Late 3, tough defense lift Little Chute past Fox Valley Lutheran boys basketball

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – Two of the North Eastern Conference’s best collided as the second-place Little Chute Mustangs took on the third-place Fox Valley Lutheran Foxes on Friday night in boys basketball action.

Little Chute entered the game ranked 10th in the Wissports.net Division 3 state coaches poll and riding a season-long seven-game winning streak, so the Foxes were aware they had their hands full as they were looking to avenge a 58-52 loss earlier in the season to the Mustangs.

After what was more of a Dick Bennett style of game in the first half, the action picked up in the second half as the Foxes rallied from a sluggish first half deficit to grab their first lead of the game early in the second. FVL would eventually push their lead to seven before Little Chute’s Deyten Magnussen took over and the senior guard scored the final six points for the Mustangs, including a game-winning 3-pointer with just under a minute to go to give Little Chute a 52-51 victory.

“I thought the guys battled hard tonight,” FVL head coach Tommy Stelter said. “We obviously had a very sluggish first half, but we showed a ton of heart in the second half. Unfortunately, it came down to the turnovers and they won the turnover battle late in the game.”

FVL (10-5, 7-4 NEC) had a chance to win the game late, but it was a strong defensive stand by the Mustangs that saw their last second shot come up short.

In their first meeting, it was the Mustangs (13-3, 10-1 NEC) who punched the Foxes in the mouth as they opened the game on a 16-0 run and never looked back. Although not to the same degree, the Mustangs once again came out strong with Cooper Effa scoring four of the Mustangs’ first eight points to jump in front 8-0.

It was a lead they managed to hold for several minutes until Eligh Erickson connected on a triple for the Foxes’ first bucket seven minutes in. That 3-pointer seemed to awaken the Foxes’ offense as Graham Feidt rattled off four points as part of a 10-2 run to tie the game at 10-10.

The rest of the first half was dominated by the Mustangs as they ripped off another 11-3 run to close out the half with Trevor Verhagen connecting on a late triple to push the Mustangs’ lead to 21-13.

“Little Chute is a very physical team that knows their stuff inside and out,” Stelter said. “They are a very experienced team that has been playing together for a long time and having that continuity helps in big games.”

Unlike the first half where offense was tough to come by, both teams started to figure things out in the second half with FVL’s Lucas Papendorf scoring four quick points to make it a 21-17 game. Following a Caleb Dahlke 3-pointer to keep the Foxes within striking distance, it was Gabe Heiges’ turn to take over as he responded with six-straight points to make tie the game at 27-27. The back-and-forth affair continued for several minutes as the Foxes managed to grab their first lead of the game off a Riley Lindell 3-pointer.

As they have done so many times before, the Mustangs took the Foxes best shot and did their best to deliver their own knockout blow as Noah Faccio began to go to work as part of his team-high nine points to put the Mustangs back in front 36-32. It was at that moment when the Foxes not only answered, but it was their defense that started to set the tone leading to a go-ahead Feidt triple to put FVL back in front 37-36.

“Our defense was awesome tonight,” Stelter said. “The kids did a great job of rotating around the perimeter and closing out on their shooters. Sure, we got caught at times trying to get some steals, but that is going to happen against a good offensive team. All in all, I was very proud of the way our kids played on the defensive end.”

The outside shooting by the Foxes began to take over late as both Feidt and Caleb Dahlke sank a pair of late triples to push the Foxes lead to 48-43. FVL had the Mustangs on the ropes following a tough Amani Dahlke lay-up as it took a 50-43 lead with an 18-7 run.

Suddenly, the Foxes’ offense not only went cold, but it was the Mustangs doing what they do best by going to the hole as a quick layup from Effa started a push for Little Chute.

Leading by six with less than three minutes to go, it was the Foxes looking for the knockout blow as they had the Mustangs on the ropes. This is when some of that youth and inexperience set in for Fox Valley Lutheran as a costly turnover resulted in an old fashioned three-point play to pull the Mustangs within two. Another empty possession gave Magnussen too much space as he knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer to give the Mustangs a 52-51 lead late.

That would be all Little Chute would need as its patented pressure zone defense took over in the final minute resulting in a last-second shot coming up short. With the loss, the Foxes remain in third place, but are now three games behind the Mustangs and four games behind front-running Freedom.

Fox Valley Lutheran will play an NEC game at Denmark on Tuesday.

Mustangs 52, Foxes 51
Little Chute   21   31   –   52
Fox Valley Lutheran   13   38   –   51
LITTLE CHUTE (52): Jacob Verhagen 1 0-0 2, Rahshad Manns 1 1-4 4, Nehemiah Engle 1 0-0 2, Bryce Lamers 1 0-0 2, Cooper Effa 4 0-0 8, Nolan Jakubek 4 1-2 9, Deyten Magnussen 3 1-1 8, Trevor Verhagen 2 2-2 8, Noah Faccio 3 3-4 9. FG: 20. FT: 8-13. 3-pointers: 4 (T. Verhagen 2, Magnussen 1, Manns 1). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 13-3, 10-1 North Eastern Conference.
FOX VALLEY LUTHERAN (51): Gabe Heiges 3 3-3 11, Eligh Erickson 2 0-0 6, Graham Feidt 6 0-0 13, Jack Schlueter 1 0-0 2, Elliott Olsen 0 0-0 0, Riley Lindell 1 0-0 3, Lucas Papendorf 1 304 5, Amani Dahlke 2 1-3 5, Blessings Kapande 0 0-0 0, Caleb Dahlke 2 1-2 6. FG: 18. FT: 8-12. 3-pointers: 7 (Heiges 2, Erickson 2, Feidt 1, Lindell 1, C. Dahlke 1). Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 10-5, 7-4 North Eastern Conference.