O-F bounces back from first loss, FC looks to conquer tough schedule

Tri-County Area Prep Boys Basketball Review & Preview

It's not so much the loss but how you respond to it.

For any sports team, the aftermath of a loss can go one of two ways: it becomes a losing streak, or can be quickly forgotten in the wake of a follow-up win.

Osseo-Fairchild reached the highest highs to start the 2024-25 season, going 10-0 overall and earning a No. 9 state ranking in Division 4.

But these highs finally came down as the Thunder lost at home last week Thursday, Jan. 9 to No. 6 ranked and undefeated Cochrane-Fountain City, 10-0 overall, by a 67-59 score.

Yet O-F bounceed back to edge Blair-Taylor 62-60 on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at B-T (9-2) to avoid any losing streak and stay well ahead of their opposition in the Large Dairyland Conference.

The Thunder led C-FC 33-28 at halftime of their contest but the Pirates, 10-0 overall, outscored them 39-26 in the second half as their top three scorers Cameron Lipinski, Porter Ehrat and Reed Schmidknecht were all in double figures and were joined by Tye Popp who had 10 points. Ehart finished with 14 points.

OFHS dominated the first half against B-T, leading 43-27 at halftime, and held on, even by the skin of their teeth, as the Wildcats rallied in the second half but were unable to be ahead in the end despite the Cats' Ethan Kniseley's game-high 20 points. Scoring from both Drake Swett and Jack Steinke paced the Thunder throughout the ballgame.

Thus, Osseo-Fairchild, 11-1 overall, will begin the second half of league play this Friday, Jan. 17 at home vs. Melrose-Mindoro with a 9-1 record in the Large Dairyland, well out in front of the other teams in the division as the real battle for a division title goes on in the Small Dairyland between C-FC, B-T and Lincoln.

Fall Creek had as bad a start to 2025 as one could imagine, getting railroaded by the Altoona Rails 80-52 back on Jan. 3. The loss put FC below .500 at 2-3.

The Crickets had three games last week and four if you include their Monday, Jan. 13 non-conference game at Elk Mound. While the Crickets' tough schedule (a date with No. 2 ranked La Crosse Aquinas (11-1) awaits them on Friday, Jan. 17 in the Midwest Players Classic at the La Crosse Center at 5:30 p.m.) precludes taking about turning points in their season, at least things changed enough last week to put FC, 5-4 overall, atop the Western Cloverbelt Conference as they gear up for a league contest at home this Thursday, Jan. 16 vs. Chippewa Falls McDonell (9-4).

FC first bounced back at home vs. Eau Claire Regis 50-48. The Crickets turned around a 30-24 halftime deficit to victory led by 12 points each for Miles Schmidgall and teammate Corbin Sell. Cullen Kramer finished with eight points for FC. Schmidgall and Sell actually had more rebounds than points in their double-doubles, 15 and 14 respectively. Schmidgall and sophomore guard Jackson Tangley had four assists each against the Ramblers, 7-3 overall.

Another big league win for FC beckoned on Friday, Jan. 10 as they edged Bloomer 42-39 at home. Fall Creek broke a 20-20 tie at halftime in the second half against the Blackhawks, 5-3 overall. Schmidgall had 13 points and Kramer 10 to lead the way in scoring and Schmidgall and Sell had 11 and 10 rebounds apiece. Tangley finished with three assists.

"Our defense has greatly improved, it's more consistent," FC head coach Rick Storlie. "We're seeing growth but there's a lot of season ahead and we have some tough match-ups upcoming."

If it wasn't for the weather, FC would have had a day off Saturday, Jan. 11 but the Crickets played their make-up contest with Black River Falls, 1-9 overall, back from December in doubleheader with the FCHS girls hoops squad and not even 24 hours from their last ballgame. FC was ragged as one could but still led by 15 at halftime 32-17. Yet, thanks to the play of guard Braylon Backus, who leads the Coulee Conference in scoring at 26 ppg., the Tigers whittled that lead to just four points at 34-30 at the 12:45 mark before FCHS responded to the challenge and built the lead to 20 at the final buzzer 62-42. Tangley was a big part of FC's response as he score the bulk of his 18 points in the second half while Schmidgall led the team in scoring with 21 points and Sell had 11.

"What we've been trying to do with our offense is improve the way we move the ball and get our players in the right spots for them to score or make other plays. Again, we're getting better but its just got to be more consistent and that's what a young team like ours has to strive to and fight to throughout this season and that won't always be smooth against the teams we're playing and with such a compressed schedule this month."

An example of this came vs. Elk Mound (8-2) on Monday, Jan. 13 at EM. Trailing by just a point to the Mounders 24-23 at halftime, the Crickets were outcored 38-31 in the second half for a 62-54 loss. Schmidgall had 20 points and 11 rebounds but no one else for Fall Creek was in double figures. Sell and Kramer each had seven points and Sell had 13 boards, three assists and four steals to lead the team in those categories. Elk Mound had three players in double figures led by Logan Jerome's 27 points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots and four assists.

The second half of the season is starting for Augusta and Eleva-Strum and both are looking for more than just one win between them (AHS' over E-S). There were bits and pieces of good play from each team over the week of Jan. 7-14 but no complete game yet.

The Beavers, 1-11 overall, lost at Blair-Taylor last week Tuesday, Jan. 7 by an 83-59 score. They were only down 11 at 40-29 at halftime but a 43-30 second half margin powered the Wildcats, led by 19 points by Kniseley and 23 points from teammate C.J. Dummer. Augusta had three players in double figures led by 23 points for Bryce Buttke, 14 points for Noah Schroeder and 13 for Owen Lee. Tyler Lee led the team in rebounding with eight and Owen Lee had six steakls and three assists. The problem for Augusta was the 27 turnovers they committed and a 3-for-19 showing from the three-point line.

AHS had another strong first half vs. Whitehall at home on Thursday, Jan. 9, only trailing 31-27 at halftime. But the Norse outscored them 40-29 in the second half for a 71-56 win. Whitehall, 5-5 overall, had five players in double figures led by Mason Pientok's 19 points. Buttke again led Augusta in scoring with 24 points but no one else for the Beavers had more than six points, which both Michael Smith and Matthew Hoff had. Beau Harmer led the Beavers in rebounds with eight and assists with four and Owen Lee had five steals. But again AHS hurt themselves with turnovers as they had 25.

Augusta did better in the second half, outscoring Alma/Pepin (6-7) at home Tuesday, Jan. 14 by a 41-36 margin but the problem was the 41-27 deficit they had to comeback from in the first half on their way to a 77-68 loss. Owen Lee had 23 points and Buttke 24 with Schroeder scoring 11 points and Harmer eight. Schroeder grabbed nine rebounds and led the team in steals with four. Six players scored for the Eagles and five for Augusta yet A/P had five players in double figures led by Reeden Bocksell's 20 points.

Like Fall Creek, Augusta has a busy schedule this week as well as they were at Cadott Thursday, Jan. 16 and travel to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Friday, Jan. 17.

Eleva-Strum is still aiming for its first win of the season. The Cardinals took advantage of a long layoff for Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran when the two team met Tuesday, Jan. 14 at ECIL and the rust showed as E-S held an 8-6 edge in the first half and were tied with the Lancers (3-5) 10-10 midway through the half. But that's when Immanuel's Logan Thompson took over the game, pushing his team to a 23-10 halftime advantage, a 20-point lead in the second half and an eventual 47-35 win despite a late E-S rally. Thompson led everyone with 27 points. The Cards' had three players with six points each in Bo Windjue, Noah Martinson and Afton Flynn. Russell Hulett scored four points on a pair of lay-ups in the Cards' late rally.

Eleva-Strum also fell at home to Lincoln 68-32 last week Tuesday, Jan. 7 as Jace Paul's 21 points for the Hornets, 9-3 overall, powered them to a 42-14 halftime lead. Melrose-Mindoro (3-7) beat E-S 72-61 Thursday, Jan. 7 at Central led by five players in double figures scoring. Gavin McRoberts topped that list with 23 points.

The Redbirds are at home again vs. Whitehall on Friday, Jan. 17 to start the second round of Large Dairyland play followed by a non-conference contest at home against a 1-10 Mondovi squad with a good chance at victory on Monday, Jan. 20.

https://www.wissports.net/page/show/8927006-week-7#

Boys Basketball Standings

West Cloverbelt
Team W-L
Fall Creek 3-1
Bloomer 2-1
Stanley-Boyd 2-1
Chippewa Falls McDonell 2-1
Eau Claire Regis 2-2
Cadott 1-3
Thorp 0-3

This Week's Games
Thursday, Jan. 16
Chippewa Falls McDonell at Fall Creek
Eau Claire Regis at Stanley-Boyd
Bloomer at Thorp

Next Week's Games
Tuesday, Jan. 21
Stanley-Boyd at Bloomer
Fall Creek at Cadott
Thorp at Chippewa Falls McDonell

Large Dairyland
Team W-L
Osseo-Fairchild 9-1
Whitehall 4-5
Independence/Gilmanton 3-7
Melrose-Mindoro 3-7
Augusta 1-9
Eleva-Strum 0-10

Small Dairyland
Team W-L
Cochrane-Fountain City 10-0
Blair-Taylor 7-3
Lincoln 7-3
Alma/Pepin 5-4
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 3-4

This Week's Games
Tuesday, Jan. 14
Alma/Pepin 77, Augusta 68
Osseo-Fairchild 62, Blair-Taylor 60
Cochrane-Fountain City 51, Lincoln 47
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 47, Eleva-Strum 35
Whitehall 62, Independence/Gilmanton 38

Friday, Jan. 17
Melrose-Mindoro at Osseo-Fairchild
Whitehall at Eleva-Strum
Independence/Gilmanton at Lincoln
Augusta at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran
Alma/Pepin at Cochrane-Fountain City

Next Week's Games
Monday, Jan. 20
Whitehall at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran

Thursday, Jan. 23
Cochrane-Fountain City at Eleva-Strum
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran at Independence/Gilmanton
Augusta at Osseo-Fairchild
Blair-Taylor at Whitehall
Melrose-Mindoro at Lincoln

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