Published: Feb. 12, 2014
Coming out swinging
West the aggressor in Tuesday’s victory
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
West Bend West got a sour taste out of its mouth with a
double-dosing of Andrew and Jacob Duening.
Now it’s Hartford Union with the bitter taste.
The Duenings combined for 34 points and 17 rebounds,
including 25 points in the second half, to lead the Spartans to a 51-40 victory
Tuesday over the Orioles.
In the last meeting between West and Hartford on Jan. 3,
West coach Ryan Wietor and his players were disappointed with how they came out
for the game, a game won by Hartford, 51-40.
“I thought they were the tougher team,” Wietor said of the
Jan. 3 loss. “They took it at us for four quarters. We were all really
disappointed with how we came out.”
On Tuesday, West (8-10, 6-6) was the aggressor and for most
of the game did so on both ends of the court, led by the Duenings.
Andrew Duening scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the
second half, while twin brother Jacob Duening had 10 of his 12 points in the
second half.
Andrew Duening also had nine rebounds, while Jacob Duening
had eight. Most of their damage was in the second half and around the basket.
“Whenever they’re aggressive, especially offensively
attacking the rim, that makes our team go,” Wietor said. “If they’re passive,
not looking to score, not looking to make things happen, we struggle.”
“They played an aggressive inside defense against us and boy
they took it to us,” Hartford coach Ben Hoffmann said.
In a game that was only 18-12 at halftime in favor of West,
having the Duenings step up and take over the game was a boost for the entire
Spartans team. Once they realized the Duenings had the hot hands, they didn’t
take long to look for the twin towers in the low block.
“They’re a big part of making our offense work,” Wietor
said. “When they attack, our team tends to feed off of that and it usually
creates scoring opportunities for other guys on the team.”
Halfway through the third quarter, Hartford (10-8, 6-6) was
within five points at 24-19. From there, however, it was all West.
The Spartans went on an 8-0 run, capped by a dunk by Andrew
Duening, his second of the game, off a long transition pass by Joe Peplinski
off a defensive rebound.
With 2:14 left in the quarter, West led 32-19.
During that stretch, the Duenings combined for six points.
The Duenings also combined to score the first six points of the fourth quarter
for West to give the Spartans a 42-27 lead.
“West was focused,” Hoffmann said. “They wanted it more than
we did.”
Hartford got to within six points late in the fourth
quarter, trailing 4640 with 1:33 remaining, before West put the finish touches
on the victory.
“We wanted to be more physical with our screening,” Wietor
said of the team’s second-half adjustments. “We wanted more player movement,
better ball movement. I think you saw that in the second half.”
Hartford was led by Steve Balistreri’s 14 points, 11 in the
second half.
The Orioles had hoped to build off a 20-point victory
Saturday over rival Slinger.
“Champions get that feeling, get that taste and they just
want more,” Hoffmann said. “Perhaps we’re just not used to winning enough to
understand what that means.”
West, on the other hand, has some steam heading into
Friday’s game against West Bend East.
“To finish the conference season off, hopefully we can make
a run for playoff time,” Wietor said as the Spartans have two conference games
remaining (East on Friday; Slinger on Feb. 20).
“I get it; we’re in the same building; it’s unique,” he
added about Friday’s game. “But it’s still the same approach. We look at
tendencies of them and we try our best to take advantage of what we’ve got
against what they have. It’s still the same process.”
No comments:
Post a Comment