Abby boys drop first four games of 2022
It’s been a tough start to the new year for the Abbotsford Falcons boys varsity basketball team.
The Falcons left 2021 with a bit of wind in their sails after going 1-1 at the Elcho Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28, but a long furlough has led to some uneven offensive performances in the Falcons’s first four games of 2022.
The Falcons dropped a trio of games to Marawood squads Athens, Stratford and Phillips, and also lost to the Colby Hornets at home on Monday, to fall to 3-10 on the season and 1-7 in league play.
73-26
The Falcons went nine days without seeing any action, and that time away from a game atmosphere showed on Thursday, Jan. 6, as the Athens Bluejays throttled the Falcons 73-26.
Athens had the advantage of having played Nekoosa a few days before, and the ‘Jays used that to bang some rust off their games.
The Bluejays turned to their star players Cooper Diedrich and Aiden Janke to fill up the buckets, and they obliged scoring 19 and 15 points, guiding last year’s Marawood - North champs to a 41-17 lead at the break.
Athens subbed in several of their bench players midway through the first half, but that did Abby few favors as the Falcons struggled to find any rhythm on offense, or stops on defense.
The Falcons managed just nine points in the first half, and gave up 32 in the last stanza. No Falcon finished in double figures, though Brandon Diedrich came close, scoring a team high nine points.
Brandon Hawkey had seven, Adam Diedrich scored five and Gatlin Faber and Esteban Gomez finished with three and two points. JV Castillo supplied the highlight of the game, recording a block on 6’5” Aiden Janke down in the post.
73-37
The Falcons were forced to quickly put their game with Athens behind them, hitting the road the very next day to take on the Stratford Tigers on Friday.
Their offense fared little better as the Tigers pounced early, running out to a 4417 lead at the end of the first half. The Falcons had difficulty stopping Stratford’s trio of Camden Daul, Kaden Griesmer and Braeden Schueller.
Daul and Griesme paced the Tigers with 20 and 19 points, and Schueller gashed the Falcons for another 17 points. Abby picked things up in the second half, holding the Tigers below 30, but could not eat into the deficit as they were outscored 29-20 to lose 73-37.
Abby head coach Brent Faber was able to get more Falcons involved on offense, as seven players scored on the night.
Adam Diedrich connected on five of his eight field goal attempts for a team high 11 points. Brandon Hawkey was right behind with eight, and Esteban Gomez had six points.
JV Castillo added four points. Preston Bunkelman and Andres Bautista scored three apiece. Brandon Diedrich rounded things out with two points.
Abbotsford’s offense flashed its potential throughout the majority of their game with the Colby Hornets on Monday, but Colby’s speed, coupled numerous turnovers, gifted the Hornets with a plethora of possessions.
Nevertheless, the 55 points the Falcons put up against a potential conference champion team is an encouraging sign, and through the first five minutes of the first half, the Falcons were neck and neck with their cross-town rivals.
A Brandon Diedrich corner three gave the Falcons their only lead, but from there, Abby’s inexperience at ball-handling began to rear its ugly head.
Colby took advantage of Abby’s steals, converting them into points. The Hornets buried the Falcons under an offensive avalanche though Brandon and Adam Diedrich did what they could to stop the flow, providing a spark on offense. Brandon would finish the first half with 11 of his team high 18 points in the first half. Adam pitched in with 14 points, ten of which came in the first half.
But it was all Colby in the first frame, and they lead Abby 61-33 after one half of play. The Falcons offense went as cold as the subzero temps outside in the second half, and only the two Diedrichs scored more than one bucket in the last stanza.
Colby continued to gash the Falcons inside and out, and when the clock struck zero, the Falcons had dropped their third game of the new year.
Esteban Gomez and Brandon Hawkey each scored six points, Blake Bargender added four points and JV Castillo and Noah Schraufnagel finished with two points apiece.
54-48
The Falcons missed a perfect opportunity to break their losing streak, but the Phillips Loggers simply would not go away on Tuesday night.
Even playing at home seemed to do the Falcons no help, and once again, it was turnovers and miscues that gave Phillips the chances they needed to pull away.
Both teams are searching for some momentum to the second half of the season, and the Loggers and Abbotsford came into the Marawood - North clash with nearly identical records.
The score was nearly identical through the first half, with the Loggers clinging to a 18-17 lead. Things remained that way for much of the second half, and with less than ten minutes to play, it was a 3232 ball game.
The lead traded hands, but the Loggers crashed the glass and then salt the game away from the line for the 54-48 win.
Brandon Diedrich scored a team high 22 points. JV Castillo, Brandon Hawkey and Brandon Diedrich had seven apiece. Esteban Gomez scored four points and Evan Reis had one point.
The Falcons will have a chance to snap their streak this Friday at 7:15 p.m. They host conference foe Chequamegon.
BIG MAN BRANDON WITH THE REJECTION -Abby’s Brandon Hawkey blocks a shot from Athens’ Kody Lepak in the first half of Thursday’s game as teammate Esteban Gomez comes in to help. Hawkey scored seven points in the Falcons loss on Thursday.STAFF PHOTOS/ROSS PATTERMANN
PERFECT PASS -JV Castillo dishes out a pass to an open teammate during the first half of the Hornets meeting with Colby on Monday, Jan. 10.
