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Boys basketball: Patriots stifle Niagara, 37-32

Goodman-Pembine's Stanley Maruszczak, left, and Niagara's Austin Tripp battle for a rebound Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, in Niagara, Wis. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

NIAGARA, Wis. — Goodman-Pembine edged Niagara in a slow-moving 37-32 non-conference win Thursday.

The Patriots (2-0) held a 16-13 halftime lead in a defensive bout with shooting struggles by both teams.

“We didn’t come out of the gates very well on offense,” Goodman-Pembine head coach Jeff Zerbst said. “We ran the same stifling defense we played with on Tuesday. Ultimately we came out with a victory. We’re 2-0 and played a couple quality teams here. We just couldn’t get it going on the offensive side of the court tonight. I guess you’re going to have some of those nights.”

Stanley Maruszczak and Caleb Nelson had eight points apiece to lead Goodman-Pembine.

Tristan DeJardin led the Badgers (0-2)

Niagara head coach Jim Hoogland credited Josh Weber for his defense against Nelson, who scored 27 points in a win against Wausaukee on Tuesday.

” I thought Josh Weber played an outstanding game against Nelson,” Hoogland said. “Nelson had 27 against Wausaukee. I thought he played well.”

The abnormally low-scoring game began with a scoreless tie until the Patriots struck first. Niagara battled to a 9-4 lead and forcing a Patriots timeout. Goodman-Pembine came out of the timeout and tightened on its 1-3-1 defense, wrangling Niagara into turnovers. As the defense got stops, the offense eventually came around for the Patriots, who took their first lead on a pair of free throws by Josh Wallshlaeger with a minute left in the half.

In the second half, Niagara tried battling back, but bad shot opportunities and the Patriots’ defensive fortitude kept momentum — and the lead — in Goodman-Pembine’s favor.

“I thought we played better than we did against Florence. We made improvements,” Hoogland said of a 75-36 loss Tuesday to the Bobcats. “We have a better understanding of the game and we have a better understand of what’s a good shot and not a good shot. Just cause you’re open doesn’t make it a good shot. I was happy with how hard we worked.”

Niagara’s Ethan Sweig hit a pair of 3-pointers to give Niagara a 20-17 lead with 15 minutes left in the game.

Goodman-Pembine battled back to make it a one-point game until the Patriots’ defense forced a rash of bad shots and turnovers.

With the Badgers down 31-30 and 4:12 left, Niagara had a chance to grab the lead back after a Patriots foul and a technical foul by Boone Larison. The Badgers made just 1 of 4 free throws to tie the game.

Goodman-Pembine increased its lead to 35-31 with a bucket and free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Niagara shot 8 of 20 on free throws while Goodman-Pembine was 13 of 26.

The Badgers shot 9 of 46 on field goals. The Patriots were 11 of 36.

Goodman-Pembine went back to the line in the bonus and grabbed back the lead

Hoogland said his team struggled to get rhythm against Goodman-Pembine’s zone defense.

“We kind of rode that momentum. We need to move the ball quicker against that zone,” Hoogland said. “Unfortunately we never had a chance to practice that zone offense. Our timing was off, our spacing was a little bit off. We don’t quite understand where we need to be on the floor, so we can’t pass the ball quickly. The ball just moved too slow, so we were never able to get that real good open shot. A couple times we moved the ball and got some open shots and looked pretty good.”

Goodman-Pembine JV won.

The Patriots visit Elcho today. Zerbst, with a scratchy voice after Thursday’s win, said the team needs to stay consistent on defense to keep reeling off wins.

“I have to find a way to get my voice back. We have to go to Elcho tomorrow night,” he said. “Our defense carries us. I think that’s pretty obvious for us. We gotta get the big man going. Caleb Nelson had an off night tonight and I think he’d be the first one to tell you he had an off night. Sometimes you have those nights. It wasn’t the prettiest game out there but we got it done.”

Goodman-Pembine 16 21 — 37

Niagara 13 19 — 32

GOODMAN-PEMBINE (37): Maruszczak 8, Nelson 8, Wallshlaeger 5, Maloney 5, Larison 4, Metras 4, Gilbert 3. FT: 13-26. F: 20. Technical foul: Larison. FG: 11-36. 3PT: 2-5 (Maloney 1, Gilbert 1). Rebounds: 42 (Nelson 16). Turnovers: 22.

NIAGARA (32): DeJardin 13, Weber 6, Sweig 6, Kaldor 4, Tripp 3. FT: 8-20. F: 23 (Tripp fouled out). FG: 9-46. 3PT: 6-28 (DeJardin 4, Sweig 2). Rebounds: 11 (Tripp 5). Turnovers: 10.

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