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All Matthew Myers needed was a ball to go in the hole.
It took nine minutes but the Barneveld senior guard got the look he wanted and buried a three pointer through the same basket the UW-Madison Mens Badger basketball team uses.
Last year when the team made it to the state tournament, Myers drew plenty of attention from the Catholic Memorial defense and was held scoreless in the Eagles' two point loss in the semifinals.
But that wasn't going to happen this year. Not again, no way.
Myers took off for 17 points and helped the Eagles to a 72-52 win over Columbus Catholic and a spot in the WIAA Division 5 state title game.
Senior Mike Zouski and sophomore Malcolm Reed also got into double figures with 14 and 12 points. Senior Lucas Evans pulled down nine rebounds as the Eagles doubled up the Dons 44-22. Reed and Kauy Fargo both had seven boards with Fargo adding nine points, including the first two for the Eagles with driving lay-up.
The game was close for three fourths of the game. Barneveld held a 30-26 halftime lead, then after Myers and Ryan Dieringer traded three pointers and the score at 42-41 in favor of the Eagles Jonas Ignatius started the run that proved fatal to the Dons with a basket from underneath and a three pointer. Trey Laube's two free throws made it a 6-0 run and a 49-41 lead in less than a minute.
Reed, Myers and Zouski fueled an 11-0 run and two dive-on-the-floor and get-the-ball hustle plays by Lucas Evans and Fargo sent the lead to 19 for the Eagles. An eight for 12 free throw run closed out the win,
Dons coach Joe Konieczy said the big shots Matthew Myers hit and the defense by the Eagles made the difference.
"They didn't let us get into any rhythm," the coach said. "They were just better than us."
"They are coached to the hilt and we knew we had to work on defense," said Eagles coach Jim Myers. "We did a good job on their shooters and on offense we finished our shots."
"We take pride in our defense," Jim Myers said. "I am old school and truly believe defense wins championships. We can run up and down the floor if we have to but when we work so hard on defense I can play more players. I am a purist about defense."
"We knew we had to watch their shooters," the coach said. "We had a hand in their face all the time."
Impacting the Eagles all week was dealing with the death of Malcolm Reed's mother, Jen Lease.
Konieczy said the Dons spent the week praying for the Eagles and they would be cheering for them in the championship game.
Malcolm Reed said it was a very tough week but there was no question that he would play.
"Basketball got my mind off it and I know my mother would have wanted me to play," he said. "The team got me through it."
Jim Myers gave Malcolm credit for the way he had handled a very sad and difficult situation.
"Grown men in the pro level sometimes have to deal with something like this but Malcolm is a sophomore and had to do it," Myers said. "The team supported him all the way and they rallied around each other."
"Now we have tomorrow," Myers added. "To finish off the season at the championship game, I couldn't be happier. I am really proud of this team."
SCORE BY HALVES
Barneveld 30 42 72
Col. Catholic 26 26 52
BOX SCORE
BARNEVELD 72: (fg-ft-tp) Reed 44-12, L. Evans 3-0-6, Myers 6-0-17, Fargo 3-3-9, Zouski 5-4-14, Laube 1-2-4, Slaney 1-0-2, Ignatius 2-1-6, D. Evans 0-2-2, Vacha 0-0-0, Shatrawka 0-0-0, Roberts 0-0-0 Totals 25-16/24-72. Fouls-5
COL CATHOLIC 52: Payant 0-0-0, R. Dieringer 2-0-6, Malovrh 4-2-13, T. Fuerlinger 7-1-16, Schultz. 5-0-13, Mandel 1-0-2, Nystrom 0-0-0, Olson 0-0-0, Hutchinson 0-0-0, Taylor 0-0-0, Meece 1-0-2, Hansen 0-0-0, E. Dieringer 0-0-0, Bushman 0-0-0 Totals 20-3/4-52 Fouls-17
3 point goals:
B-Myers 5, Ignatius 1
CC-Malovrh 3, Schultz 3, R. Dieringer 2, T. Fuerlinger 1