Spartans defeat the Wildcats
January 15, 2019
On Tuesday, January 8, the Oshkosh North Spartans beat their cross-town rival, the Oshkosh West Wildcats, 65-51. It seemed the whole city came turned out for the game, as spectators struggled to find parking spots and seats.
However, the excitement soon waned. Oshkosh North had the control of the game the whole time. The outside shots made by Junior point guard Josh Dilling and the incredible inside game of Matthew Berger and Mathew Hickey sent the Wildcats to a cliff from which they were not able to climb back from.
Dilling led the game with 17 points followed by Berger with 13 points. At the end of the first half, the Spartans were winning with a score of 25-16 in a very physical game. The Spartans made a total of 14 fouls (5 of them in the first half and 9 in the second half) and received a bench warning when they had only played 6:20 minutes of the game.
The Spartans have a record of 9-5 with a record of 5-3 on home games and 3-2 on away games North is currently 5th on the Fox Valley Association while Oshkosh West is 7th with a 4-5 record. The Spartans look forward to staying with this winning streak and they also look forward to making it to state.
Second-year Spartans head coach Brad Webber, who led North to its first State title last year, was proud of his team work during the game.
“They are a more talented team than we are, but I think our energy and toughness really minimized that skill gap,” Webber said.
Webber feels confident about doing the things step by step improving every day.
“Today was a good day; we got better,” Webber said. Webber expects the team to get to sectionals. “When you get to sectionals it’s who’s got the best 48 hours in them”.
Hickey, a Spartan captain, is really proud about the work the team did during the game.
“I think against Oshkosh West we played pretty good, and I think we played pretty good as a team. We were able to keep some of their scores out of the board enough to take the win and that’s what we did. I’m really proud of what we did,” Hickey said.
The team has 9 more games to hone their skills and identity before the post-season starts. At the rate they are
going, another playoff run might be a possibility.