Senior guard having a banner 2015
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Only a month removed from earning conference player of the year and first team all-County in football, Catholic Central senior Ben Heiligenthal put an exclamation point on his 2015 Tuesday night.
Heiligenthal scored 22 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his career, and Brandon Vandehei added 20 in a 64-51 Metro Classic Conference victory over Greendale Martin Luther.
It was the Toppers’ third straight victory, and they have returned to .500 overall and in the MCC (4-4, 2-2).
Heiligenthal hit 7-of-12 shots and added 11 rebounds, while Vandehei did his damage from long distance with six three-pointers.
Catholic Central returns home Jan. 8 to face Racine Lutheran (4-2, 1-2 MCC).
Catholic Central 55, Williams Bay 37
It took some grind-it-out defense and a nonconference tune-up game, but the Catholic Central boys basketball team picked up its first conference victory after a successful weekend.
On Dec. 19, the Toppers finally enjoyed a laugher, building a 29-19 halftime lead en route to a comfortable thrashing of visiting Division 7 rival Williams Bay.
It was the boys’ second straight win after beating Shoreland Lutheran Friday night, and it improved the Toppers’ overall record to 3-4 on the season.
A night after shooting only 27 percent as a team, Catholic Central improved to 36 percent with five triples against the Bulldogs.
Like he’s done all season, senior Ben Heiligenthal led the team in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
Heiligenthal added 10 rebounds and five assists.
Andy Kempken and Brandon Vandehei each added nine points. All of Vandehei’s points came on three-pointers.
Frank Koehnke added seven points and five rebounds, and point guard Aaron Rueber dished four assists.
The stifling Catholic Central defense held the Bulldogs to 26-percent shooting.
Catholic Central 35, Shoreland Lutheran 31
The Toppers’ first MCC win of the season was a defensive struggle Dec. 18 at home.
The Toppers shot 27 percent and trailed, 17-16, at halftime, before pulling away with a 19-14 second half.
In a rare game where no Topper scored in double figures, Koehnke led the team with nine points.
Heiligenthal was only 3-for-8 from the floor, finishing with eight points and seven rebounds.
Rueber tallied three assists to pace the team.
Rueber, Vandehei and Cole Pankau each scored five points.
Mutter leads Demons to victory
For the first 28 minutes of action Friday night at Burlington High School, the Demons seemed in jeopardy
of being upset by visiting rival Union Grove.
But down 32-28 with 10 minutes to go, the Demons fed the post, and that meant a fantastic finish for senior Aaron Mutter.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound power forward didn’t back down on the glass and in the paint, scoring 18 pounds and grabbing six rebounds in Burlington’s 53-42 victory over the Broncos.
Burlington improved to 4-1 overall. At 3-1 in the Southern Lakes Conference, the Demons are tied for first place with Delavan-Darien and Waterford.
The Demons’ third straight victory turned in the home team’s favor midway through the second half.
Senior Cal Tully’s three-pointer gave Burlington a 33-32 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The Demons went on an 11-3 run, which featured a triple from Nick Klug and three layups from Mutter.
Bryan Sturdevant added another layup, as the Demons’ half-court used solid spacing and quick ball movement to get high-percentage easy baskets.
A 19-7 run had Burlington up 47-39 with two minutes to play, but the Broncos weren’t done.
Cole Beck canned a triple to cut the lead to 47-42.
But the Grove went cold after that, and the Demons knocked down six straight free throws to close the game on a 6-0 run.
Burlington shot 10-for-14 (71 percent) from the line.
Klug added eight points, and Brock Halbach tallied seven rebounds.
Burlington travels to the Honda Holiday Classic Dec. 28 and 29 at Carthage College in Kenosha.
The Demons take on Racine St. Cat’s (3-2) Dec. 28 and Evansville (5-1) Dec. 29.
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