Patient Neenah outlasts Appleton North in FVA boys basketball battle

By Dustin Riese         
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – In a matchup of two of the top teams in the Fox Valley Association, Neenah and Appleton North came into Friday night’s game at Appleton North High School in a four-way tie for second place. At the end of the night, one would be tied for first.

In a league where offense reigns supreme, Neenah is the dinosaur as it plays a style that not a lot of teams play in today’s game.

Given their ability to hold the ball for long periods of time, thus shortening the game as a whole, discipline is the key to beating the Rockets. Ultimately, that is what did the Lightning in as costly mistakes loomed large in in a 57-48 victory for Neenah.

Combined with Kaukauna’s win over first-place Fond du Lac, and Hortonville’s victory over Oshkosh West on Friday, Kaukauna, Neenah, Fond du Lac and Hortonville now stand in a first-place tie at 7-2 in the FVA, while North drops back to fifth, but just a game back at 6-3.

“Neenah is a very physical team which is something we have struggled with this season,” Lightning head coach Chris Kellett said. “From start to finish we were the softer team tonight, and that is very disappointing.”

The early pace leaned toward this being to be a low-scoring game as Nathan Ramus came out with four quick points and scored the first five of the night for North. Had it not been for his effort early on, Neenah could have raced out to a massive lead as its ability to milk the clock and penetrate the lane to get some easy buckets was evident. Mason Flees and Luke Jung sparked a a 9-0 run to put the Rockets in front 9-4.

Led by Grant Hardy and Abraham Tomori, North was able to get things up 9-9, but this was one of those games where the Rockets had the answers with Nick Schultz connecting for the go-ahead triple. Not only did that 3-pointer put Neenah back in front, but the Rockets never trailed from that point. With the Lightning going cold offensively for several minutes and needing a spark, Will Sweeney and Tomori tried to give it to them as the duo pulled the Lightning within 17-16.

That is when the duo of Jung and Joey Daun took over for Neeenah as they combined for the game’s next eight points to open up their biggest lead and eventually took a 29-23 lead into the break.

The game, ultimately, was won on execution and hustle as it was the Rockets seemingly getting to every 50-50 ball. That included a pair leading to a easy layups and pushing their lead to 33-25.

“Neenah does a great job of breaking you down on the offensive end to get the best shot possible,” Kellett said. “What kills us against a team like that is how disciplined they are on both ends of the floor. They don’t take bad shots, they don’t make mistakes and they get every 50/50 ball because they are a tougher team than us.”

Needing offense in a hurry, North was on its heels most of the second half, unable to knock down open and began to force things later in the game. That tends to happen against a team like Neenah, but with Hardy and Tomori going right after the defense to keep North within striking distance at 42-36.

It was at that moment when the Rockets began to take over on both sides of the ball, in particular Jung on the offensive end, coming away with seven unanswered points to put Neenah in front 49-36. Had it not been for the Hardy triple to make it a 10-point game, things could’ve gotten out of hand in a big way as Jung responded with another bucket to score nine consecutive points for his team. He finished with a team-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Daun chipped in 14 points.

“Jung was certainly the catalyst for them offensively,” Kellett said. “We basically let him do whatever he wanted to do on the floor tonight and we acted as if we were the little brothers to him. We didn’t show much fight or resistance against him on the defensive end tonight and that can’t happen against a team like Neenah.”

Kellett is hoping this game serves as a wake-up call about playing tough and executing on the offensive end.

“Today sums up our season when we lose games,” he said. “This was one of those games when our shots weren’t falling, and when that happens we tend to get far to 1-on-1 happy on the offensive end. That is not a way to beat a well-coached and well-disciplined team like Neenah. They don’t give you very many easy looks on the offensive end and we were far too soft to compete with them.”

Appleton North (9-4 overall) is back in action next Friday, Jan. 24, at Hortonville as part of a boys-girls doubleheader. The boys game begins at 6 p.m. with the girls to follow at approximately 7:45 p.m.

Rockets 57, Lightning 48
Neenah   29   28   –   57
Appleton North   23   25   –   48