By Mark Miller
WisSports.net Editor
Unselfish to a fault at times in the past, Merrill junior Paul Jesperson is beginning to assert himself on the basketball court and the results have been impressive, to say the least.
After scoring 27 points last Friday in a 58-56 road loss to unbeaten and state-ranked Antigo, the 6-foot-7 Jesperson poured in a career-high 37 points Tuesday to lead the Bluejays to a 47-42 victory at D.C. Everest.
Jesperson made three-of-six attempts from three-point range, 12-of-18 shots from the floor and 10-of-11 from the foul line en route to his 37 points. He accounted for 79 percent of Merrill’s point total and is now just 43 points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.
“We were down 21-16 at halftime and played a flat first half,” Merrill coach Kurt Soderberg said. “Paul came out and asserted himself in the second half. He scored in a variety of ways as well. He posted up and scored, he scored in transition and he hit a nice pull-up three-pointer. His teammates also did a fantastic job of finding him.”
Jesperson scored 20 of his 37 points in the third period to help Merrill take control of the non-conference game. In addition to his strong offensive output, Jesperson had nine rebounds, one blocked shot and one steal.
Ranked No. 2 among state prospects in the class of 2011 by WisSports.net, Jesperson has received scholarship offers from Arizona State, Butler, Colorado State, Green Bay, Loyola, Milwaukee, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, San Diego and South Dakota State.
In addition, Marquette, Northwestern and Virginia Tech, among others, continue to show interest in the sharpshooting wing prospect.
Merrill improved to 14-5 with the victory over the Evergreens and appears to be peaking at the right time with the WIAA playoffs getting underway in a few weeks.
“The guys around Paul are learning how to play with him,” Soderberg said. “Paul has done more posting up and he’s running harder off of screens. He’s learning how to assert himself on the basketball court.”
Tags: merrill, paul jesperson
