By Jed Buelow
Tomahawk Leader Co-Editor, Sports and Nature Editor
After taking down Lakeland for the first time in 20 years, the Hatchet boys’ hoopster team kept the winning ways going winning the Almond-Bancroft holiday tourney.
Tomahawk opened in Almond-Bancroft against Montello and completely dominated in the paint in the 54-45 win.
“I thought we came out and played really well for the first six minutes of the first half, but then got complacent and let them back into the game,” said Hatchet head coach Jacob Jarvensivu. “We did enough down the stretch in the second half making many momentum plays to build a small lead. The boys sealed the game with free throws at the end, but we need to get better at finishing games.”
Heading into the half the game was tied at 23 apiece. Tomahawk managed to build a lead through the second before hitting free throws to seal the nine-point victory.
Tomahawk’s big guys came up big in the win as Connor Dichsen finished with 21 points and Payton Bunce scored 10. Drew Bolder went 7-of-9 from the charity stripe to finish with 14 points and Elijah Scheffler chipped in 5 to help secure the win.
The win advanced Tomahawk to the championship game where they took down the Fall River Pirates 52-49 to win the Almond-Bancroft holiday tourney.
The first half would prove to be a low scoring affair as defense dominated and Tomahawk took a 19-18 lead into the half. The offense would really pick up in the second as the Hatchets were able to outscore the Pirates to get the five-point win.
“We played much better in the championship game. Fall River was a great opponent and I thought our defense was very good,” coach Jarvensivu said. “We definitely didn’t shoot well, but just good enough to pull out the victory. Again we made free throws down the stretch to seal it, and actually made more free throws in the game than Fall River attempted.”
Tomahawk finished 24-of-36 from the charity stripe while the Pirates finished 15-of-23. D. Bolder was once again money from the free throw line as he hit 13-of-17 to finish with 26 points. P. Bunce helped secure the championship game win with 7 points and Trey Baalke pitched in 6 to help Tomahawk win their third game in a row.
On Friday Tomahawk resumed conference play as they traveled to Antigo to take on the Red Robins in a GNC tilt and fell by a score 63-47.
Tomahawk is back in action tonight (Tuesday) as they hosted Prentice for a nonconference tilt at Hatchet Fieldhouse that begins at 7:15 p.m . This Thursday, Jan. 9 they travel to Ladysmith for another nonconference game and next week host Rhinelander for a GNC showdown Tuesday, Jan. 14. Opening tip for both games is at 7:15 p.m.