Boys tally 24th straight win at home as Heise records 2,000 career points

Nathan Heise scored 34 points, including the 2000th of his decorated career as Lake City won its 24th straight home game over Plainview-Elgin-Millville 71-59 last Thursday night at Lincoln High School. Brady Schurhammer added a career-high 11 points as the Tigers improved to 16-1 overall on the season.
Heise scored the first four points of the game and helped the Tigers open on an 11-5 run over the first 4:27 of the contest. Schurhammer scored five straight points as Lake City had control early on.  The Bulldogs hung around as they opened the game three of four from three-point range and sliced the Tigers lead to 16-15 with 11:42 remaining in the opening half.
Five quick points by Heise pushed the Lake City lead back to six before the Tigers would miss four straight field goal attempts and commit two turnovers as the Bulldogs pulled within 26-22 with five minutes to play until intermission.
Schurhammer capitalized on the Bulldogs defensive efforts to limit Lake City’s potent three-point shooting and scored all 11 of his points in front of halftime.  Heise scored the final five points of the half to cap a brilliant opening 18 minutes that saw him score 18 points, collect seven rebounds and dish out four assists as Lake City enjoyed a 39-28 lead at the break.
A pair of free throws by Heise with 14:38 to play gave Lake City a 47-32 lead and it appeared as though the Tigers might run away with the victory but the gritty Bulldogs squad fought back, trimming the lead down to 11 with 12 minutes remaining.  
Jake Wohlers scored for the first time in the game on a key three-pointer to shift momentum before Heise tipped an errant pass and threw down a two-handed dunk in transition to energize the crowd.  
On the ensuing Lake City possession history was made as Heise drove the left side of the lane and scored a layup to become the first player in school history to reach the 2000-point plateau.  Heise’s teammates mobbed him in the lane and he received a nice ovation from the crowd, notching a major milestone at home for the first time in his career.
Reid Gastner had a put back basket with 6:35 to play that gave Lake City a 61-45 lead before the Bulldogs staged one final rally.  Four made free throws preceded a driving basket by Conner Schumacher that sliced the Tigers lead to 10 with 1:30 to play.  
Carson Matzke drilled a pair of clutch free throws with 1:19 to go that all but ended the hopes of a victory by the Bulldogs.  Heise added another dunk in transition on an assist from Jake Wohlers before Justin Wohlers competed the scoring with a pair of free throws.  
Heise finished 13 of 18 from the field, including an impressive 11 of 13 mark inside the arc.  He added nine rebounds, four assists a block and a steal to go along with 34 points on a historic night.  Gastner had 10 points, six rebounds and two assists, while Schurhammer had two rebounds and an assist to go along with his 11 points.
Justin Wohlers contributed nine points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Jake Wohlers had three points, three rebounds and an assist as he was a focal point of the Bulldogs defensive efforts. Lake City had another unusually poor night shooting the ball from long distance, making just five of 19 attempts.  The Tigers fared much better closer to the hoop, making 21 of 30 attempts inside the arc and 14 of 18 free throws.
Lake City maintained a 29-22 rebounding edge and an 8-6 advantage in second chance points.  The Tigers also held a 14-9 edge in points off turnovers.
Schumacher led PEM with 22 points, three rebounds and three assists.  Gunner Ramthun had a strong game for the Bulldogs as well as he finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.  PEM’s leading scorer Blake Herber was limited to just 11 points.   The Bulldogs made five of 17 attempts from beyond the arc and 19 of 32 shots from two-point range.  PEM fell to 12-6 overall on the season.