The Blackhawks played on Saturday in the Cloverbelt Conference Crossover 1st Place game, as the Hawks represented the Eastern Cloverbelt as Champions. In a game that was the Battle of the Blackhawks, the Bloomer team pulled away in the second half to win 75-48 as both teams headed to WIAA tournament action.
Bloomer came out hot from long distance and tried to separate from the Hawks, but Owen-Withee continued to battle and always had an answer as Winston Poehler and Dominic Sherwood would each add threes of their own. A Colin Fritz drive and finish along with a three-point play by Jack Wendler inside continued to keep the Hawks close. Poehler would continue to counter as he hit a total of four threes in the half and Sherwood added eight points. However, the tough inside/outside game of Bloomer put Owen-Withee behind at the half 38-29.
Owen-Withee would make an early run at Bloomer in the second half with a three-point play by Mason Gay and hoops by Fritz and Sherwood. A long drought for the Hawks that lasted five minutes proved too much to overcome as Bloomer increased its lead to 20. A late three by sophomore Talon Mueller capped off the scoring for Owen-Withee as Bloomer prevailed 75-48.
The Blackhawks only turned the ball over 10 times for the game and had 11 steals of their own, but the poor shooting cost the Hawks.
Box Score: Poehler 14 pts, 4 rebs, 5 stls; Sherwood 12 pts, 4 rebs, 2 stls; Fritz 8 pts, 4 rebs; Gay 7 pts, 5 rebs, 3 stls, 2 asts; Mueller 4 pts; Wendler 3 pts, 7 rebs; Wells, 4 rebs, 3 asts.
Coach's Comments
It was a great experience for us, earning our way as Conference Champions to represent the East. The guys kept rallying and played their hearts out.