HOLMEN — The Holmen High School boys basketball team barely beat Tomah the first time the teams matched up this season because it had no answer for sophomore scoring machine Quinn Gerke.
But the Vikings figured some things out on Saturday and cruised to a 70-47 MVC victory that set the area up for a big game Thursday at the Bernie L. Ferry Fieldhouse.
Holmen (17-5, 8-3) scored the first seven and 22 of the first 26 points in the second half to pull away from the Timberwolves and keep sole possession of second place in the conference standings. That means a share of the MVC title is on the line when first-place Aquinas (20-2, 9-2) travels to Holmen on Thursday.
The Vikings had 12 players score against Tomah, but the more aspect was how they limited Gerke’s output after he lit them up for 37 points the first time around. Gerke scored 14 and missed all four of his 3-point attempts.
“I think it was just better team defense,” Holmen coach Ryan Meyer said. “I think Jerin Rink did a really good job of being physical with him and making everything difficult for him.”
Holmen gave itself some breathing room and a 30-26 advantage when senior Kaiden Wilber knocked down a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in the first half. The Vikings didn’t lead by more than five points before halftime, and the teams went back and forth with the lead.
Tomah (7-15, 1-10) was up 20-17 after two Gerke free throws, but junior Alex Berget knocked down a 3-pointer, Wilber had a steal and layup, and sophomore Jayden Bartels followed with another 3 to put Holmen in front 25-20.
The Timberwolves didn’t score in the second until 2 minutes, 42 seconds had passed. Their next field goal came more than 7 minutes later and after Holmen had built its lead to 52-30.
Sophomore Brody Wilber had given Holmen the 22-point lead with a steal and layup.
Nine players made at least one 3-pointer for the Vikings as they completed the regular-season sweep of the Timberwolves. Berget made three and scored 13 points for Holmen, which was led by Kaiden Wilber’s 14.
Wilber also had four steals, three rebounds and three assists for the Vikings, who were 14 for 35 from the 3-point line and outscored Tomah by 19 points in the second half. Senior Keenan Eisermann also made two 3s and had nine points to go with six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Rink had a team-high nine rebounds.
The victory sets the stage for Thursday’s title game. Aquinas beat Holmen the first time they played 54-50 on Jan. 28 at the Reinhart Athletic Complex. The Blugolds have already clinched a share of the championship and wins the MVC outright by beating the Vikings.
“Aquinas is a very good team and well coached,” Meyer said. “They had a good game plan for us last time, and we’ll take a look at the film.
“We’ll have to run better offense, and we have to get action to action and not become stagnant. I think we were stagnant at time against them, and that was kind of a credit to how they played us.”
