Appleton North boys basketball uses big second-half run to push past Kimberly
By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com
APPLETON – To say the 2023-24 boys basketball season has been a success for Appleton North would be an understatement as the Lightning have been nothing short of impressive this season.
However, after starting the season 14-1 and putting themselves in a position to win the FVA, the Lightning hit a late-season slump as they entered Friday night’s contest with the Kimberly at Appleton North High School.
Early on, it looked as if the Lightning could once again come out on the short end of the stick as the Papermakers took it to the Lightning in the first half to hold a 38-34 lead at the break. Then comes the second half where the Lightning defense not only took over, but the trio of Will Sweeney, Grant Hardy and Abraham Tomori combined to score 29 second-half points to lead the Lightning to a massive 71-59 victory.
Combined with Oshkosh North’s 78-68 loss to Neenah on Friday, the Lightning suddenly find themselves just a game back of the Spartans in the FVA standings. Appleton North is now 15-3 overall and 10-3 in the FVA, while Kimberly falls to 12-6 and 9-5 in conference play.
“We came into this game struggling a bit lately so we wanted to come out and switch things up,” Appleton North head coach Chris Kellett said. “We wanted to generate more spacing for our guards and help them get some open looks. I thought we did a great job moving the ball throughout the game and we had a handful of guys scoring. When that happens, we are a better basketball team.”
Tomori had the hot hand most of the night as he opened the game with a corner triple to get things rolling before finishing with a team-high 22 points.
Appleton North jumped out to a 7-2 lead and is the case on most nights in the rugged FVA, Kimberly took the Lightning’s best blows early only to respond. Trailing 12-5, Landon VanOfferen picked up five quick points to get the Papermakers’ offense going. A pair of Mikey Wildes buckets followed that up, but it was the Lightning continuing to hold the lead as Sweeney converted on three-point play to maintain a 20-16 lead.
A Sean Hansen bucket a few minutes later gave the Lighting a six-point lead and it was looking as if they were about to go on a bit of a run. That wasn’t the case as it was the Papermakers going on a run to end the first half with Aaron Cullen connecting on a tough runner. The Papermakers used a 19-6 run to seize the 38-31 lead late in the first half. Thomas Meyers played a key role in that in the closing minutes as did VanOfferen, whose triple gave the Papermakers their largest lead of the night.
Playing from behind wasn’t an issue in the early part of the season, but it has been lately for North as Tomori ended the first half with a clutch 3-pointer from the corner to pull the Lightning within 38-34 at the break. Sweeney loved what he saw from his teammates throughout the first half despite trailing at the half.
“We had some good looks in the first half, but we played too soft on the defensive end,” Sweeney said. “We had a nice talk in the locker room at the half and came out with much more physicality the rest of the way.”
Whatever was said in the locker room at the half paid off in a big way as the Lightning came out on fire. After Guilbeault started things off with a bucket down low, Sweeney (14 points) and Nathan Ramus followed as the Lightning opened the second half on a 7-0 to take a 41-38 lead. Kimberly responded with a quick 5-0 run of its own, but with a 43-41 lead, the Papermakers not only saw their lead evaporate in a hurry and trailed the rest of the way.
It was at this point in the game when the Lightning started to take over as the trio of Hardy (13 points), Sweeney and Tomori started to score at will, while their defense set the tone on the other end. The Papermakers were held to nine points over the first 14 minutes of the second. A Tomori follow gave the Lightning their largest lead at 60-49 and had them on a 26-9 run to open the half.
“They were getting too many open looks late in the first half so we decided to come out with a zone look to begin the half,” Kellett said. “That altered some things for them on the offensive end and it helped get us the lead. We did a great job shutting down their penetration and closing out on their shooters and I loved the way we finished things off.”
Four quick points by Meyers cut the Lightning’s lead to 60-53 and the game was far from over. Fortunately for North, that seven-point advantage was as close as the Papermakers would get the rest of the way as Tomori and company finished things off.
“This was one of those games where we knew we had to stay true to our offense,” Sweeney said. “We took good shots throughout the entire game and never settled for anything on the offensive end. Defensively, once we made that switch to our 2-3 look, it took them out of their game which created some easy buckets on the offensive end for us.”
Appleton North hosts Appleton East as part of a girls-boys doubleheader on Tuesday. The girls game starts at 6 p.m., with the boys to follow at approximately 7:45 p.m.
Lightning 71, Papermakers 59
Kimberly 38 21 – 59
Appleton North 34 37 – 71
KIMBELRY (59): Bryson Vieth 2 2-2 6, Aaron Cullen 3 0-0 6, Mikey Wildes 5 2-2 12, Thomas Meyers 6 0-0 15, Nathan Wildes 2 0-0 5, Landon VanOfferen 2 2-2 8, Ben Grabner 0 1-2 1, Sam Dudek 1 2-2 4, Carson Pendleton 0 2-3 2. FG: 21. FT: 11-13. 3-pointers: 6 (Meyers 3, VanOfferen 2, N. Wildes 1). Fouls: 12. Record: 12-6, 9-5 Fox Valley Association.
APPLETON NORTH (71): Will Sweeney 3 6-8 14, Nathan Ramus 2 0-0 5, Grant Hardy 4 2-2 13, Sean Hansen 1 4-5 6, Will Guilbeault 3 2-2 8, Abraham Tomori 8 2-2 22, Ben Zdzieblowski 1 0-0 3. FG: 22. FT: 16-19. 3-pointers: 11 (Tomori 4, Hardy 3, Sweeney 2, Ramus 1, Zdzieblowski 1). Fouls: 12. Record: 15-3, 10-3 Fox Valley Association.