---

Travis Steffes wasn't about to let his senior season slip away easily.
The 6-5 forward kept the Mineral Point Pointers in the game until Darlington pulled away with less than a minute to play in a hotly contested WIAA Division 4 Regional semi-final game on the Redbirds court Saturday. The Redbirds won 52-43.
Steffes put in 23 point, 14 in the second half and eight in the fourth quarter to all but turn the game in Mineral Point's favor. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
After the Pointers took a 4-2 lead on a Sy Staver basket and a 9-4 advantage on a Staver three pointer, the Redbirds came back to tie the game at nine. But, Steffes gave the Pointers an 11-9 cushion with a put-back basket to beat the first quarter the buzzer.
Mitchell Whalen and Cedric Flesher keyed a 14-4 Redbird run to start the second quarter but the Pointers responded with the last five points of the half to cut the Darlington lead to 23-20 at intermission.
Whalen and Flesher both sent home three pointers to extend the Redbird lead to 29-20 but Steffes put in six points during an 11-4 Pointer run that cut the lead to 33-31. But, a three pointer by Whalen and Brandon Hardyman's putback at the buzzer put the Redbirds up 38-31 after three frames.
Steffes got the Pointers within one with half a quarter left to play with four straight baskets from the low post. Two free throws by Ian Ewers after the Redbirds scored kept the score at 42-41 with 2:17 left. Flesher and Staver traded baskets to keep the one point margin intact with just under two minutes left but the Redbirds pulled away at the free throw line, making six of their last eight attempts.
Kent Miehe pulled down two key rebounds off missed free throws then went to the line himself with 36 seconds left and made a pair of free throws for a 48-43 Darlington lead. The Redbirds finished the game with an 8-0 run in the final minute.
Whalen and Flesher both had 19 points to lead Darlington and Hardyman added 12. Both teams made 18 baskets but six of Darlington's came from behind the arc while the Pointers had two three pointers.
The Pointers defended the middle well with eight blocked shots on the night.
"We said it would come down to the little things and it certainly did," said Mineral Point coach Dan Burreson. "They did more little things well than we did. In spite of that, it is a one possession game with less than a minute left to go. We just kept battling and battling and just kept playing one possession at a time to just came up short. This team all year showed great resiliency."
"Travis had another great night with 23 points and 8 rebounds and we got good performances from Sy Staver and Dakota Poad. Cory Schultz gave us good minutes off of the bench," said Burreson.
The loss ended the careers of five seniors on the Pointer squad.
"I really appreciate the efforts of all of our seniors: Logan Benish, Dakota Poad, Luke Radtke, Travis Steffes, and Kirk White," Burreson said. "Travis and Dakota were both three year starters and endured a 10 game losing streak to start the year two seasons ago. The seniors have helped bring the program back with 16 wins a year ago and 15 wins this season."
Looking ahead, Burreson sees good things for the Pointers.
"The future looks bright," he said. "We have a number of good young players in our program, great assistant coaches, outstanding fan support, a solid youth program with good people in charge and a supportive administration. Now it is up to the returning players to make the off season commitment."
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MP 11 9 11 12 43
D 9 14 15 14 52
BOX SCORE
MINERAL POINT 43: (fg-ft-tp) Staver 3-0/3-7, Poad 4-0-9, Ewers 0-2/4-2, Wendhausen 1-0-2, Steffes 10-3/5-23 Totals 18-5/12-43 F-15
DARLINGTON 53: Flesher 7-1-19, Whalen 6-5-19, McDonald 0-0-0, Hardyman 5-2-12, Wiegel 0-0-0, Miehe 0-2-2, McArthur 0-0-0, Heinberg 0-0-0 Totals 18-10/15-52 Fouls-13
3 point goals:
MP-Staver 1, Poad 1
D-Flesher 4, Whalen 2