Bath at Fowler – – CMAC Boys Game of the Week – – The Bleacher Denizen – – December 21, 2022 – – by Chuck Krafft

Tonight, your Bleacher Denizen is getting back to basketball after a six day layoff. Because he participated in a play with the Audio Air Force, he missed last Thursday and Friday to rehearse and to provide music for the play. We did “It’s a Wonderful Life” as well as four short skits written by people who participate in our project. We basically do pre-television style radio shows in front of a live audience like they did back in the 1940s. To learn more about Audio Air Force, if you like, here is a link to their website.

https://audioairforce.com/?fbclid=IwAR3XO-DXaGUu7Cdme3qURL_6f8xfKRoWuT8ipD_h1jkzylYa2_Soi2FHoZc

I have provided music for almost every show in the last seven years and have had voice acting parts on roughly a third of them.

Of course, I played Friday night music while coming down with the flu and was in bed pretty much until this morning. I’m here and hopefully alert enough to keep track of these teams as the go up and down the floor pretty quickly – – especially in the eyes of an ailing, aging Bleacher Denizen! Thus wenteth the six missing days!!!

Tonight will be special. While the Fowler Eagles will be hosting the Bath Bees in a boys Freshman/JV/Varsity triple header, they will also be honoring the Fowler Eagles Girls Basketball Team at halftime. Your Bleacher Denizen covered all but one of their tournament games during the year.

The team rewarded me with a couple beautiful pairs of fun socks with music notes, etc. printed on them. They are great socks, and I thank the team for giving them. I’m wearing one of the two pairs tonight. I will certainly wear them, but also try to make them last. I cherish their thought. The whole girls’ basketball program has been really supportive and it means a lot to me!!

I got to the gym in time to watch the JV game. Fowler got off to an 8-4 lead after one quarter and used a huge twenty-six point second quarter to take a 34-6 halftime lead. They rolled to a 52-12 win.

Brady Smith and Brayden Teachworth led the Bath JVs with 4 points each. Kay Kreisler and Aden Briggs each tallied 2 points.

Ford Phillips led the victorious Fowler JVs with 14 points. Augustine Spitzley joined his teammate in double figures with 13 points. Nate Spicer added 8 points. Brady Feldpausch, Ben Kohagen and Gavin Luark each added 4 points. Jonah Thelen put in 3 points and Dylan Pline tallied 2 points.

Coach Gabe Sowa was generous with his time and provided me with this information about his boys team. It was fun recounting past times with Coach Sowa. I told him he was one of the first two coaches I ever interviewed doing a Bleacher Denizen article. I met him and Coach Todd Walden of Fulton in the 2011-12 season. I had covered Coach Walden’s team in the finals of the 2010-11 season. Because I don’t really have a sports background, it was intimidating; I had no clue what to ask these gentlemen. Both of them were really kind and actually led the conversation we had.

(They must have sensed my uncertainness and they bailed me out. After their help through that first one, it gradually got easier for me to get information for these articles from coaches.) By the way, both these fine men are still coaching varsity basketball after all these years!!

Devondre Chandler is the top player back from last year’s Bath Regional Champion team. He is an amazing athletic guard with the size, quickness, coordination and determination to cause another team to turn the ball over in many different ways at any time. However, he also has good size and jumping ability, so he is also able to cause havoc near the basket blocking shots and just playing tough intimidating defense. On offense, he is quicker and stronger than nearly any opponent, so he gets to the basket well; he can either score at the basket or dish the ball off to an open teammate.

Jacob Kuhn is a sophomore big guy who is a fine scorer and solid rebounder near the basket. The rest of the team has a lot of quick speedy players who defend with all they have.

When I covered Fowler a couple weeks ago, I was able to get this from Eagle Coach Kam Riley. Jacob Halfmann is only a sophomore, but in his second season as Fowler’s point guard. While he is a fine athlete with the quickness to defend well on the perimeter and the height to defend inside when necessary, he really stands out with his poise. Nothing seems to make him hurry or get worried.

(This is specially impressive to me because my days as a church league wannabe were filled with occasional bouts of panic followed by errors that belong in a slapstick comedy movie, not on a basketball court. Seeing Mr. Halfmann carry himself the way he does when he is still younger than almost everyone he faces is really impressive!)

He has skills above and beyond his ability to stay poised. He is a good three point shooter and an excellent ball handler who can get to the basket. He runs the offense making many fine passes and many fine decisions along with very few errors!

Nolan Stump is junior in his third year on the Fowler varsity. He is a confident shooter who shoots the three well and can hit the big shot. He also has an ability to get open near the basket and quickly convert passes from teammates into layups. Aaron Simon is a gifted shooter with excellent three point range. Zach Halfmann is a junior who provides another quality shot from the three point line. He is tall and athletic; he is a fine defender anywhere on the court.

Asher Koenigsknecht is an energetic sophomore perimeter defender who slashes to the basket well. Alex Halfmann, another sophomore in his second year of starting for the Eagles is the Eagle in the middle. He rebounds and defends well near the basket.

I guess that its close to time to report the game through the somewhat open window of an aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to escape church league when he attempted to “hoop” in the days of yore. While he was fine shooting at hula hoops that were laying on the ground, he was never completely prepared when his coach insisted that he shoot at these hoops that were ten feet high in the sky!!

Fowler wins the opening tap, but Bradlee Uhlmann quickly steals the ball for Bath. The Bees are assessed with a traveling violation. Fowler misfires on a three point shot from the wing. Alex Halfmann pulls down the offensive rebound for the Eagles. Devondre Chapman steals the ball from Fowler and whizzes down the court for a layup that gives the Bees the first two points of the game. Fowler misses a three pointer from the side. Cole Chamberlain drives and dishes to Jacob Kuhn, who is fouled on a layup and hits one of his two free throws to give Bath a 3-0 lead with 6:35 to play in the first quarter.

Devondre Chandler pulls down the offensive rebound from the missed free throw for Bath. The Bees miss a ten foot shot from the side. Max Parry steals the ball for the Bees. Zach Halfmann steals the ball for the Eagles. Fowler misses a driving layup. Zach Halfmann taps the ball away from Bath and half the Eagle team hits the floor to tie up the ball. (In this case, we are NOT counting the guys on the bench!!) The Possession Arrow ignores the skinned Eagle knees and decrees that Bath shall have the ball back.

Bath misses a three point shot from the corner. The Eagles miss a three point shot from the side. The rebound goes out of bounds and Fowler gets another opportunity. Fowler misfires on a threeball from the corner. Bath misses a layup. Aaron Simon passes to Zach Halfmann, who hits a three point shot from the corner for Fowler to tie the game at 3-3.

Alex Halfmann knocks the ball out of bounds; Bath retains possession. Devondre Chandler bounces a pass to Jacob Kuhn, who hits a layup to give the lead to Bath. Fowler misses a three point shot from the top of the key. Alex Halfmann pulls down the offensive rebound for the Bees. Fowler misses a three point shot from the side. Alex Halfmann gets another offensive rebound and passes to Nolan Stump, who hits a three point shot from the top of the key to give Fowler a one point lead. Devondre Chandler is fouled on a shot and makes two free throws to give Bath a 7-6 lead with 3:48 to play in the quarter.

Asher Koenigsknecht hits a ten footer off the dribble from the side of the lane to put Fowler back on top by one point. Bath turns the ball over. Jacob Halfmann drives from the side for a layup that gives Fowler two more points. Bath is assessed with a traveling violation. Fowler misses a three pointer from the side. Bath misses an eight foot runner from the side of the lane. Fowler misses a ten footer from the side of the lane on the fast break and fouls on the rebound. Devondre Chandler uses a dribble move to free himself in the corner. He launches and hits a threeball from the corner for the Bees to tie the game at 10-10.

Jacob Halfmann hits a layup for Fowler. Nolan Stump nearly steals the ball for the Eagles, but the Bees recover. Remington McCrimmon hits a high arching eight foot shot from the side for Bath to tie the game. Asher Koenigsknecht hits a layup for Fowler; he is fouled on the play and hits his free throw to give Fowler a 15-12 lead with 1:02 left in the first quarter.

Asher Koenigsknecht draws a charging foul from Bath. Brayden Bennett steals the ball for the Bees. Bath misses a twelve foot shot from the side of the lane and fouls on the rebound. Asher Koenigsknecht passes to Aaron Simon, who hits a three point shot from the corner just before the first quarter buzzer makes its presence known. Bath misses a heave at the buzzer.

After one quarter, Fowler has an 18-12 lead.

Bath has the ball to open the second quarter. Jacob Halfmann knocks the ball away from Bath and Alex Halfmann picks it up for Fowler. Jacob Halfmann drives, spins and hits a layup for Fowler. Bath misses a shot; Cole Chamberlain hits a putback for the Bees. Aaron Simon hits a two point jumper for Fowler to give the Eagles a 22-14 lead.

Bath misfires on a threeball from the corner. Fowler misses a driving layup. Alex Halfmann gets the offensive rebound for the Eagles. Fowler misses a layup. Bath misses a ten foot shot in the lane. Devondre Chapman’s fierce defense forces a Fowler traveling violation. Bath misses a layup. Asher Koenigsknecht drives and hits a six footer in the lane for Fowler to give Fowler a 24-14 lead.

Bath misses a layup. Jacob Kuhn fights hard and gets the offensive rebound for the Bees. Bath steps on the line and turns the ball over. Fowler misses a three pointer from the side. Alex Halfmann gets the offensive rebound for the Eagles. Fowler misses a ten foot shot in the lane, but Alex Halfmann gets another offensive rebound for the Eagles. Fowler misses a layup. Remington McCrimmon is fouled on a layup and hits two free throws for Bath to trim the Fowler lead to 24-16 with 4:37 to play in the first half.

Max Parry knocks the ball away from Fowler, but the Eagles are able to recover. Aaron Simon throws in a twenty-five point three point shot past the top of the key for the Eagles. Bath throws a pass out of bounds. Devondre Chandler steals the ball for the Bees; he rises, goes up and rises a bit higher before he throws down a thunderous dunk to trim the Fowler lead to 27-18.

Fowler is fouled handling the ball, but misses the first shot from a one and one free throw opportunity. The Eagles rebound the missed free throw, but miss a layup. Jacob Halfmann grabs the offensive rebound for Fowler and passes to Alex Halfmann, who is fouled on a layup and hits one of his two free throws to give Fowler a 28-18 lead with 3:19 left in the first half.

Bath misses a six foot shot from the side. Asher Koenigsknecht hits a fast break layup for Fowler. Bath is fouled, but misses the first free throw in a one and one situation. Bradlee Uhlmann gets the offensive rebound for the Bees. Cole Chamberlain is fouled and hits two free throws to shave the Fowler lead to 30-20 with 2:46 remaining in the first half.

Aaron Simon passes to Zach Halfmann, who hits a three point shot from the corner for Fowler. Asher Koenigsknecht steals the ball for Fowler. Aaron Simon hits a driving layup for the Eagles. Bath is fouled, but misses the first free throw in a one and one situation. Fowler is fouled and reciprocates by missing the first free throw in a one and one situation. With 1:50 to go in the half, Fowler has a 35-20 lead.

Nolan Stump steals the ball for Fowler and hits a fast break layup. He is fouled on the play, but misses his free throw. Cole Chamberlain is fouled and hits two free throws for Bath. Aaron Simon passes to Nolan Stump, who hits a three point shot from the wing for Fowler. Bath misses a three point shot from the corner. Alex Halfmann passes to Aaron Simon, who hits a driving layup for Fowler. Bath misses a three point shot from the wing at the buzzer.

Fowler has a 42-22 halftime lead.

Devondre Chandler leads Bath’s scoring at halftime with 9 points and Cole Chamberlain has 6 points.

Aaron Simon has 12 points at halftime to lead Fowler. Asher Koenigsknecht has 9 points, Nolan Stump has 8 points. Jacob Halfmann and Zach Halfmann each have 6 points.

Fowler had a wonderful halftime ceremony for the girls. I believe that they officially hung a banner on the wall to commemorate the 2022 championship! (I unfortunately had to work at the scoring table because my aging fingers did not keep accurate first half notes; I missed some of the ceremony.) However, it was a nice tribute and the crowd gave out some generous applause!

I was delighted because there was still enough time when the ceremony started because I had a chance to catch up with Mia Riley, who plays for Ferris State and her sister Emma, who was All State last year as well. Emma is recovering from an ankle injury she suffered in volleyball and has not played basketball yet this year, but she hopes to be back sometime soon. Mia has played in all but one of Ferris’s games. She averages playing 17 minutes per game while scoring 7.4 points per game. It looks like her basketball career is going well in college!

For those of us who are reading this and can’t hear the ceremony, I hope you will enjoy these two original Christmas tunes from my You Tube Channel.

This one is a religious one. I wrote the music nearly 35 years ago, but could never come up with good lyrics until about a month ago. Hopefully the time the music spent aging was worth it!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGipc4NwzN8

This one is a cynical Christmas parody of a cynical Christmas parody. It deals with filling information gaps related to Grandma’s unfortunate incident when she encountered some reindeer!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp3FW5dhL3E

I guess they are getting ready for the third quarter to start, so we should get back to basketball.

Fowler inbounds the ball to get the third quarter underway. Alex Halfmann bounces the ball to Aaron Simon, who hits a layup for the Eagles. Bath misses a layup, but Jacob Kuhn hits a putback for the Bees. Fowler misses a six foot shot in the lane. Max Parry passes to Jacob Kuhn, who is fouled on a layup. He hits one of his two free throws to trim the Fowler lead to 44-25 with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter.

Fowler misses a three pointer from the top of the key. Cole Chamberlain passes to Jacob Kuhn, who hits a layup for the Bees. Fowler misses a six footer off the dribble in the lane. Bradlee Uhlmann hits a fast break layup for Bath. Fowler misses a three point shot from the corner. Max Parry passes to Jacob Kuhn, who spins and hits a layup to chop the Eagle lead down to 44-31.

Alex Halfmann hits a layup for Fowler. Bath misses a ten foot shot from the side. Fowler misses a three point shot from the wing. Alex Halfmann gets his hand on the ball and Fowler gets a steal. Fowler misses a three point shot from the side. Bath is fouled on a fast break layup, but misses two free throws. With 4:15 left in the third quarter, the Fowler lead is at 46-31.

Devondre Chandler gets the offensive rebound for the Bees. Bath misses a layup. Nolan Stump hits a three pointer from the side for Fowler. Cole Chamberlain answers with a three point shot from the side for Bath. Fowler misses a threeball from the side. Cole Chamberlain drives from the side and hits a layup to cut the Fowler lead to 49-36.

Jacob Halfmann passes to Nolan Stump, who hits a three point shot from the top of the key for Fowler. Bath misses a layup. Alex Halfmann passes to Nolan Stump, who hits another three point shot from the top of the key for Fowler to give the Eagles a 55-36 lead.

Asher Koenigsknecht steals a Bee pass into the lane. Jacob Kuhn steals the ball back for Bath. Max Parry drives and dishes the ball to Devondre Chapman, who hits a layup for the Bees. Fowler misses a three point shot from the wing. Bath misfires on a threeball from the corner. Asher Koenigsknecht gets into the lane where he is fouled on a ten foot shot. He hits one of his two free throws to give Fowler a 56-38 lead with 41.7 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Sam Wonch passes to Remington McCrimmon, who hits a layup for Bath. Fowler misses a three point shot from the wing. Bath is not able to shoot before the third quarter ends.

After three quarters, Fowler holds a 56-40 lead.

Bath has the ball to begin the fourth quarter. Aaron Simon endures an arm bar from a Bath player and draws an offensive foul. Fowler misses a three point shot from the side. Zach Halfmann gets his hand on the ball, but Bath is able to recover and continue its possession. Grant Dunckel hits a ten foot shot from the side for the Bees. Fowler misses a layup. Bath misses a layup; the rebound goes out of bounds and the Bees get another opportunity. Remington McCrimmon hits a putback to trim the Fowler lead to 56-44.

Fowler misses a three point shot from the side. Devondre Chapman hits a fast break layup to cut the Eagle lead to ten. Sam Wonch and Remington McCrimmon clamp a ferocious double team on an Eagle player to force Fowler to call time out to save its possession. Jacob Halfmann inbounds the ball to Alex Halfmann, who drives, hits a layup, is fouled and hits his free throw to give Fowler a 59-46 lead with 5:58 left on the clock.

Devondre Chapman responds for Bath by throwing in a threeball from the wing. Fowler misses a layup. Cole Chamberlain drives the lane and hits a layup for Bath. He is fouled on the play, but misses his free throw. With 4:33 left to play, Fowler’s lead is down to 59-51.

Bath fouls on the rebound. Alex Halfmann makes a fine post move to free himself to score an Eagle layup. Alex Halfmann blocks a Bath shot; the Bees recover the loose ball. Nolan Stump steals a Bath pass. Devondre Chapman reaches behind a Fowler dribbler and knocks the ball out; Fowler retains possession. Devondre Chapman steals the ball and zips to the hoop for a layup to cut the Fowler lead to 61-53.

Devondre Chapman gets his hand on the ball again, but Fowler is able to save its possession. Fowler is fouled, but misses the first shot of a one and one opportunity. Bradlee Uhlmann passes to Jacob Kuhn, who hits a layup for Bath. Fowler is fouled, but misses the first shot in another one and one opportunity. Devondre Chapman drives and hits a layup to chop the Fowler lead to 61-57.

Fowler is fouled, but misses the front end of another one and one. Bath misses a driving layup; they commit their tenth foul of the half on the rebound and unfortunately for them, Devondre Chapman commits his fifth foul and is out of the game. Up until now Bath has had an incredible comeback; they have eliminated all but four points of Fowler’s twenty point lead! Alex Halfmann hits a couple free throws to give Fowler some breathing room at 63-57 with 1:07 left on the clock.

Bath misses a three point shot from the corner. Aaron Simon is fouled on the rebound and hits two free throws for Fowler. Jacob Kuhn hits a putback for Bath. Fowler runs the clock until Aaron Simon is fouled with 35.9 seconds left. He hits two free throws to extend the Eagle lead to 67-59.

Bath misses a six foot shot from the side of the lane. Jacob Halfmann is fouled and hits two free throws for Fowler. Cole Chamberlain is fouled on a jump shot with 9.9 seconds left and hits two free throws. Fowler runs out the clock.

The Eagles win the game by the score of 69-61.

Devondre Chapman led Bath’s heroic fourth quarter comeback and led the Bees (and all scorers as well) with 20 points. Cole Chamberlain supported his teammate with 15 points. Jacob Kuhn came alive in the second half and joined his teammates in double figures with 14 points. Remington McCrimmon added 8 points. Bradlee Uhlmann and Grant Dunckel each added 2 points.

Fowler had a balanced attack and placed four players in double figures. Aaron Simon led the Eagles with 18 points; Nolan Stump backed up his sophomore teammate with 17 points. Asher Koenigsknecht and Alex Halfmann each added 10 points. Jacob Halfmann scored 8 points. Zach Halfmann and tossed in 6 points.