Gehlen Catholic boys basketball saw their season come to an end last night falling to Woodbury Central 65-59.
The name of the game for Gehlen last night was their struggle to get consistent offensive production. The Jays shot 2-14 in the first quarter and 7-24 in the first half overall scoring only 16 points before the break. Head Coach Mike Langel says that consistency has been missing from his team at points this year, and that is what cost his team last night.
The Jays, however, weren’t going to let that define how the game turned out. Gehlen entered the fourth quarter trailing 36-23 and got down by as much as 16 in the fourth quarter. That’s when Gehlen started working on a comeback that would get them as close as four points with less than two minutes to play. Gehlen outscored Woodbury Central 36-29 in the fourth quarter while Keaten Bonderson scored 22 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter alone. Coach Langel says that Bonderson’s and his team’s performance in the fourth quarter was really special to see.
The Jays season comes to an end at 15-8, and they will say goodbye to a pair of seniors. Carter DeRocher and Dylan Lehmann both graduate of this year’s team. Coach Langel says that this is a pair of seniors that have made a big impact on the program.
Coach Langel doesn’t just talk about them as great basketball players. He hopes that they take the lessons learned at Gehlen Catholic on the court and off of it to become great young men in their future endeavors.
While the Jays will miss those seniors, it’s hard not to look ahead and think of what the Jays will be like next season. Gehlen returns numerous juniors for next year’s team including Keaten Bonderson, Keaton Logan, Drake DeRocher, Ryan Augustine, and more. Coach Langel says he’s looking forward to what that core can do as seniors.
Woodbury Central improves to 15-8 and will play Newell-Fonda in the district final on Tuesday night.
