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Teams worked off the proverbial Thanksgiving holiday turkey in this season-opening basketball game, and the contest between non-conference - but neighboring school district opponents provided more offense than some "openers" - as coach Dan Burreson's Mineral Point Pointers got past coach Kevin Parman's Pecatonica Vikings 64-56 in a rare Saturday afternoon matinee game in Blanchardville.
The Pointers may well have won the game on the backs of two major offensive contributors - 6'5" senior post player Travis Steffes and his senior teammate, Dakota Poad. Steffes had 8 of his 19 in the third quarter for the victors and Poad hit from the outside and from inside, nailed five 3-pointers in the contest, was nine of 11 from the free-throw line (including 6 for 6 in the fourth quarter) and in the eyes of his coach, proved to be a bit of a medical marvel by scoring a game-high 28 in the season opener.
"Dakota Poad is just five weeks off of ankle surgery," said Burreson immediately following the game.
I knew he was capable of doing this but I didn't know he could do this today. It has taken him a little while to get back, but he sure showed up when the lights were on today," said Burreson. "And in the middle - we got some great play from Travis (Steffes). I thought we did a good job of getting the ball inside - where Travis is such a force and is going to be a force in there. When they (Pecatonica defenders) doubled down, he kicked it out and we hit our outside shots. Travis played really really well."
The Pointer coach also praised the contributions of other Pointers.
"Our point guard, Sy Saver, is a freshman, but he certainly doesn't play like one and he was very heady today out there in helping guide us. I felt Ian Ewers really did a good job for us defensively, until he fouled out, and I thought Logan Benish played hard - and we also got some good minutes out of Alex Schmitz and from Trevor Wendhausen. Sure, we have some areas where we need to improve, we picked up a couple fouls late that we did not need to commit, but overall, we played well, Pecatonica played well and has a nice team, and I guess the key was that we had a four-minute stretch or so there early in the fourth quarter were we picked up the effort on defense and were especially effective," added Burreson
Leading by 3 (46-43) Pecatonica turned the ball over on a pair of errant passes on its first two possessions of the fourth-quarter and the opportunistic Mineral Point squad quickly went on a 10-0 run to start the period, and in what was the most critical stretch of the game, held their hosts to just four points over the first 6.5 minutes of the final quarter.
For Pecatonica mentor Kevin Parman, he also was pleased with his team's effort, though disappointed with the loss.
"Those are games you always want to win - but as Coach Burreson and I talked about before the game, this was going to be a battle of two pretty good teams. I was happy with the effort that our kids put out there today and the things that we did - and a key for me was that I felt we did improve from our scrimmage that took place earlier. We are a senior oriented team, but were young at mind in a lot of ways," said Parman.
"We fell behind early today but then came back from being down in the first quarter and I was pleased to see us do that. We had pulled even before we give up that three pointer just before halftime. We made some mistakes down the stretch and will continue to learn. Steffes and Poad did a nice job for Mineral Point in this one, were difference makers and as for us, we battled, and another good point is that I thought we did a better job rebounding today than we did in our scrimmage."
Pec had fallen behind 9-0 after Poad's trey at the 2:43 mark of the opening quarter - but Matt Goldthorpe's 16 footer from the corner put the Vikings on the board for the first time this season, Karson Feller scored on a reverse backside rebound put-back basket and he added another hoop seconds later to cut Pec's deficit to 11-6 after one period.
Pec's Mitch Steinhoff and Sy Saver matched hoops in the final half minute of play in the first half - but Saver's trey at the buzzer gave the visiting team at 25-22 lead at intermission.
A Drew Schliem trey and a lay-up from Jon Hendrickson put Pec on top 46-43 going into the fourth quarter, before Mineral Point's 10-0 run to start the period set the pace for what was to come.
Two freshmen, Saver and Schliem making their prep debut, - both displayed their talents and both finished with 9 points in the contest.
On the day, Feller, a 6'4" senior, led Pec with 15 points and Tanner Kleppe, a 5'10" senior guard, chipped in with 14 more, including 4 hoops from beyond the arc.
The dean of Wisconsin prep boys' basketball coaches - Jerry Petitgoue, was one of four coaches scouting the Mineral Point - Pec game in Blanchardville Saturday - and his Cuba City Cubans will host Pecatonica Monday, Dec. 5.
Pecatonica travels to Argyle to battle coach Brandon Bakken's Orioles Friday night, Dec. 9.
Mineral Point 11 14 18 21-64
Pecatonica 6 16 24 10-56
Mineral Point (fg-ft-tp) Sy Saver 3-2-9, Dakota Poad 7-9-28, Logan Benish 0-3-3, Ian Ewers 0-3-3, Trevor Wendhausen 1-0-2,Travis Steffes 9-1-19. Three-pointers: Saver, Poad 5. Totals 20 18-24 64
Pecatonica (fg-ft-tp) Tanner Kleppe 5-0-14, Drew Schliem 4-0-9, J.J. Hogan 1-2-5, Matt Goldthorpe 1-0-2, Wyatt Massey 2-3-7, Mitch Steinhoff 1-0-2, Karson Feller 5-5-15, Jon Hendrickson 1-0-2. Three-pointers Kleppe 4, Hogan. Totals 20 10-13 56.
Jayvees: Pecatonica won 36-27