Panther boys open with victory for new coach

By Dan Truttschel~Sports Correspondent

For a varsity head coaching debut, it couldn’t have gone much better than it did last week for Wilmot’s Jake Erbentraut.

And now it’s on to the next challenge.

Erbentraut’s Panthers came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and never really let up en route to a convincing 63-49 non-conference win last Tuesday night over highly thought of New Berlin Eisenhower.

The victory left the Panthers at 1-0 overall and was the first for Erbentraut, who took over the program this season.

Erbentraut had been pleased with his team’s unselfish attitude in the practices that led up to the opener – and nothing he saw during the game changed his mind.

“We have a group of players that have a lot of experience, not only at the varsity level, but that play a lot of basketball in the off-season,” he said. “They’re experienced and have the will to want to win.

“With that being said, the players understood that they were going to have to do it together. I believe our ability to play unselfish, play together and as a team were key ingredients.”

Wilmot stormed out to a 20-8 lead after the first quarter and held a 30-24 advantage at halftime.

But Eisenhower, which was led by standout Reed Timmer’s 30 points, refused to go away quietly. The visitors came out of the locker room on fire and outscored the Panthers 11-2 to start the third quarter.

“We had to regroup a little bit,” Erbentraut said. “I told our guys that a team like that won’t go away. Once we took a timeout, however, our leaders stepped up with composure, and I knew we would be fine.”

Eisenhower outscored Wilmot 15-8 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to nine points heading into the final eight minutes.

But that was as close as the Lions would get, as the Panthers put the game out of reach with a solid fourth quarter. Wilmot enjoyed a five-point advantage in the period.

Senior Mike Stevensen led three Wilmot players in double digits with 19 points, followed by juniors Nate Hansel and Brandon Schattner with 15 and 10, respectively. Senior post player Jimmy Scully added eight.

Erbentraut said his first varsity victory didn’t seem quite real until well after the final buzzer had sounded.

One of his assistant coaches even had to assure him the game was secure with about a minute left on the clock.

“New Berlin emptied their bench with a couple minutes to go, and I remember asking (one of my coaches) what they were doing,” Erbentraut said. “(He) said, ‘They’re emptying their bench because they’re losing.’ I thought he was lying.

“I was very proud of our performance, and the way our players responded as a team, along with the great enthusiasm of the crowd. It was a great evening at Wilmot High School.”

Wilmot is idle this week. The Panthers return to action next Tuesday, Nov. 27, when they host Watertown in a 7 p.m. non-conference matchup, followed by a road game two nights later at Kenosha Indian Trails.

The Panthers begin Southern Lakes Conference play Dec. 4, against visiting Elkhorn.

 


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