Western Dubuque, Haldeman off to impressive start

MARION - He was one of the last two players out of the locker room Tuesday night and had his hands full with some team equipment he was carrying back to the bus.

That's being conscientious.

'See that. He's our team manager, too,” Western Dubuque boys' basketball coach Dennis Geraghty said of Spencer Haldeman.

The 6-foot-2 senior guard did his usual scoring thing, going for a game-high 25 points as the Bobcats beat Marion, 64-39, in a season opener. But it's the other things, on an off the court, that make the Northern Iowa signee so special.

He's smart, savvy, can shoot it, pass it. And he isn't above lugging around stuff to make sure it gets back to Epworth.

'It's a good feeling always to win the first game,” said Haldeman, who went off for 44 points in a Class 3A district final loss last season to eventual champ Dubuque Wahlert. 'Our team chemistry is better than last year, I think. That's a big thing for our team, especially with all the experience we have coming back from last year.”

'You know, he is such a great passer, he can shoot it from anywhere, and he has gotten so much stronger,” Geraghty said. 'He finished a couple of drives tonight where last year he would have gone down on the floor. He's that much stronger. Just a great kid, a fun kid to coach.”

A nightmare to coach against.

'He's smart, creates contact to draw fouls, where he shoots 90 percent,” said Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid. 'He can rise up and shoot the jumper. He has different speeds, and he has one very fast speed.”

The Indians hung around for awhile and were down just 33-22 at the break, but WD scored the first 16 points of the second half to pull away. Forward Nolan Baumhover added 11 points and snatched 14 rebounds for the Bobcats.

Guard Cole Otting (10 points) gives Geraghty quite the three-headed monster. Western Dubuque has moved up to 4A this season, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because it avoids Wahlert.

'I was pleased defensively,” Geraghty said. 'I don't know if this group has ever held anybody under 40 points, which is why they were cheering so hard at the end of the game. If we can just get some pride in our defense, which we didn't have enough of last year, I think we're going to be OK.”

Jacob Manderscheid, the coach's son, led Marion with 13 points. The Indians shot 32 percent from the field.

'We're a work in progress, and I knew that coming in,” Mike Manderscheid said. 'We will play hard. We're not necessarily where we want to be defensively. We've just got to get a little smarter on the offensive end, and I think we'll be OK.

'Now were we playing a pretty good team tonight? Yeah. We were playing a pretty good player, too.”

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AT MARION

WESTERN DUBUQUE (64): Jacob Westhoff 3-6 2-2 8, Nolan Baumhover 4-10 3-3 11, Cole Otting 4-10 0-0 10, Spencer Haldeman 8-10 6-6 25, Bryce McAndrew 1-3 0-0 2, Luke Pothoff 2-3 0-0 4, Ben Burds 0-1 2-2 2, Quinn Ronek 0-1 0-0 0, Tommy Kane 0-2 2-2 2, Dylan Gotto 0-1 0-0 0, Frank Brehm 0-0 0-0 0, Beau Kramer 0-0 0-0 0, Chaz Bergfeld 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Gansen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-47 15-15 64.

MARION (39): Derek Smith 1-5 1-2 3, Cody Alberts 1-2 0-0 2, Baylor Fish 1-6 2-2 4, Craig Engle 1-11 2-3 5, Jacob Manderscheid 5-9 2-2 13, Ryan Whalen 1-2 1-2 3, Noah Walter 1-2 0-0 2, DeShaun Quinn 2-4 1-2 5, Devin Quinnn 1-2 0-0 2, Skylar Cook 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Holt 0-0 0-0 0, Elijah Duval 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-44 9-13 39.

Halftime - Western Dubuque 33, Marion 22. 3-point goals - Western Dubuque 5-8 (Otting 2-4, Haldeman 3-3, Ronek 0-1), Marion 2-8 (Engle 1-5, Manderscheid 1-3). Rebounds - Western Dubuque 29 (Baumhover 14), Marion 23 (Smith, Devin Quinn 5). Total fouls - Western Dubuque 13, Marion 14. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Western Dubuque 11, Marion 15.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com