Raiders topple Pirates, tamed by Tigers
On the heels of an impressive road win, the Arcadia boys basketball team was left licking its wounds following a loss to open conference play.
The Raiders (2-2, 0-1 Coulee) are on the road for a rivalry clash with G-E-T on Friday at 7:15 p.m. in Galesville, then dip back into non-conference play by hosting Durand-Arkansaw at the Wanek Center on Monday at 7:15 p.m.
Arcadia 69 C-FC 50
Arcadia made its first road win of the young season a memorable one, notching a wire-to-wire victory over a state-ranked opponent early last week.
The Raiders seized an early lead, weathered a tightening of the game and pulled away for good in the second half against Cochrane-Fountain City (2-1) last Monday in Fountain City. The Pirates were ranked No. 6 in D5 in this past week’s Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll.
The Raiders were firing right out of the gates, racing out to an early 14-5 lead behind a barrage of threes — three of them by junior Trevor Pronschinske and another by junior Carter Wegman — that prompted a C-FC timeout just over four minutes into the contest.
That Arcadia advantage was extended out to 17-5 before the Pirates began chipping away, getting it down to just a one-point deficit on a couple occasions before settling for a 33-27 Raider lead at the break.
After C-FC scored the first three points of the second half, the Raiders responded in a big way with a 16-2 run that extended their lead out to 49-32 and left the Pirates in a hole too large to climb out of. C-FC never got closer than a 13-point deficit the rest of the way.
Wegman and Grzadzielewski set the scoring pace in a triumphant effort, tallying 24 and 22 points, respectively while Grzadzielewski also dished out five assists. Other contributors for the Raiders included Pronschinske with 15 points (all on three-pointers) and five rebounds, senior Max Blaschko with six points and nine rebounds and senior Jerson Sanchez with five rebounds.
Arcadia (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Grzadzielewski 6/12-7/10-3-4-22; Wegman 9/17-3/5-4-3-24; Pronschinske 5/12-0/0-5-1-15; Sanchez 1/1-0/0-5-4-2; Blaschko 2/4-1/2-9-4-6; Slaby 0/4-0/0-4-0-0
BRF 78 Arcadia 74
Despite a valiant effort, the Raiders were unable to follow up their road win over C-FC with another road victory to begin conference play, falling to Black River Falls (4-1, 1-0) by four this past Friday.
Following a back-and-forth start to the game, Arcadia made the first meaningful move by either team by pulling ahead 22-14 and still maintaining a 30-22 advantage late in the half. The Tigers answered with an 11-0 run to leapfrog ahead 33-30, though the Raiders took a 36-35 lead into halftime thanks to Carter Wegman’s trey just before the buzzer.
BRF came flying out of the gates in the second half, using a 24-9 run to surge ahead by 14. The Raiders got back within striking distance and as close as a one-point deficit on several occasions down the stretch but could never quite get over the hump.
Arcadia stats were not available at the time of publication.
