The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton boys basketball team is savoring its first appearance ever in the 26 years of the Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament hosted by Bethany Lutheran College.
Friday night, the high-flying Bulldogs — led by brothers Daulton and Gavin Bauer— used a stellar defensive effort to overwhelm four-time champion Maple River 74-56 in a semifinal contest at the Sports and Fitness Center.
Daulton Bauer, a 5-foot-11 junior guard and Gavin Bauer, a 6-1 freshman guard, led the charge with 28 and 27 points, respectively as the Bulldogs improved to 5-2 on the season. Both players showed tremendous offensive skills in scoring in a variety of ways. Gavin converted 13 of 14 foul shots while also chipping in four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
“We’re off to a great start in the tournament,” Gavin Bauer said. “We’re finding our shooting ability and even though we were outsized in this game, we did a nice job of fronting and playing good overall defense. Our main thing was to front their posts because they are big and physical. We were able to execute our defense the whole game.”
Maple River (6-3) fell behind 10-5 before a nine-point run — a layup from Zach Trio, two close-range hoops from 6-7 senior forward Wyatt Birr and Cole Davis’ top-of-the-key 3-pointer — produced a 14-10 Eagles’ lead. However, Daulton Bauer’s left-wing 3-pointer triggered a 9-0 surge that gave the Bulldogs the lead for good at 19-14 on Gavin Bauer’s steal and driving basket.
“We were able to get a lot of ball movement today and our bench players came in and did their role,” Daulton Bauer said. “It was a good team win for us and for us to be 2-0 in our first tournament is pretty good. Our defense has been a main point for us all season. We’re pretty small so we need to step it up on defense by containing their bigs and stopping their outside shooting.
“We knew we had to box out more and rebound because of their size. We were able to get some offensive boards, too, which gave us extra chances. We kind of go at it on the court, but we respect each other and I hope our chemistry shows on the court.”
After Gavin Bauer’s right-side 3-pointer at the buzzer gave JWP a 30-25 advantage, two steals and layups from senior guard Landon Johnson along with his 8-foot turn round helped stretch the margin to 41-32. Daulton Bauer’s nifty leaping steal and uncontested layup set up Gavin Bauer’s three-point play a moment later to make it 52-44. The Bulldogs continued to widen the margin the rest of the way behind an aggressive defense and the scoring prowess of the Bauers.
“We used to come and watch this tournament so it was nice to get the opportunity to play in it,” JWP coach Nick James said. “We’ve got a little bit of youth here so you never know what you’re going to get in a game. They’ve really responded and our gamers play hard. It starts with our defense and they do a good job taking things away that teams want to do.”
Maple River, which won the boards 26-25 but committed more turnovers 18-9, received 23 points and seven rebounds from Birr while Davis nailed a trio of threes in scoring 11 points. JWP connected on 26 of 50 from the field for 52% compared to the Eagles’ 22 of 44 for 50%.
“I am not too concerned about other teams at this stage of the game,” Eagles’ coach Chad Ostermann said. “It’s early in the year and we’re not where we need to be. We were all right on defense when we didn’t turn the ball over. They were able to get a lot of steals and transition baskets. We’re still growing and we’re getting better, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”
The Bulldogs play Fairmont in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Maple River plays Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial in the third-place game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Other games
Fairmont 71, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 51: Joseph Hackett led the Cardinals with 21 points in their winner’s bracket victory.
Logan Junkermeier added 16 points for Fairmont.
Charlie Gengler scored 13 points for the Knights.
Minnesota Valley Lutheran 68, New Ulm 63: Luke Merseth finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Chargers in the win over the Eagles in a consolation game.
Blake Sexton and Pierson Brau each scored 12 points for the Chargers.
Levi Hopp led New Ulm with 19 points.
The Chargers will play Mankato Loyola in the fifth-place game at 8 p.m. Saturday. New Ulm plays St. Clair for seventh place at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Mankato Loyola 59, St. Clair 52: Christian Barker and Covin Winter each scored 19 points for the Crusaders in their consolation bracket win.
For St. Clair, Hunter Winkler had 18 points.