By Robert Whitmire

The SPASH Boys Basketball team pulled out a 70 – 61 win over Wausau West Friday night at the SPASH Fieldhouse, extending its wining streak to 44 straight wins in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.

The Panthers sit atop the conference at 5-0. West drops to 3 -3.

The Panthers opened an early 15 – 0 lead and took a 32 – 19 advantage into the halftime break. West battled its way back and closed the gap to six points at the 9:23 mark of the second half off a 14 – 6 run.

“Coach told us that this team has played some good teams and that they wouldn’t quit,” said senior forward Keon’te Williams. “We had to knuckle down and finish the game.”

Drew Blair led all scorers with 25 points. Joey Hauser, back on the court for the first time this season lit up the board with points for the Panthers.

SPASH dropped in 17 two-pointers, five three-pointers and hit 21 of 27 from the charity stripe.

“Coach always wants us to come out strong and aggressive, and jump on them right away. We did that tonight,” noted Drew Blair. “Luckily it was enough to hold them off.”

The Panthers return to action Tuesday, Jan. 24 as part of a home girls – boys doubleheader against Marshfield.

The girls take the floor at 6:00 pm at the field house followed by the boys at 7:30 PM.

The junior varsity scored a 46-33 win led by Evan Vollendorf with 13 points. Travis Johnson added 10 points and the JV2 squad won 59-48. Leading scorer with 15 points was Nolan Blair. Reese Gaber dropped in 12 points.

SPASH Scoring

Varsity: Drew Blair 25; Joey Hauser 20; Keon’te Williams 9; Beau Rosenthal 6; Andrew Erdman 5; Drew Cullen 5.
Junior Varsity: Evan Vollendorf 13; Travis Johnson 10; Michael Vitt 6; Darren Zwicker 6; Braden Christophersen 5; Joe Bergquist 4; Elliot Eron 2.
JV2: Nolan Blair 15; Reese Gaber 12; Ben Netzinger 9; Brady Franz 7; Teagan Kirsenlohr 5; Adam Willoughby 4, Evan Thomas 4, Lucas Wolfe 2; Ryan Gidlund 1.