By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
AMHERST - Opponents of the Amherst High boys basketball team have pulled out all the stops to try and contain 6-foot-8 center Dylan Page.
Amherst's foe Tuesday night, Wittenberg-Birnamwood, found out the hard way that Page isn't the only player on the undefeated Falcons. Using deadly sharpshooting, Page in the post and defense, Amherst remained undefeated (13-0 overall, 8-0 in the Central Wisconsin Conference large division) by crushing the Chargers 64-36.
The Falcons quickly jumped to a 12-0 lead early in the first quarter, using an inside-outside combination. Jason Heinz and Page opened the game with inside hoops and then the senior center sandwiched another bunny around Eden Weller and Jeremy Sherf 3-pointers.
W-B finally got on the board with 3:16 left in the quarter when Aaron Aanonsen nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
"We came out like I wanted us to come out," Amherst coach Gregg Jensen said. "We showed some good patience. We used the inside and got some really good looks from the outside.
"We shot it well tonight. I thought our shooters were ready to shoot. When your shooters are ready to shoot, that's a key. Teams are concentrating on the inside and we've got to be able to move the ball well."
The onslaught continued as Amherst grabbed a 20-7 lead after one quarter and then scored the first three hoops of the second quarter to take a 26-7 advantage. The Falcons led 30-14 at halftime.
Amherst didn't stop in the second half and opened the third quarter with a 17-2 run, again using the inside-outside combo. Page had eight of his game-high 22 points in the spurt and half of those hoops came on 10-foot jumpers. Heinz added seven of his nine points in the run with three layins and a trio of free throws.
The Falcons carried a 54-19 lead into the final quarter and Jensen cleared his bench. The Chargers opened the fourth with a 10-2 run as Amherst struggled on both ends of the court. Jensen then put his starters back in for nearly two minutes before clearing the bench again.
"We had a little lull there in the fourth quarter," Jensen said. "I don't care what the score is, (the reserves) still have to get the job done."
Besides his 22 points, Page also grabbed 11 rebounds. Jesse Konkol and Tony Packer each had 10 points. Aanonsen led W-B with 16 points.
Defensively, the Falcons frustrated the Chargers with a mix of man-to-man and zone defenses. W-B twice went stretches of four minutes without scoring and couldn't find the basket for three minutes once.
"Generally I thought we did a decent job defensively," Jensen said. "We got caught in a few picks and things."