FOWLER – Even with four league games remaining, the matchup between the Pewamo-Westphalia and Fowler boys basketball programs on Thursday evening was essentially for the CMAC regular-season title.
The Pirates were undefeated in league play, beating Fowler earlier in the season when senior star guard Grady Eklund became P-W’s all-time leading scorer. For the Eagles, P-W was the only blemish on its record, league or otherwise.
And while the Pirates led throughout in the first meeting, it was Fowler who jumped in front of this one, leading by as many as 11 in the first half and taking a five-point lead into halftime.
But on the shoulders of Eklund, the Pirates would mount a second-half comeback to all but clinch the CMAC title with a 55-46 road win.
“It felt like a district or regional game in this atmosphere, and our guys faced some adversity with Fowler playing well and hitting some early 3s,” P-W coach Dominic Schneider said. “It’s all about how you bounce back. You could see how much it meant on both sides tonight, and we had to step it up a bit in order to comb eack.”
Eklund had 28 points – 18 of them coming during P-W’s second-half comeback – to lead all scorers. Fowler’s Dylan Pline finished with 19 points to pace the Eagles.
For Eklund and the five other members of P-W’s senior class, they finish their high school careers having never lost to Fowler on the hardwood.
” It’s pretty cool, and it means a lot to go from my freshman year with my brother and now here as a senior to come here and win,” Eklund said. “Towards the end of the second quarter, I got to working on my game and wanted to put it on my back. Put it on me, and if we lose, we lose, but thankfully we came out on top.”
P-W (14-2) will host Dansville on Feb. 10, while Fowler (16-2) will play at Potterville.
Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on X @Nathaniel_Bott
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: P-W basketball continues CMAC dominance, sweeps season series with rival Fowler
Reporting by Nathaniel Bott, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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