Teammate Pothast, South’s Govek also make all-conference

Sheboygan North senior basketball player Brent Widder got home Monday and his father congratulated him.

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “He told me I made the (all-state) honorable mention team. I’m like, ‘really?’

“It was kind of interesting, because a lot of my friends knew even before I did. So it was kind of a surprise for me and was pretty surreal.”

The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association selected Widder to its Division 1 team a few days after he was named the player of the year in the Fox River Classic Conference.

“Brent’s a special kid as far as what he brings to the table,” North coach Eric Worth said. “Not only can he score and shoot it and attack and all that stuff, but it’s kind of his competitive nature. He goes and gets it, whatever he sets out to do. I mean, he’s a Division I baseball player. He doesn’t wait for someone to do it for him. When you have your most talented kid as the hardest worker on the floor, I think that’s a recipe for the recognition he ended up getting.”

Widder, a University of Evansville baseball recruit, averaged 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game and played shooting guard, forward and could also bring up the ball.

He was selected to the league’s all-defensive team, too, in helping North finish second in the conference standings with a 15-2 record (18-6 overall).

“I think it was all that I expected it to be,” Widder said. “I think a lot of our goals were reached, except for some of them – we fell short of winning conference. Personally, I made the season all that it could be and I don’t regret anything.”

Added Worth: “He’s a dream to coach. It was funny, on Senior Night he says ‘I don’t want to be a senior.’ I said, “I don’t want you to be a senior either.’ He’s extremely coachable, anything you tell him he’s willing to do. He was our leader. It’s going to be tough replacing a kid like that.”

Also making the all-conference team was senior teammate Sawyer Pothast.

He earned a spot on the second team after finishing second to Widder in scoring with 15 points per game.

Sheboygan South junior Josh Govek earned first-team recognition thanks to averages of 25 points, three rebounds and three assists per game.

He also become his school’s all-time leader scorer this season, surpassing a record that stood since 1977.