Wrightstown’s Haese drops 38 on Waupaca
By Greg Seubert
There are plenty of reasons why Wrightstown’s Zac Haese is considered one of the best boys’ basketball players in the North Eastern Conference.
He showed 38 of those reasons Feb. 22 in the Tigers’ 81-62 win over Waupaca.
That’s how many points the senior finished with after scoring 26 in the first half alone as the Tigers improved to 20-1 on the season and 16-1 in conference play.
Waupaca also dropped a pair of two-point games to Freedom and Merrill.
Wrightstown 81, Waupaca 62
WRIGHTSTOWN – It didn’t take long for Haese to get warmed up, as he scored his team’s first 13 points.
Waupaca trailed 41-32 at halftime, but the Tigers used a 6-0 run to open the second half. The Comets eventually cut the lead to 47-38 with a 6-0 run of their own, but never got any closer.
“They’re good,” coach Ron Weber said. “Any mistakes you make, they’re going to take advantage. We made an adjustment. I thought we guarded (Haese) better as the game went on.”
Tony Blackwell led Waupaca with 20 points, while Logan Bunge added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Joe Blackwell also finished in double figures with 12.
“Our whole thing coming in tonight is getting better,” Weber said. “I thought we did some good things. We have to keep making progress.”
Freedom 54, Waupaca 52
FREEDOM – The Comets outscored the Irish 30-24 in the second half Feb. 18, but still came up two points short.
Freedom led 30-22 at halftime. Waupaca trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half and eventually had a one-point lead late in the game.
Seth Doxtater gave Freedom the lead for good with 26 seconds remaining before the Comets missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Tony and Joe Blackwell led Waupaca with 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Doxtater led all scorers with 16.
Merrill 50, Waupaca 48
MERRILL – Merrill outscored Waupaca 31-26 in the second half after trailing 22-19 at halftime.
Tony Blackwell had 19 points for Waupaca and Bre’on Sease chipped in with 15 on five three-pointers.
The Comets will open WIAA state tournament play at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, at Antigo. Waupaca is a No. 11 seed in Division 2, while the Red Robins are a No. 6 seed. The winner will play at third-seeded Rhinelander Friday, March 4.
Before that, however, the Comets will host Denmark at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26.
“Right now, we’re all about Denmark coming to our place Thursday for our final home game of the year,” Weber said. “They’re good, but I like us on our home court. I think we play better on our home court.
“We really want to send our seniors out on a bang,” he added. “Hopefully, we meet that challenge. It would be great to go out on a winning note.”