Appleton North boys basketball jumps on Appleton West early, cruises to third-straight win

Appleton West’s Lucas Downs, left, scored a team-high 16 points for the Terrors in Friday’s Fox Valley Association boys basketball game at Appleton North. At right, North’s Abraham Tomori throws down a dunk for the game’s first basket. North won, 91-50. (Photos by Paul Lecker/AppletonSportsPage.com)

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – Appleton North set the tone from the opening tip, ripping off the first 11 points of the game, and did not let up from there.

Starting with a dunk from Abraham Tomori in the opening minute, the Lightning were in control and rolled to a 91-50 victory over Appleton West in a Fox Valley Association boys basketball game Friday night at North High School.

Five Appleton North players scored in double figures as the Lightning shot 59 percent (38-for-64) from the field and made 10 3-pointers to keep its early-season record perfect at 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the FVA.

“Our goal each game, and it doesn’t matter who we are playing, is to play with energy,” Appleton North coach Chris Kellett said. “We want to make life tough on them and make them work. Offensively, we’re pretty skilled and have some guys that can shoot it well. If we defend every single night, we are going to have some good games, and tonight I thought our guys played really hard.”

Ben Zdzieblowski scored six points on three shots inside, and Will Sweeney hit a pair of 3-pointers and had eight points as the Lightning cruised out to a 24-6 lead.

A 9-0 run sparked by a three-point play from Tomori and a 3-poiinter by Grant Hardy pushed North’s lead to 46-16 with 5:17 to go in the half.

Appleton West (0-5, 0-2 FVA) closed the first half on a 6-0 run as Parrion Peace and Lucas Downs scored to make it 52-27 at half, but the momentum didn’t carry over.

Appleton North bumped its lead to 33 after two straight steals and layups by Sean Hansen. A three-point play by Daniel Garrigan late pushed it to 40 and the final 3½ minutes were a running clock.

Hardy and Nathan Ramus each scored 16 points, Tomori finished with 15, Sweeney had 13 points and six rebounds, and Zdzieblowski chipped in 12 on 6-for-6 shooting to pace the Lightning. All five of those players are underclassmen.

“They aren’t your typical sophomores, and (juniors) Abraham (Tomori) and Sean Hansen as well,” Kellett said. “They’ve played high-level AAU basketball for a long time. They’re veterans and they’ve seen the best players in the country all summer. When they are back here they are prepared and ready to go.”

Downs ended up with 16 points and Peace had 13 for Appleton West.

West jumps right back into play Saturday with a nonconference game at Stevens Point beginning at 7:15 p.m.

Both teams return to Fox Valley Association play Tuesday as North hosts Oshkosh West, and Appleton West will play at Kimberly.

Lightning 91, Terrors 50
Appleton West   27   23   –   50
Appleton North   52   39   –   91
APPELTON WEST (50): Connor Navis 0-0 0-0 0, Braylon Ise 2-8 0-0 5, Prabhjot Tiwana 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Bennett 0-1 2-4 2, Parrion Peace 5-10 0-1 13, Thomas Schueppert 0-6 0-0 0, Reid Hinkens 2-9 2-4 6, Lucas Downs 6-8 3-4 16, Alex Hammond 0-0 0-0 0, Chrishawn Salley 1-1 1-1 3, Dereon Radig 0-1 0-0 0, Conner Cotton 2-5 1-2 5. FG: 18-49. FT: 9-16. 3-pointers: 5-21 (Peace 3-7, Downs 1-1, Ise 1-3, Bennett 0-1, Radig 0-1, Hinkens 0-3, Schueppert 0-5). Rebounds: 27 (Cotton 6). Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 0-5, 0-2 Fox Valley Association.
APPLETON NORTH (91): Will Sweeney 5-7 0-0 13, Brayden Hechel 1-3 0-0 3, Daniel Garrigan 1-3 1-1 3, Nathan Ramus 6-10 0-0 16, Grant Hardy 7-12 1-2 16, Sean Hansen 3-3 0-0 6, Luke Kritzer 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Wenzel 0-0 0-0 0, Will Guilbeault 0-2 1-3 1, Sam Kuehl 0-0 0-0 0, Abraham Tomori 6-13 2-3 15, Ben Zdzieblowski 6-6 0-1 12, Nathan Stanislawski 1-1 0-0 2, Michael Guido 1-1 0-0 2, Isaak Berken 0-0 0-0 0, John Hindman 1-2 0-0 2. FG: 38-64. FT: 5-10. 3-pointers: 10-28 (Sweeney 3-3, Hardy 3-6, Ramus 2-6, Hechel 1-3, Tomori 1-5, Hindman 0-1, Garrigan 0-2, Guilbeault 0-2). Rebounds: 32 (Sweeney 6). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: none. Record: 3-0, 2-0 Fox Valley Association.