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It would have been easy for the Mineral Point boys basketball team to accept defeat.
After all, Southern Door, like the Pointers, was unbeaten on the year heading into Tuesday night's championship game of the Mineral Point tournament December 30. The Eagles are also a larger school and play in Division 3.
The Pointers showed everyone they do not take the easy route.
After holding an early lead, Mineral Point, ranked #2 in the latest Division 4 Associated Press state poll, had to rally from eight down halfway through the fourth quarter to earn the 60-54 win and send Southern Door home with their first loss of the year.
The Pointers opened the game with a 14-5 run that saw six points from Tarek Oellerich on the inside. Sy Staver drilled three first quarter three pointers to help the home team lead 17-9 at the end of one.
The second quarter belonged to the Eagles as the visitors went on a 12-0 run with four points each from Trevor Hawkey, Mitchell Gerend, and Mitchel Neubauer while holding the Pointers scoreless for seven minutes. Alec Schmitz ended the Mineral Point drought with a three pointer at the horn to make the score 24-23 in favor of Southern Door at the half.
Point retook the lead on two free throws from Schmitz to start the third, but Southern Door responded with an 11-3 run to go up 35-28 with 3:35 left. Five of those points during that run came courtesy of Nicholas LeCaptain. Mineral Point rallied with an 11-4 stretch to finish the frame that saw a three each from Staver and Schmitz, as well as an old-fashioned three point play from Turner Poad, to tie things up at 39 all with eight minutes to go.
The Eagles regained momentum by starting the fourth with an 8-0 burst that seemed to put them in control with 4:47 left in the game. Starting at the 2:06 mark, Staver went on an 11-0 run by himself, capped off by a key charging call on Hawkey that resulted in a technical foul on the Eagles' coach and two subsequent free throws with 51 seconds left that put the Pointers up five. Any hope of an Eagle rally was again halted by an intentional foul call as Staver hit the deck hard on a break away layup attempt. Neubauer tried to keep things interesting with a three for Southern Door with 19 seconds to go, but Poad provided the final dagger with two free throws.
The Eagles had three players in double figures--Neubauer with 18, Gerend added 16, and LeCaptain notched 12.
Staver led all scorers with his 24 point performance. Joining him in double digits were teammates Oellerich and Schmitz with 11 each, as well as Poad with 10.
"Our kids really battled tonight," said Pointer coach Dan Burreson. "A lot of people might have counted us out in the fourth quarter, but we didn't count ourselves out. Winners find a way to win. We just kept competing."
"I think our press caused some good things to happen, and we weren't about to be denied. It helps that we have kids that have been through this before. Our seniors have a lot of varsity experience."
"Our rally started on the defensive end. Both teams have kids that can make shots. Joey Gorgen had a nice game for us defensively, and Sy was great on both ends of the court. I think we expect that out of him, but he even went above and beyond tonight. Alec hit some big shots, and the team as a whole had some big free throws throughout the game," said the coach.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
SD: 9-15-15-15--54
MP: 17-6-16-21--60
BOX SCORE
SOUTHERN DOOR (fg-ft-tp) 54: Hawkey 0-6/6-6, LeCaptain 5-0-12, Gerend 6-4/5-16, Klaubauf 1-0-2, Neubauer 8-0-18. Totals: 20-10/11-54. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Klaubauf. Three pointers: LeCaptain 2, Neubauer 2.
MINERAL POINT 60: Staver 7-4/6-24, Kittleson 1-0-2, Gorgen 0-2/3-2, Oellerich 5-1/1-11, Poad 1-8/9-10, Schmitz 3-2/3-11. Totals: 17-17/22-60. Fouls: 11. Three pointers: Staver 6, Schmitz 3.