ONALASKA — Central High School junior Gabe Servais was, at times, unstoppable Thursday night.
But when Onalaska needed to force him into tougher shots during crunch time, they did so by changing a defensive matchup that worked elsewhere in the first half of a game to determine first place in the MVC.
Senior Ian Kowal made it difficult for Central junior Anthony Jones to get going in the first half, so when Servais lit up the Hilltoppers from the perimeter to get the RiverHawks back into a game they appeared out of, Onalaska senior Ian Kowal made the necessary change.
The end result was a 64-52 victory for the Hilltoppers — ranked third in Division 2 for this week’s Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll — in a highly anticipated game against the eighth-ranked RiverHawks.
“We switched him to Servais in the second half, for the most part,” Onalaska coach Craig Kowal said. “He did a nice job, obviously.”
Servais scored a game-high 26 points, but his final field goal of the second half came with 11 minutes, 36 seconds remaining.
That final field goal — a 3-pointer off a pass from Jones — had the RiverHawks (14-3 overall, 7-2 MVC) with 46-43, but the Hilltoppers (14-1, 8-1) scored 11 of the next 13 to create an advantage that could never be taken away at the Chuck Deeth Fieldhouse.
Servais made 6 of 12 attempts from the 3-point line but made just two free throws after the final 3 as Onalaska assumed sole possession of the conference lead. The Hilltoppers are one game ahead of both Central and Aquinas after the Blugolds beat Tomah on Thursday.
‘The Hilltoppers, who were led by sophomore Tyler Kowal’s 21 points, looked like they were going to build too big of a lead to neutralize in the first half.
Tyler Kowal had 16 of his points in the first 11 minutes and gave Onalaska a 28-15 lead on a 3-pointer off a pass from senior Trent Oyen with 6:52 left in the first half.
That, however, put a charge into Servais, who made three 3-pointers over the next two minutes and had Central within 30-24 with 2:41 on the clock.
he RiverHawks finally drew even by scoring 12 of the first 18 points in the second half. Junior Will Schilling scored on consecutive possessions and hit a short fadeaway to knot the score at 40 with 13:50 to go.
Ian Kowal and sophomore Gabe Whited each knocked down a 3-pointer during the 11-2 run that allowed the Hilltoppers to pull away for good. Whited’s answered the final 3 by Servais, and Ian Kowal’s gave the Hilltoppers a 49-45 lead.
Central made 10 of 21 shots in the first half and 9 of 31 in the second. The RiverHawks were 4 for 10 from the 3-point line in the first half and 3 of 15 in the second.
Sophomore Gavin McRoberts added 11 points to go with seven rebounds for Onalaska. Ian Kowal had nine points on three 3s and five rebounds, and senior Rowan McGrath pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
The start for Tyler Kowal has started to become a regular thing for the Hilltoppers. Craig Kowal said it isn’t by design, but he will take the results.
Tyler Kowal said he has tried to make it a point to help his team to a good start, which he did twice against Aquinas and during a win over Caledonia at the Midwest Players Classic in January.
“Early in the year we kind of struggled to get off to good starts in the first half,” he said. “Lately, I’ve been scoring right away and getting us in a groove.
“(Teammates) start going to me, and then Gavin, Ian, Trent, Gabe and Brendan (Chenault) get their buckets. It’s fun to play with all of these guys.”
Onalaska plays next on Saturday at the Border Battle hosted at Hamline University. The Hilltoppers play Apple Valley (11-5) at 7:30 p.m.
Central, which had a 10-game winning streak snapped on Thursday, next plays at Caledonia (11-7) on Tuesday.
