Winter Breaks School Record with Victory over Lake Holcombe

Winter Breaks School Record with Victory over Lake HolcombePhoto byExplore Southern Sawyer County

Winter Wisconsin - On a frigid cold night in Lake Holcombe where the temperatures were -2 degrees, but felt like -11 degrees, inside the Lake Holcombe School gymnasium the Winter Warriors were on fire, scorching the nets. They put up a new school record, 112 points. The previous record was set on January 14, 1972 when Winter put up 109 points on Birchwood, giving up just 48 points.

52 years later, the Winter Warriors Boys Basketball team topped that record with a 112-96 win over the Lake Holcombe Chieftians. The last time the Warriors Boys Basketball team tallied a victory over Lake Holcombe was 11 years ago.

The Warriors came out the gate with high pressure, and a fast paced offense, pushing the ball up the court, and attacking the rim. Lake Holcombe was down by as much as 18 points, but slowly climbed back by going on some small runs to slim the margin. At the break, Winter led 55-41. The second half was more of the same story as Winter applied the full court pressure, increasing the pace until the final buzzer. Lake Holcombe looked to match baskets as the clock dwindled away. However, the did finish with a season high 96 points, but fell victim to Winter's Run-and-Gun style of play.

CJ Thompson was the star of the show, finishing the game with a career high 39 points, his previous career high was 19 points against the Webster Tigers. CJ finished with 39 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal, but fouled up with 5 minutes left in the game. Gunnar Greuel had another Double-Double, making this his 39th consecutive double-double. Gunnar finished with 34 points, 33 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Adam Bednorski tied his career high in 3-point made field goals with 7. Bednorski finished with 25 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals. Cole Petit had a great night overall, he finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Carter Petit was back in limited action, he finished the game with 4 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block but also fouled out early. Malte Colliander had a quiet night finishing with zero points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, and 3 steals, but also fouled out early. Logan Hautamaki did a great job of handling the ball and running the offense late into the game, he finished with 2 points and 1 steal. Sawyer Melchert scored 2 points, while grabbing 1 rebound, and 1 steal. Kingston Frey didn't hit any game winnings this time, but did come in and play some solid defense, and finished with 0 points and 2 rebounds to help secure the victory.

The Warriors owned the paint with 66 points in the paint and 57 rebounds. They also connected on 8-23 from long distance, and 22-32 from the charity stripe. The Warriors forced 31 turnovers, which 19 came from steals.

The Warriors move to 7-6 overall and 4-3 in the Lakeland East Conference. This game bumps the Warriors season average to 77.3 points per game making them the highest scoring team in Wisconsin Division 5, and opponents average to 61.3 points per game. The Warriors are also 1st in rebounds per game, 2nd in steals per game, and 2nd in blocks per game across all Wisconsin Division 5 teams. Gunnar Greuel moves closer to joining the 1,000 point club with 73 more points, and is now 131 rebounds away from becoming the WIAA all-time leader in career rebounds. Greuel still leads the nation in total rebounds and rebounds per game. Adam Bednorski moves into 2nd in the state across all divisions for most 3-point made fields goals (59). The leader is Reis Hidde from New Richmond with 60.

The Warriors are in conference action on Friday, January 19th as they travel to Birchwood to take on the Bobcats. The Bobcats are 8-4 overall and 4-3 in Lakeland East action. The Lakeland East is currently led by New Auburn with a 9-2 overall record, and 6-1 in conference.

Lakeland East Conference Standings (1/17/2024)
6-1 New Auburn
5-3 Bruce
4-3 Birchwood
4-3 Clayton
4-3 Winter
4-3 Lake Holcombe
4-3 Flambeau
1-6 Prairie Farm
0-7 Cornell