Still building after tough start to season, Lincoln Lutheran boys ride Puelz’s 28 points to win tournament | boys basketball

Junior Jonny Puelz contributed to that cause, scoring a game-high 28 points to help the Warriors (5-5) edge past Holdrege 77-63 in the Lutheran Holiday Tournament final.

It was a tough time for the Warriors to start the season, losing to some of the top teams in the state including Grand Island Central Catholic, Norfolk Catholic and Milford. Setting an 0-5 record, Lutheran got to work and finally found his own rhythm.

“I think we find each other,” Warrior first-year coach Jesse Bouwens said. “I mean, new coach, new team, we’re picking up healthy stuff and just having different things to do. At the beginning of the year, I can’t put so much at the beginning of the year. Now we have different pieces that we can go to offensively and defensively.

Part of that is down to Puelz’s scoring ability, which seemed to be everywhere. He scored 18 of his 28 points in the first half and shot 60% from the field, including one from three points.

“I think we’re really embracing our theme,” Puelz said of Lutheran’s five-game winning streak. “Every training we talk about it. We have to finish training like we have to finish games. And in those five games I think we finished very well, while in the first five we didn’t.