Wilmot’s Bobby Brenner posts 28 points
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
Wilmot Union High School had no quit in Saturday’s boys basketball All-Star Honda Holiday Classic played at Carthage College.
The Panthers, who trailed by 28 points entering halftime against the hot shooting Kenosha Indian Trail, ate away at the Hawks’ 57-29 lead – but was not enough as the Panthers lost 93-84.
Indian Trail shot 75 percent from field goal range in the first half and produced runs of 5-0, 8-0, 11-0 and 7-0 that included nine 3-pointers, three from Evan Newman, the game’s leading scorer with 29 points.
Wilmot coach Jake Erbentraut challenged his team at halftime, telling them to take one possession at a time.
“I give the guys credit, in the second half, we showed up to play,” Erbentraut said. “At halftime, we said it really comes down to heart, do you want to play this game or not.”
Panthers 6-foot-3 senior Bobby Brenner scored 13 of his team-leading 28 points in the first half to give him six straight games of 20 or more points.
The rest of the Panthers stepped up after halftime, which included 6-3 senior Christian Janssen and 5-11 sophomore Latrell Glass.
Janssen, who scored 15 of his 22 points from 3-point range, sparked a 9-0 run to start the second half.
After Janssen’s basket, Glass knocked in five points that included one from beyond the arc, before Brenner added a bucket in heavy traffic to diminish the Hawks’ lead to 57-38.
“It was about finding the open shot and I was feeling it,” said Glass, who notched 14 of his 18 points in the second half. “In the second half, we were playing better defense, and they were not hitting their shots as well.”
“One thing about Glass, is that he is competitive, when given that chance, he can do it,” Erbentraut said.
Indian Trail coach Al Anderson was impressed with Glass’ aggressive approach to start the second half and cited the sophomore’s mechanics.
“He is only a sophomore, so he has got two more years left,” Anderson said. “He is an excellent driver to the ball, he shoots the jump shot very nicely with good form.”
The Panthers continued to apply pressure against Indian Trail and capitalized on open shots that included three Janssen 3-pointers in an 11-2 run, which ended with a Brenner basket in heavy traffic to make it 80-70 Hawks with five minutes left.
Most of Janssen’s shots came on fast breaks or defensive transitions, which paid off for the Panthers down the stretch.
With less than a minute left, Janssen nailed his fifth 3-pointer, which gave the Panthers its shortest deficit at 90-84.
“I think we were starting to play better defense, and in transition, (Janssen) made some big time shots for us,” Erbentraut said.
Another primary cause in the rally was the Panthers’ ability to contest Indian Trail’s inbound passes.
“We did not keep our composure…we got away from what we were doing in the first half, making that extra basket,” said Anderson, whose Indian Trail team improved to 3-4 Saturday.
Wilmot, who has lost three of its last four games, drops to 3-3 overall.