Up and down—and back up again. That summarizes the past few games in Oriole boys basketball.
Facing Cadott Monday Jan. 6, the Orioles came out ahead, finishing with the score 80-67 in their favor. Playing Thorp Tuesday, Jan. 7 they upped the ante, coming away with a 63-49 finish in their favor. Top point scorers against Cadott included Logan Gray and Brenner Myers (15 points each), Charlie Hoel (14 points), Carter Isenberger (12) points, and Jackson Gindt (11 points). Josiah Demske scored nine points.
Leading scorers against Thorp meanwhile included Hoel (19 points), Josiah Demske (11 points) and Isenberger (10 points).
But even the good times can have setbacks. Traveling to Chippewa Falls Friday for an away game against McDonell, the Orioles came up short, fishing 51-43 against the Macks.
Making team mention against McDonell Friday were Brenner Myers with 14 points and two rebounds, and Logan Gray, with 11 points and four rebounds. Also in view for points were Demske (eight points), Hoel (six points), and Isenberger and Gindt, scoring two points each.
Orioles Head Coach Dakota Nichols shared more after the game.
“McDonell is a team that returned everyone from last season, so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” he said. “We had 15 turnovers and gave up nine offensive rebounds. It always goes back to doing the ‘little things’ like locating your man, boxing out, and taking care of the ball. Overall I was happy with how we shot the ball, and our defense forced a lot of tough shots. I give credit to McDonell for hitting 20 free throws, they are a good team! Now we prepare for a tough week with Neillsville and Regis coming to town.”
Emerging from the loss at McDonell to play Neillsville Monday night, the Orioles rebounded with a final score of 73-54. Coming away with points against Neillsville were Hoel with 19, Demske with 12, Gindt with 11, Gray with 10, Myers with nine, Isenberger with seven, and Troy Haas with five.
The Orioles face Regis on Thursday, Jan. 18 at home. Game start is 7:15 p.m.