Blair High School junior Easton Bosanek made seven shots from beyond the 3-point line, pushing the Class B No. 8 Bears past Waverly on Tuesday with a 22-point effort.
Coach Chris Whitwer's team improved to 2-0 with the 45-37 home win.
“I love when I play against a zone (defense),” Bosanek said. “It invites me to shoot 3s and that's just what I do.”
The junior sunk two during the first half, helping BHS to a 23-14 lead. He then made two more during the third period and three in the fourth to keep the Vikings from pulling even or overtaking the home squad.
“It's fun playing with him,” the Bears' Crayton Macholan said. “It makes it so easy to get assists and just easier to slice into the defense.”
After the game, coach Whitwer was complimentary of the senior's hustle play as well. Macholan's highlights included a two-point putback on his own 3-point miss to start the fourth period and strong defense throughout.
“We kept them out of the paint pretty well,” the senior said. “We found their shooters — (Nos.) 12, 22, 1. We found them quite well and, inside, Bo (Meier) and Nate (Wachter) had good post-ups to make them kick it out.”
Macholan also noted the close-out defense shown by Aidan Slominski and others.
“We out-physicaled them in a lot of ways,” Bosanek added. “We just wanted it more.”
In addition to his 22 points, Macholan had 12. Sophomore Bo Meier notched six, too, despite foul trouble.
It was Bosanek, though, who scored nearly half of Blair's points. The junior did so after struggling in the season opener against Ralston.
“It just feels good to get back on track and stay confident,” he said.
The Bears next play 7:45 p.m. today at Plattsmouth.
After a night of seven 3s, Bosanek said, “Looking forward to it.”
BHS BOYS HOOPS LINE SCORE
Tuesday
No. 8 Blair 45, Waverly 37
WHS (0-3) 8 6 12 11 — 37
BHS (2-0) 13 10 7 15 — 45
Scoring: BHS — Easton Bosanek 22, Crayton Macholan 12, Bo Meier 6, Nate Wachter 3, Aidan Slominski 2.
WHS — Ashton Heffelfinger 10, Reece Bader 9, Nathan Axmann 7, Keaton Rine 7, Isaac Clarke 4.
