ONALASKA — A 13-point lead that the West Salem High School boys basketball team worked hard to build was erased in a matter of a few minutes by Onalaska in a high-profile nonconference matchup at the Chuck Deeth Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.
In fact, the Hilltoppers turned that deficit into a one-point lead with 8 minutes, 9 seconds on the clock and a large crowd reacting to every bounce of the ball.
But that’s when West Salem senior Kyle Hehli decided he was done toying with Onalaska and turned his game up a notch.
Hehli had a huge second half but probably hit his biggest baskets when the Panthers needed them during that stretch of what turned into a 79-63 victory for his team.
“When Kyle’s feeling it, he can shoot it, and he can shoot it from deep,” West Salem coach Mark Wagner said. “Obviously, he had it going tonight, but the other thing is I think we really shot it well as a team.”
The Panthers (14-5), who lead the Coulee Conference with an 8-0 record, made 15 3-pointers to win their second game in a row after losing two straight. Hehli made six of those, but five of them came in the second half, and two of them were part of his personal 8-0 run that was an immediate response to Tyler Hughes giving Onalaska (14-7) its final lead at 53-52.
Hehli immediately nailed a 3-pointer, then was fouled on another attempt and made two of the three free throws. Another 3 gave West Salem a 60-53 lead with 6:53 left, and he followed that up by taking a charge at the other end of the floor.
Junior Nathan Dillaber scored a game-high 23 points and made five 3s, and Hehli added 22 with 17 of those coming in the second half and that eight-point burst putting his team in front for good.
“We know they have a good team and can make runs, and we know we are a good team and can make runs,” Hehli said. “We had to stay composed, trust what we do on offense and get some stops on defense.
“We took a couple bad shots and had a couple of turnovers, and that will happen against good teams.”
The Panthers had a 36-32 halftime lead and quickly stretched the advantage to 49-36 with a 13-4 run to open the second half. Hehli had nine points and an assist during that stretch.
But Onalaska didn’t need much time to erase its deficit. Junior Ian Kowal scored the first five points of a 13-0 run that tied the game at 49 with 10:42 on the clock. Freshman Tyler Kowal ended the run with a shot in the lane. Hughes eventually put the Hilltoppers in front 53-52 on two free throws, but it was all West Salem from there.
The victory was important because the teams will be in the same WIAA Division 2 regional in a couple of weeks, and this gives an edge to the Panthers in potential seeding criteria. It also continues the momentum they built after losing consecutive games to Caledonia and Central last week.
“It’s so important because they are a team we could see again in the playoffs,” Hehli said of the victory. “These are the kinds of teams you have to beat if you want to get to the state tournament, so it’s a big win for us.”
Ian Kowal scored a team-high 15 points for the Hilltoppers. Noah Chenault added 13 and Broden Steiner 12, but they had to work through some tough stretches of West Salem defense to get them.
“They are so hard to guard because they have great shooters, great athletes and can drive it to the basket,” Wagner said of the Hilltoppers. “Holding them to 63 points feels like a good defensive night. For the most part, I thought we contested the 3s pretty well, and even on a lot of their drives, I thought we did a good job of making them shoot over the top of us.”
