Schwartz the latest to hit 1,000; WLA beats Omro

It's how Gannan Schwartz has done it his entire career.

With his devastating first step.

The Winnebago Lutheran junior scored his 1,000th point on Tuesday night with one of his trademark drives to the hoop, where he got fouled and finished through the contact.

Schwartz's achievement came on a night when WLA needed a big performance to earn a 66-60 road Flyway win against Omro.

As he has so often, he stepped up and scored a game-high 24 and ran the offense for the Vikings.

"It means a lot," Schwartz said. "I've been working hard, and to have all my family here, it just means a lot that they all support me."

Schwartz is the eighth player in program history to reach the mark. In the process, he passed his brother Donovan, who scored 1,006 career points. Donovan graduated in 2020.

Gannan said he has modeled his game after his older brother and that he knows he was watching despite not being able to attend. Donovan is in chiropractic school in Port Orange, Florida.

"I've always looked up to him," Gannan said. "I went to all of his games. My game reflects off of his, I do a lot of what he did. He was really fast and drove, and that's the main part of my game as well.

"He was probably watching in Florida. If he would've been here, I know he would have loved it. It means a lot that I have him."

Craig Schwartz has been on the basketball coaching staff for both Donovan's and Gannan's careers. He said he had hoped his sons would have successful careers, but the experience has far surpassed his expectations.

"It is really special to have two kids hit the 1,000-point mark," Craig said. "I didn't envision that this would happen, to be honest. I wanted my kids to be able to have a good high school career, I didn't envision both of them to score 1,000 points. It's pretty awesome."

Craig said he got a front row seat to the work that Gannan has put into the game to be able to achieve everything he already has.

"I can't tell you the countless, countless hours we were at WLA's gym, just him and I, hours at St. John's, him just putting up shots, it's something he's worked at his entire life," Craig said. "I'm so proud of him and happy for him, he definitely deserves it."

WLA coach Mason DeNoyer is in his first year at the helm of the program. He said is was quickly apparent what makes Gannan so special, whether in athletics, school or anything else.

"If I would have one word to describe Gannan Schwartz, it would probably be that he's just a full-on, true competitor," DeNoyer said. "Everything he does; he's a successful student, he's a successful basketball player, football player, he made it [to state] in track as a sophomore, the kid is a competitor.

"He's never satisfied and he works his tail off. I know people will see the scoreboards and box scores, but they don't see the work he puts in on the side."

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Game story.

WLA found itself in a familiar place last night with about 1:23 left, for the Vikings led 63-55. It was eerily similar to Saturday's late lead against No. 6 Kohler that they let slip away.

The Vikings weren't perfect, for they had a missed bonus free throw and a turnover, but they made just enough plays to secure the win.

DeNoyer said the coaching staff needs to prepare the team better for late-game situations.

"We've just got to learn to finish games better," DeNoyer said. "You know what, that's on the coaches, we've got to get these kids prepared better. Those are things we've got to work on."

The past two games, WLA (7-6 overall, 5-2 in Flyway) has turned to freshman Hudson Henry to take some of the ball-handling load off of Schwartz.

Henry made several key plays down the stretch, helping the Vikings break Omro's pressure. He also contributed 7 points, including a pair of aggressive drives to the hoop.

"The No. 1 thing is that he is coachable," DeNoyer said. "We brought him up and what does that say about a kid, who's only played in two and a half games, that he's in the game in crunch time? It's because he's a true competitor and he's tough."

Omro (7-6, 3-5) was without its offensive leader Mason Huth, who is averaging 17.1 points and 4.7 assists per game.

Schwartz said he knew Omro would still be a tough, physical opponent.

"Every win in the conference, it's hard, it's physical, it was very physical tonight," Schwartz said. "We need to win all these games.

[Huth] is a great player, just because he wasn't there, that doesn't mean it was going to be easy. We still worked hard and did what we needed to do to come out with a win."

That physicality and intensity came to a head in the first half when Omro's Lucas Kasuboski slung WLA's Sam Ferguson to the ground after the whistle. He was not assessed a technical foul.

WLA's best stretch came over 4:20 of the second half when it went on a 13-5 run to open up a 61-48 lead, its largest of the game.

PHOTO GALLERY: WLA at Omro boys basketball - 1/28/2025