Tomori’s late free throw lifts Appleton North boys basketball past Hortonville
By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com
APPLETON – It’s been a long time since the Appleton North boys basketball team has had the kind of success they have had this season. Not only are the Lightning among the leaders in the Fox Valley Association, but they have gone from doing the hunting to the being the hunted in just one season.
With one of the youngest starting lineups in the conference with four sophomores and a junior starting, Appleton North is finding out first hand that it isn’t always good to be the hunted as they will get everyone’s best shot every game out.
That was the case Friday against Hortonville as the Polar Bears were more than ready for the challenge ahead. Despite being down by double digits most of the night, the Polar Bears defense stepped up and held the high-powered Lightning to just 18 second-half points, but in the end, North was able to pull out a 61-60 victory with a last-second free throw.
Appleton North improves to 12-1 overall and 7-1 in the FVA, remaining one-half game behind Oshkosh North in the standings. North (8-1) defeated Kaukauna 67-57 on Friday. Hortonville drops to 8-6 and 3-5 in the FVA.
Hortonville surged back into the game as Alden Rogers put the Polar Bears in front 58-57 late. A Nathan Ramus triple on the other end gave the Lightning the lead once again only to have Riley Mueller tie things back up at 60.
Looking to finish things off with 10 seconds to go, Abraham Tomori came down with a massive offensive rebound off a missed shot and was fouled with 0.9 seconds to go. With all the pressure on the junior, Tomori missed the first free throw only to knock down the second to secure the 61-60 victory for the Lightning.
“I was really tense when I stepped up to the line, especially after missing the first one,” Tomori said. “After my teammates started talking to me after that first shot, I knew I had to focus more and as soon as I let that shot go, I knew it was in.”
Right from the start, the Polar Bears showed they were up to the task as Rogers and company took an early 5-0 lead. They made that hold for the first several minutes, before the Lightning offense would get going. All it took was a pair of Sean Hansen buckets to tie things up at 11, but North was just getting started with Ramus giving the Lightning their first lead of the night with a 3-pointer.
That triple opened things up offensively for North as Grant Hardy came away with 11-straight points as part of an 11-2 run and just like that the Lightning were stretching things out to 25-17.
The hot shooting continued for North with Will Sweeney knocking down several triples, while Rasmus and Tomori went to work on the inside to push the lead to 39-21 and capped off what was a 25-8 run.
“We came out really strong in the first half to open up a big lead,” North head coach Chris Kellett said. “We had great ball movement and found the open guy, which led to a lot of good shots. They made some adjustments as the game went on, but we found a way to get the job done.”
Hortonville cut North’s lead to 11, but the Lightning were able to push the lead back to 43-28 at halftime.
Things were much different in the second half, however, as the Polar Bears made some adjustments defensively which ultimately took the Lightning out of their game. Ben Zdzieblowski opened the second half with a terrific post move in the paint for North, but it was all Hortonville after that as Mueller and Ethan Joling sparked a 16-3 run and pulled the Polar Bears within 48-44. Kellet credits the adjustments the Polar Bears made throughout the second half.
“Credit to the Hortonville staff for making adjustments at halftime,” he said. “They played extremely well during the second half and made a nice run at the end. We are a young team and Hortonville made it a point to get physical with us, which got in our heads a bit. Fortunately for us, we were able to battle through the adversity tonight.”
Looking to weather the storm, Sweeney connected on a triple before Tomori went inside to push the Lightning’s lead back to nine. It was at that point when the Lightning looked as if they were about to blow things wide open only to have the Polar Bears put together another surge. Unlike North, who was falling in love with the three ball, Hortonville used their quickness to get out and run as Mueller got behind the defense on several occasions to make it a 55-54 ball game.
The same can be said about Rogers, who not only kept things a one-point game, but came away with a massive finish off another North turnover to give the Polar Bears a late 58-57 lead. Like all good teams do, North found ways to battle back and Ramus wasted little time knocking down a corner three to give North a 60-58 lead. That was followed by another Mueller bucket at the rim to tie things up as this one was going to come down to the final seconds.
After Hansen was blocked trying to get to the rim, Tomori came down with the biggest rebound of the night and drew the foul with less than a second to go. Needing to knock down one shot, Tomori did his job as a last second heave from the Polar Bears came up short as North avoided the upset 61-60.
“With me being the oldest starter, I put a ton of expectations on myself to be the leader,” Tomori said. “When we look at each other, we see ourselves as brothers and we will do anything to go to war with them. That is the mindset we have had all season and we need to continue to keep that mindset.”
Sweeney finished with 15 points, Ramus 14 and Hardy 13 for the Lightning.
Appleton North plays at Appleton West as part of a girls-boys doubleheader on Tuesday. The girls game begins at 6 p.m., with the boys to follow at approximately 7:45 p.m.
Lightning 61, Polar Bears 60
Hortonville 28 32 – 60
Appleton North 43 18 – 61
HORTONVILLE (60): Statistics not available. Record: 8-6, 3-5 Fox Valley Association.
APPLETON NORTH (61): Will Sweeney 6-12 3-4 15, Brayden Hechel 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Ramus 4-10 3-4 14, Grant Hardy 5-10 0-0 13, Sean Hansen 2-4 0-0 4, Luke Kritzer 2-3 0-1 5, Will Guilbeault 0-0 0-0 0, Abraham Tomori 3-12 1-2 8, Ben Zdzieblowski 1-4 0-0 2. FG: 23-55. FT: 7-11. 3-pointers: 11-26 (Sweeney 3-5, Hardy 3-5, Ramus 3-8, Kritzer 1-2, Tomori 1-4, Hansen 0-1, Zdzieblowski 0-1). Rebounds: 19 (Hardy 6). Record: 12-1, 7-1 Fox Valley Association.