Winter Warriors tame Clayton Bears with Balanced Attack

Winter Warriors tame Clayton Bears with Balanced AttackPhoto byExplore Southern Sawyer County

Winter Wisconsin - The Clayton Bears roamed into Winter Wisconsin for a Lakeland East Conference matchup. In the previous game, Clayton tamed the Winter Warriors run-and-gun style of play with a 49-38 victory over the Warriors. This marks the lowest scoring total for the Winter Warriors Boys Basketball team in the 2023-2024 season whereas the Warriors had been top 3 in points per game.

However, on the January 23rd rematch, the outcome was quite different. The Warriors come into the game averaging 77.3 points per game, which leads all Division 5 schools in the state of Wisconsin while giving up 61.4 points per game. Meanwhile, Clayton is averaging 41.9 points per game, while giving up 48.7 points per game. This is truly a clash of styles. While Winter loves to push the ball up the court and score in bunches, Clayton sees great success with slowing the game down and grinding teams to a slow pace.

Winter started off quick with a 9-0 run, but Clayton came roaring back with a 10-0 run to go up 10-9 in the first half. However, Winter applied the full court pressure, forcing 11 first half turnovers, and converting those into points. Clayton's packline defense slowed Winter down, but not enough to give them an advantage.

Winter led 36-25 at the break scoring 22 points in the paint, and connecting on 4 triples while going 2-4 from the charity stripe. The second half, Winter's pressure seemed to get to the Clayton Bears as they committed an additional 16 second half turnovers. Winter scored an additional 26 points in the paint, connecting on 3 more triples, and going 8-14 from the free throw line.

Gunnar Greuel led the way with 22 points while grabbing 24 rebounds, adding 8 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocked shots. This marks Gunnar's 14th consecutive double-double in the 2023-2024 season. CJ Thompson had another big game adding 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal. Adam Bednorski was hot early but cooled off in the second half, he finished with 12 points, connecting on 3 from long distance, and going 3-4 from the free throw line. Bednorski added 4 rebounds and 2 steals and is tied for most 3-point makes on the season with 62. Carter Petit is back from his ankle injury, and added 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots. Malte Colliander was Mr. Everything tonight scoring 6 points, adding 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocked shots. Logan Hautamaki went 1-1 from downtown for a total of 3 points while adding 2 assists. Cole Petit scored 2 points, while adding in 2 rebounds and 1 assist. Sawyer Melchert rounded out the scoring with 2 points on a rim attack for an and-one but couldn't complete the free ones.

The Warriors won the game 79-48 with 48 points coming in the paint, 21 coming from distance, and 10 from the free ones. The Warriors forced 27 turnovers while grabbing 51 team rebounds, dishing out 19 team assists, and generating 15 team steals. The Warriors are ranked 3rd across all Division 5 teams in scoring with 77.4 points per game, 1st in rebounds per game with 43.9 rebounds per game, 2nd in assists per game with 19.3 assists per game, 2nd in steals per game with 16.1, and 2nd in blocks with 5.0 per game.

The Warriors move to 8-6 on the season, and 5-3 in the Lakeland East Conference. The Warriors sit in 4th place right now behind New Auburn (8-2), Flambeau (6-3), and Birchwood (6-3) with a Lakeland East matchup coming up on Friday, January 26th, as they travel to visit the Bruce Red Raiders. Bruce is 6-8 overall and 5-5 in Lakeland East action. The Warriors ride a 5-game winning streak in Lakeland East action with recent wins over New Auburn, Cornell, Flambeau, Lake Holcombe, and Clayton. They look to continue the streak as they travel to Bruce.

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