Boys Basketball Alumni Round-up: January 9th

Many high school basketball standouts in Wisconsin go on to big things at the college level and in the pros, and this is our spot to recognize those athletes each week and help you keep up with what is going down on some of your favorite players from the past. If you have alumni news, please send it to Colton Wilson by 6 p.m. on Mondays.

Alumni Update

The college football season ended Monday as the national championship concluded the 2018-19 season. College basketball on the other hand is turning the corner into the second half of the season, and with it, comes more 1,000 point scorers and player of the week recognition from former Wisconsin high school alumni.

Sandy Cohen III didn’t score his 1,000th point. Nor was he recognized as a player of the week this past week. The former Seymour High School standout did have an incredible game though in UW-Green Bay’s 90-89 nail biter over Cleveland State. Cohen had a season high 30 points while also adding 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. He saved his best shot for the waning seconds though. With time running out and Green Bay down one, Cohen drove baseline and pulled up for a buzzer-beating, game-winning, double clutch shot.

Rochkhurst came away with a 72-69 win over Missouri S&T thanks in part to Eddie Muench. Unlike Cohen, Muench didn’t hit a game winner. The Ripon High School alum did however make three free throws to ice the game as he scored a team high 18 points.

As mentioned before, there were multiple alumni who were named player of the week in their respective conferences. One of those is Oak Creek alum Harrison Cleary. In Minnesota Crookston’s 76-57 win over St. Cloud State, Cleary had 28 points and 4 assists. He then added 29 points and 6 assists to lead Crookston to a 96-88 win over Minnesota Duluth. Harrison was named the Northern Sun-North Player of the Week. In his junior season, Harrison has already jumped into the top 15 in the NSIC in career scoring.

Stoughton’s Nick McGlynn and Sussex Hamilton’s Brady Ellingson have become quite a duo for Drake University. In an 82-77 loss to Evansville, McGlynn had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Ellingson poured in 15 points. McGlynn then had 21 points and 7 rebounds while Ellingson scored 10 points in an 85-74 loss to Loyola Chicago.

Josh Hau was one of those referenced earlier who surpassed the 1,000 point mark in his collegiate career at Concordia Wisconsin this past weekend. In an 81-78 win over Edgewood, the Slinger product scored 19 points. In the following, milestone setting 81-61 win over Marian, Hau, Jake Jurss (Sheboygan Lutheran), Jordan Johnson (Cedarburg), and Olalekan George (Milwaukee Lutheran) combined for 51 of those points.

The trio of alumni at Lindenwood had quite the week. In a 79-57 win over twentieth-ranked Missouri Southern, Chandler Diekvoss (West De Pere) had 24 points and 7 rebounds. Brad Newman (Brookfield Central) added 21 points, while Adam Pohlman (Neenah) had 12 points and 5 assists. Diekvoss then had 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists in an 85-76 loss to Pittsburgh State, while Pohlman added 13 points. Newman scored 18 points in the loss, but in doing so, crossed the 1,000 point mark in his collegiate career.

A trio of division 1 recruits recorded double-doubles this past week for their teams.

Madison Memorial’s Chris Knight had 19 points and 12 rebounds in Dartmouth’s 73-59 loss to Vermont. It was Knight’s third double-double of the season.

Alex Arians recorded his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds in South Dakota State’s 79-61 win over South Dakota. The former Madison Edgewood High School athlete also added 5 assists.

Chris Howell has been a double-double machine for Jackson State. In a 54-51 win over Alabama A&M, the former Milwaukee King standout recorded his sixth double-double of the season by scoring 17 points and hauling in 14 rebounds.

UW-Oshkosh is off and running this season with an 11-1 record. This past weekend in two victories, many in-state athletes aided those wins. Brett Wittchow (Laconia) had 27 points and 10 rebounds in a 96-70 win over UW-Platteville. Jack Flynn (Appleton West) had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Ben Boots (Kimberly) had 16 points and 6 assists. Adam Fravert (Marshfield) and David Vlotho (Luxemburg-Casco) combined for 27 points. In a 77-75 come-from-behind win over UW-Stout, Ben Boots took over. He scored a game-high 31 points, including the last 7 for Oshkosh. For his effort, Boots was named the WIAC Player of the Week.

Like UW-Oshkosh, Ripon College has many and more in-state recruits playing well for them. Cal Schultz of Muskego had a game high 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 steals in an 80-67 win over Lawrence University. Dodgeville’s Trent Jones added 16 points and 8 rebounds. Jones then fell 1 assist short of a triple-double as he had 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists in a 111-109 win over Grinnell College. Schultz had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tyson Tully (Reedsburg), Ryan Steffes (New Holstein), and Drew Jorgenson (Fond du Lac) combined for 50 points.

Tyrese Haliburten has been nothing short of spectacular in his freshman season at Iowa State. The former Oshkosh North standout currently leads the Big 12 in three-point percentage (48%), steals per game (2.21), is third in assists per game (4.1), and fifth in overall field goal percentage (56%). In a 69-63 win over Oklahoma State, Tyrese had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. He then had 14 points and 4 steals as Iowa State upset fifth-ranked Kansas 77-60.