WAUSA – The Wausa boys basketball team headed into the Christmas break for the 2023-24 season on a positive note.
The Vikings (3-4) beat the Niobrara/Verdigre Cougars (0-8) in commanding fashion, 67-33, on Dec. 18. They came out strong, leading 17-8 after a quarter, and never looked back.
Wausa was led by sophomore Preston Schlote (17 points), junior Brady Bloomquist (14 points) and freshman Matthew Schindler (12 points).
“The guys played hard and rebounded the ball well,” Wausa head coach Tim Schindler said. “We didn’t shoot well from the three, but were able to get offensive rebounds. We forced turnovers that led to breakouts. I like that the guys are competing and working hard. We have a lot of guys that are capable of doing good things.”
Bloomquist was pleased the Vikings were able to take a win into the holiday break after losing some very tough games against top competition.
“It was pretty big to go out into winter break with confidence,” he said. “We got a big game against Bloomfield in a couple weeks, so it’s good to finish on a win before that.”
Bloomquist also acknowledged just beating a team that isn’t top tier isn’t a good thing unless one takes care of things in the fashion that is expected.
Wausa did that in its recent victory.
“Coach was telling us before the game, we have to take them seriously, get this game over with, go out and bring it right away,” he said. “Don’t let (them) come and think they have a chance.
“We did a good job jumping on them and then keeping the lead and then kept on it and we kept getting a bigger lead every minute,” he said.
The Wausa coach knows what the Vikings will need to work on to get to the next level.
“Biggest thing we want to work on is being complete basketball players that are excellent at their best skill, but also well-rounded players,” Coach Schindler said. “When we have that, the ball will move better on the offensive end and make us a harder team to guard.”
Bloomquist agreed, but he also thinks the offense needs that confidence boost.
“We need to score against better teams better,” he said. “We haven’t scored enough points against these good teams. That’s why we can’t keep them close in some of the games that we’ve been playing and losing. They’re definitely winnable games.
“We just got to start making shots, which you can’t really teach, that it just happens as the year goes,” he said. “We’re getting good shots. It’s just, they’re not falling, but some games they will. It just depends on the night. We have to be consistent with it and I think we could be really good.”
