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One of the most loved and respected basketball coaches--the late John Wooden--once said:
"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."
The Mineral Point boys basketball team may not have heard that quote before Saturday's game with a team that might just belong in another universe, but in the end, they lived it.
For half of the WIAA Division 4 State Tournament championship game with Whitefish Bay Dominican the Pointers didn't make it easy for the Knights that boasted the state's most sought after big man, 6'10" Diamond Stone. The Knights started a line-up of 6'10" Stone, 6'8" Garrison Goode, 6'2" Tywon Bressler Jr., 6'2" Jake Bennett and 5'9" Austin Moutry. They brought 6'7" Kostas Antetokounmpo and 6'4" Jon Morris off the bench.
The Pointers countered with 6'0" Sy Staver, 5'10" Turner Poad, 6'1" Alec Schmitz, 5-11 Joey Gorgen and 6'4" Tarek Oellerich. They brough 6'5" Jordan Kittleson off the bench.
Throw in the fact that Dominican had won three straight D4 state titles and the cards in the deck were not stacked in favor of the Pointers.
But all decks have to be shuffled and the dealer turned up some pretty good cards for the Pointers in the early going. They stayed within five in the first quarter and seven at the half.
"We can work with that," said senior guard Sy Staver, a four year starter at point guard and the team's scoring leader.
But Staver and coach Dan Burreson knew the Knights would come out fighting after the intermission.
They were right.
The Knights scored 13 seconds into the third quarter on a Bressler layup then Goode dropped in one of two free throws. Stone followed with a layup then fed Goode underneath for another score. Bressler then stole the ball and lofted it to Goode who threw down a dunk for a 9-0 run and a 44-28 lead.
Poad ended the drought with a deep three pointer but even with a layup and free throw by Staver, and single free throws by Oellerich and Schmitz the Knights led 51-36 after three.
A 24-13 scoring difference in the final frame led to the 75-49 finish and a fourth straight title for the Knights.
The Pointers stayed with the Knights and trailed by two with 2:58 left in the first quarter. Poad started it with a jump shot at 6:51 and Gorgen nailed a shot from the side 40 seconds later. Staver stopped a minor Knights run with a three pointer on an assist by Oellerich who kicked the ball out of the crowded middle. Gorgen and Schmitz hit shots in the quarter and Oellerich came out of the lane to drain a three point shot then added a couple throws to help the Pointers. They trailed 21-16 at the end of the first frame.
Staver took another kick out from Oellerich for a three pointer to start the scoring for the Pointers in the second frame. Before the quarter was finished Staver had another three pointer and the Pointers added layups by Poad and Kittleson. They trailed at halftime 35-28.
But the Knights, stacked with length, quickness and talent, ended up to be too much of a challenge to mount a defensive plan. The Pointers did frustrate Stone early with a double team but Moutry and Bennett opened it up from the outside with a trio of threes each. And, Goode took over for Stone with some throwdowns.
"It is tough to be in two places at once," Burreson said about trying to defend the Knights. "They have so many ways they can score."
Perhaps the biggest defensive play of the game came just before halftime when the 5-10 Poad stuffed the foot taller Stone and knocked the ball away. The Pointers tried to feed off that but the Knights could not be stopped.
The Knights had four players in double figures. Stone finished with 23 points, 15 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Bennett had 13 points with Moutry and Goode each getting 11. Moutry was the floor general with nine assists.
The Pointers again shared the ball as has been their trademark. Staver had 14 points to lead them and Poad added 10. Staver and Schmitz had three assists while Oellerich and Poad had two each.
The biggest difference in the final totals between the two team came in rebounds. The Knights grabbed 39 to 20 for the Pointers.
But in the general scheme of things all that matters for the Pointers is that they accomplished what they wanted by working hard and being what Burreson terms "a special group of guys that come along only once in a career."
It has been 41 years since a Mineral Point boys team had made a trip to the state tournament and who knows when the next trip will be.
But this year the team made it, electrified the town and all the surrounding area and had most of the Kohl Center pulling for the underdog.
Like sportswriter Dave Weedeward of the Janesville Gazette said, "Mineral Point is the best true Division 4 team in the state."
The Pointers, with much of the same line-up, had back to back one loss seasons going 24-1 last year and 27-1 this year. And, they got to bring home the "Silver Ball" which goes to the second best team in the D4 tournament.
When it comes to memories the Pointers have them too. Finishing first, second or being one of the four teams that make it to state provides them. The memories will be shared many times by countless people.
Staver, a four year starter, began his high school career in a game against Pecatonica. He ended it with being in the title game of the D4 state tournament playing against the top player in the state.
Like he said, "The time just flew by."
Those were good times and the Pointers would not have it any other way.
"You win with good people and these boys are good people," Burreson said. "We will reflect on that for awhile."
SCORE BY QUARTERS
D 21 14 16 24 75
MP 16 12 8 13 49
BOX SCORE
DOMINICAN 75: (fg-ft-tp) Goode 5-1-11, Stone 11-1-23, Moutry 3-2-11, Bressler Jr. 4-1-9, Bennett 5-0-13, Boothe Jr. 0-0-0, Morris 1-0-2, Moroder 0-0-0, Brown 0-0-0, Fuller 0-0-0-, Ferrici 1-0-2, Antetokounmpo 1-2-4, Jelacic 0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0 Totals 31-7/11-75 Fouls-14
MINERAL POINT 49: Oellerich 2-3-8, Staver 4-3-14, Gorgen 3-0-7, Poad 4-0-10, Schmitz 3-1-8, Kittleson 1-0-2, Wendhausen 0-0-0, Pfaff 0-0-0, Paradis 0-0-0, Blume 0-0-0, Toay 0-0-0, Eisenzimmer 0-0-0, Ryman 0-0-0. MacGilvra 0-0-0, Bidlingmaier 0-0-0 Totals 17-7/10-49 Fouls-9
3 point goals:
D-Moutry 3, Bennett 3
MP-Staver 3, Poad 2, Gorgen 1, Schmitz 1, Oellerich 2