BOYS BASKETBALL: A Thursday Thriller

Jaeden Zackery, shown here at Lake Geneva earlier this season, produced 23 points in Westosha Central’s home game against Badger on Thursday.

Central’s Zackery comes through in clutch

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

When visiting Lake Geneva Badger torched Westosha Central High School with 11 first half 3-pointers, the Falcons could have surrendered, but Westosha Central didn’t panic and went on to defeat the Badgers 80-73 Thursday.

Of Lake Geneva’s 11 3-pointers, seven came from 5-foot-10 senior Ian Schirtzinger, who scored 27 of his game-high 32 points in the first half and drove a wedge into every Falcons’ attempt to spark a rally.

Jaeden Zackery

Westosha Central, which trailed by 17 points twice in the first half, including a 19-2 deficit, stayed composed as they chipped away at the Badgers’ lead to enter halftime down 47-40.

According to Falcons 5-11 senior guard Tre Williams, who chipped in nine of his 21 points in the first half, the team would not allow Schirtzinger’s blows in the second half.

“We just basically had to play defense, in the first half, we played terrible defense,” said Williams. “We let one player get 27 points in the first half which is unacceptable.”

With a renewed mission entering the second half, Westosha Central mixed both a man and a 1-3-1 defense to hold Schirtzinger to five points the rest of the contest.

Falcons coach James Hyllberg, who drew an early second half technical foul, told his squad to keep their eyes on the Badger shooter.

“We just put Nic Frederick on him and made sure all five guys saw him and knows where he went,” said Hyllberg. “We did a lot better in the second half than in the first half, that is for sure.”

By the middle of the second half, Westosha Central found its rhythm with a 10-0 run, starting with a jumper by 6-0 sophomore Jaeden Zackery, who finished with a team-leading 23 points.

Williams credited Zackery’s calm and composed attitude as instrumental to the Falcons’ victory.

“He really stepped up tonight, did his thing, he was talking a lot,” Williams said. “As a sophomore, that is something.”

After Zackery’s jumper, Williams contributed a bucket followed by two free throws and 6-4 junior Cooper Brinkman layup to trim the Badgers’ edge to 68-67.

Brinkman finished with 18 points for Westosha Central.

Brinkman, who drew a foul in the next possession, deadlocked the contest at 68-68 by converting one of two free throws with 3:51 left of regulation.

Four seconds later, Badger fouled Williams, who made both of his free throws to give the Falcons their first lead at 70-68.

However, Lake Geneva Badger responded with two Kale Rodgers free throws and a Mason DuMez shot from the arc to give the Badgers 73-70 edge, but Zackery answered with a game-tying 3-pointer.

“I knew we were down by three and I saw it coming down, I knew we really needed that,” said Zackery, who added Badger’s attempts to neutralize Williams ignited his mission to step up.

“They were locking up Tre, double teaming him, so I knew I had to step up.”

“(Jaeden) just controlled the tempo of the game, he didn’t panic when they pressured him,” said Hyllberg.

After Zackery’s 3-pointer, the Falcons rattled off seven points to secure the 80-73 victory against the Badgers, who dropped to 1-9 in the Southern Lakes Conference.

Meanwhile, for the Falcons, they maintained a share of first place with Burlington in the SLC at 9-2.

“This team never gives up, we practice hard every single day,” said Hyllberg, who credited Schirtzinger’s game. “Badger shot well tonight, you got to give them credit. They made a lot of big shots.”


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