Wohlt scores 28 for New London
By Greg Seubert
Playing without its leading scorer is having an effect on the Waupaca boys’ basketball team.
Brandon Wanty is recovering from an ankle injury and his absence showed Dec. 27 in the Comets’ 61-49 loss to New London.
“So much is created by Brandon Wanty and not having the opportunity to have him play today is tough for us,” coach Matt Bredesen said. “Obviously, I’d like to get to get him back on the floor as soon as we possibly can.”
While the Comets played without their top scorer for the second game in a row, the Bulldogs had their leading scorer, Will Wohlt, lead all players with 28 points that included five three-pointers.
New London held the Comets without a field goal for the game’s first 7:52. Hunter Marcom’s basket with 10:18 remaining in the first half cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 17-4. Waupaca never recovered from the early deficit and didn’t get any closer than 10 points the rest of the game.
“I thought we played very hard today,” Bredesen said. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well again and that’s sort of been a struggle.”
Waupaca trailed 32-20 at halftime. Marcom led Waupaca at the break with 10 points, while Wohlt scored 12 for New London.
“We did a lot better job about halfway through the first half when we started to reverse the ball a little bit and we were throwing it into Marcom,” Bredesen said. “He got some good looks and got us going.”
The Bulldogs held Marcom to two free throws in the second half, but he finished with a game-high 16 rebounds. Justin Vaughn scored 13 of his team-high 20 points for Waupaca in the second half.
Waupaca made 16 of 54 shots in the game.
“We’re still looking for that next guy to make a few shots,” Bredesen said. “We really haven’t done it and with (Wanty) out, that’s 21 1/2 points a game, which is a big loss. We need somebody to pick those shots up.”
Shaun Anderson started in Wanty’s place and finished with 10 points.
“We thought Shaun was a good matchup on (Garret) Locy and we thought trying to disrupt Locy was a way to hang with New London,” Bredesen said. “He definitely came to play today and that was good. That can only help us as we build depth and move on.”
