “I think the challenge is, No. 1, getting it done at the youth level. Getting everything in place at the youth level, trying to build that program from second and third grade all the way to high school. That takes time and patience has never been a strong suit of mine, but that’s going to take time.”With the current kids, it’s getting to know them and building some relationships. That’s important as well. It’s just not about the X’s and O’s.” Ziebell doesn’t bring any kind of elaborate coaching philosophy with him to Fond du Lac. He preaches a strong work ethic and points out that his players need to be skilled. A pretty simple notion, but one that’s essential for nearly any successful basketball program. “I believe in a real strong work ethic. I believe that’s essential,” he said. “I think our kids have to be skilled. They’ve got to be able to put it on the floor, they’ve got to be able to shoot it. I think we’ve got some wonderful athletes and we’ve just got to improve our skill level. It’s not all that complicated, but it takes time.”
Youth Gone Wild
With only three seniors on the 2014-15 roster, Fond du Lac will probably be one of the youngest, if not the youngest team in the FVA. Brian Luteyn, Marcus Ruch and Said Mahamed are the only Cardinal seniors this season, with Luteyn and Ruch comprising much of the team’s varsity experience. Last year, Luteyn, a 6-foot-5 forward, averaged 10.1 points per game in earning an honorable mention on the All-FVA squad. Ruch, also 6-foot-5, averaged 4.5 points a season ago. After that, there’s a steep dropoff in varsity experience. “We’re young. We’re really, really young,” Ziebell said. “With only three seniors, that’s our senior class. Two of them have a lot of experience and I think they’re all-conference-type kids in Marcus and Brian. They’re special kids. But the rest of us are young. This is going to be our first year of varsity basketball. “Playing in the FVA, where Neenah is the No. 1-ranked team in the preseason, Oshkosh North is ranked, Kimberly’s ranked, Kaukauna’s ranked in Division 2. We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves. For a young team, what a great opportunity to grow and learn against some of the best schools in the state.”
Looking for Offense
If the Cardinals are to improve from last year, they’ll need to make significant strides in offensive production. Last year, Fond du Lac averaged only 45 points per game, a number that won’t cut it in the FVA. While the Cardinals do have Luteyn and Ruch returning, they lose last year’s leading scorer, Joe Schorse (12.8 ppg), and a number of other solid offensive contributors. Despite being the leading returning scorer from last year’s team, Luteyn doesn’t seem to be focused on his offensive production, but rather just wants to contribute in whatever ways necessary to build a winning team. “Just do whatever Coach needs us to do,” Luteyn said. “If he needs us to score, score. Rebound, whatever. Do whatever it takes to win.” With that in mind, Ziebell will be looking for players who have a knack for scoring the basketball, even if they’ve never done it before at the varsity level. “Basketball is about putting the ball in the hoop and you’ve got to find guys to do that,” Ziebell said. “So far early on, there’s been a couple of guys who have done it in unique ways.”
Ziebell pointed out 6-foot-7 sophomore Sam Fredrickson has shown a penchant for stepping away from the basket and knocking down shots, while junior Justin Maratik’s athleticism allows him to work inside as well as develop a solid midrange game. Does Ziebell think his team will score 60 points a game? Probably not. The offense will be an inside-out scheme designed to get good shots, not one that runs up and down the floor. Because of that Ziebell anticipates a lot of close games with execution near the end of contests being especially important. “I think it’s going to be a grind-it-out type of thing,” he said. “I think it’s going to come down to execution in the final four minutes. That’s where we’re going to have to be solid. We’ve got just enough positives that I don’t think we’re going to get blown out, but we’re just not super strong either in areas where we’re going to blow anybody out. You kind of set yourself up for that root canal where it’s right down to the wire. At least that’s how we’ve been approaching it.”
Building a Base
With an offense that won’t necessarily be high-scoring, Fond du Lac’s play on the defensive end of the court will be that much more important. Last year, the Cards played solid defense, allowing a little over 55 points per game. Ziebell anticipates his squad will stick with a man-to-man scheme with zone worked in throughout the year when appropriate. He’ll be looking to limit dribble penetration and contest three-point shots, while using the size the Cardinals have to gain an advantage in rebounding. “We’ll mix (defenses), but I think it starts with a good, solid man base,” he said. “Ultimately I think it all comes down to you’ve got to be able to defend man to man at some point in time. You can try the zones and some fullcourt pressure, but the good teams are going to be able to handle that. You’re going to have to be able to defend man to man. “I think that’s our strong base and that’s what we’ve been building. As the season goes on, we’ll sprinkle some things in here or there that will help us and benefit us. With a little bit of size that we do have, we’ll be able to play a little bit of zone at times, too. But I think it starts man to man, I really do.”
Adjusting Expectations
At this point in the year, the Cardinals are still adjusting to a new system and haven’t determined what their goals are for the 2014-15 season. Ruch noted that he and his teammates are still laying a base for what’s to come in the future and are taking the season as it comes. “Coach talked about how we’re laying the first brick with a new coach and new system and everything so we’re just trying to get into it as quick as possible and just go out the first game, play our hearts out and see where that takes us,” he said. For now, Ruch, Luteyn and Mahamed are focused on helping out the younger players on the team and developing into good leaders, something a youthful squad certainly needs. “As us being the only three seniors, there’s a lot of leadership that goes into it,” Mahamed said. “Being a leader in the classroom and on the court. So that’s what we’re trying to do.”
2014-15 Schedule
Dec.:
2, at Menasha, 7:15 p.m.;
5, at Oshkosh West, 7:15 p.m.;
12, Oshkosh North, 7:15 p.m.;
16, West Bend West, 7:15 p.m.;
19, Appleton North, 7:15 p.m.;
23, Neenah, 7:15 p.m.;
28, at Stevens Point tourney, 12 p.m.;
29, at Stevens Point tourney, 7 p.m.
Jan.:
6, at Kaukauna, 7:15 p.m.;
9, Appleton East, 7:15 p.m.;
16, at Appleton West, 7:15 p.m.;
20, Hortonville, 7:15 p.m.;
23, Kimberly, 7:15 p.m.;
27, Oshkosh West, 7:15 p.m.;
30, at Oshkosh North, 7:15 p.m.
Feb.:
3, at Appleton North, 7:15 p.m.;
6, at Neenah, 7:15 p.m.;
10, Kaukauna, 7:15 p.m.;
12, at Appleton East, 7:15 p.m.;
17, Appleton West, 7:15 p.m.;
20, at Hortonville, 7:15 p.m.;
26, at Kimberly, 7:15 p.m.
2014-15 Roster
Brian Luteyn…Sr
Marcus Ruch…Sr
Said Mahamed…Sr
Coy Paulson…Jr
Jake Walgenbach…Jr
Justin Maratik…Jr
Kyler Bogenschneider…Jr
Mark Dilling…Jr
Matt Schneider…Jr
Caleb Goldstein…So
Sam Fredrickson…So