Late 3 from Oelhafen gives Xavier boys basketball key win over West De Pere

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – In a matchup of the Bay Conference’s best, the West De Pere and Xavier boys basketball team battled at Torchy Clark Gymnasium on Thursday, with a conference championship on the line.

Entering the game with an unbeaten record in the conference, the Phantoms were looking for the season sweep of the Hawks and all but wrapping up the Bay title. Xavier had other ideas, as its lone conference loss of the season came against these Phantoms.

The game had a little bit of everything with Xavier opening up a near double-digit lead in the first half before battling back in the closing seconds to pick up the impressive 65-63 victory.

“The effort was exactly what our last few weeks of practice have looked like,” Xavier head coach Matt Klarner said. “A lot of communication, intensity, and hustle. I thought we did a great job defending the lane and getting back to their shooters to contest shots. It was a team effort.”

After trailing by nine at one point in the first half, West De Pere found a way to battle back late and held a one-point lead with less than a minute to go. That is when Xavier senior Luke Oelhafen connected for arguably one of his biggest shots of the season as he connected on a fade-a-way 3-pointer in the corner to put the Hawks in front 65-63 with just nine seconds to go before the defense took care of the rest.

“Luke is our guy,” Klarner said. “He missed a few early and had some foul trouble, but we will always go back to him. He was ready and confident when his moment came. It was great to see him step up and make the biggest shot of our season to date.”

In what is becoming an all-too-common occurrence as of late, Logan Ramczyk had the hot hand as he led the Hawks with 28 points, 18 of those came on six made triples, including four in the first half. That included two very early on to put the Hawks in front early, 7-5. The three-point shot played a massive role for both sides throughout the first half, with West De Pere’s Easton Deschane connecting on a three of his own a few minutes later to give the Phantoms a 12-10 lead.

Eventually, the Hawks were going to have to find other ways to put the ball in the bucket which is when Joe Gallucci and Kyler Bleck came into play as they began to drive right at the West De Pere defense to keep the Hawks in front 16-14. Another triple from Jonah Gentry extended the Hawks’ lead to 19-14.

With things tied 19-19 midway through the first half, Gentry came through with another triple to put the Hawks back in front and was part of a 7-0 run that gave Xavier its largest lead of the game thus far, 26-19. The Hawks would extend its lead to 34-25 later in the first half off a pair of 3s from Ramczyk and Gentry.

“I thought we moved the ball well tonight and found great shots,” Klarner said. “It was probably our most consistent and complete offensive game to date. We worked for open shots and made enough to get the win.”

Even with a nine-point lead late in the first half, the Hawks never felt comfortable, and all it took was a pair of triples from Collin Greisen and Bryce Borowicz to make this a game again as the Hawks held a 35-33 lead at the break.

Unlike the first half, where shots were falling in bunches, the early part of the second half was a vastly different story as both teams exchanged buckets early on to keep the Hawks in front 41-38.

It was at that moment when West De Pere managed to grab its first lead since early in the first half with Riley Kraft knocking one down from distance to tie things up 41-41.

Collin Jindra put the Phantoms in front 44-43 with a 3-pointer before Xavier responded with an 8-0 run that started with an Oelhafen triple and the Hawks led 51-44.

The Phantoms refused to go away quietly as Cooper Borowicz picked up a pair of buckets on the other end to keep things close at 51-50. Backed by a pair of layups from Ramczyk and Gentry, and a 3 from Ramczyk, the Hawks led 59-56 with time running down.

Trailing by one and less than four minutes to go, the Phantoms began to lean on their big man Tref Rademaker on the inside as he managed to put the Phantoms back on top before a pair of free throws gave the Phantoms their biggest lead of the night 63-59.

Those were the final points for the Phantoms as Ramczyk went down the court to connect for his final triple to cut Xavier’s deficit to one. The Hawks forced a turnover with just over 30 seconds to set things up for the offense one last time.

Although not the easiest shot, big-time players make big-time plays, and Oelhafen made a big-time play with his triple in the corner, giving the Hawks a 65-63 lead with nine seconds remaining. One defensive stop later, time expired, as the Hawks extend their winning streak to five straight to move into a first-place tie with West De Pere with two conference games remaining.

“Cole (Hietpas) did a fantastic job keeping West De Pere from getting inside touches,” he said. “The help defense really made them work for interior shots. I also thought we rebounded very well as a team.”

Xavier will enjoy a week off before hosting Seymour in its regular-season home finale on Friday, Feb. 21.

Hawks 65, Phantoms 63
West De Pere   33   30   –   63
Xavier   35   30   –   65
WEST DE PERE (63): Bryce Borowicz 12, Patrick Greisen 12, Collin Jindra 5, Carson Samson 3, Riley Kraft 6, Easton Deschane 10, Jack Willchowski 0, Cooper Borowicz 4, Tref Rademaker 11. Record: 13-6, 11-1 Bay Conference.
XAVIER (65): Logan Ramczyk 8-14 6-7 28, Kyler Bleck 2-9 0-0 5, Caden Schuler 2-4 0-0 4, Joe Gallucci 3-6 0-0 6, Jonah Gentry 4-5 0-0 11, Grant Neumann 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Hietpas 1-5 1-2 3, Luke Oelhafen 2-6 2-5 8. FG: 22-49. FT: 9-11. 3-pointers: 12-30 (Ramczyk 6-10, Gentry 2-4, Oelhafen 2-5, Bleck 1-5, Gallucci 0-1, Schuler 0-2, Hietpas 0-3). Rebounds: 25 (Hietpas 6). Record: 17-5, 11-1 Bay Conference.