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There were two reasons why the New Glarus boys basketball team was able to trip Mineral Point in the WIAA Division 4 Regional finals Saturday.
Zach Feller and Jaden Kreklow.
Both senior classmates played huge roles in figuring out how to stop the scoring machine from the SWAL and helped the Glarner Knights to a 68-57 win. New Glarus will now face Fennimore Thursday night at Reedsburg. The Golden Eagles got past Darlington 47-42 after losing twice to the Redbirds during the regular season.
Feller helped the Glarner Knights get rolling with a trio of three pointers and all of his baskets the first half. But that was not his biggest contribution.
That came on the defensive end of the court when he took the "Hoosiers" approach and guarded junior guard Ian Lindsey who leads the Pointers in scoring and is drawing major interest from major colleges. He guarded the prolific scoring machine so close that, like in that movie, could have detected his chewing gum flavor. He also held him without a basket as all eight of Lindsey's points coming from the free throw line.
Feller finished the night with 16 points, adding five free throws the second half after his 11 point first half.
Kreklow was in a zone shooting the basketball and scored on an array of shots from both inside and outside. He had 11 first half points, 10 the second and drilled a deep three late in the game that came from an estimated 25 feet.
Trevor Gassman, a 6-1 senior for the Knights, finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Pointers did all they could to close the gap in the waning minutes and it was two Lindsey free throws with under two minutes left that pulled his team to within six at 63-57.
The Pointers had to foul and when they put Knights senior Connor Siegenthaler on the line he made two free throws with 25 seconds left that pushed the lead to 10. With 13 seconds left Feller made one of two throws for the final margin.
With Lindsey receiving the brunt of the attention from the Knights two Pointers stepped up offensively, defensively and on the boards in an attempt to overtake them.
Wes Berget, who has become a force over the last part of the season, put in 20 points, plugged up the middle and hauled in 10 rebounds.
Garrett Wendhausen added 18 points, altered shots all night and added eight boards.
Berget refused to let the Knights run away early with 17 first half points. Wendhausen kept the Pointers in it the second half with 12 of his 18 points.
Lindsey scored for the first time with 2:20 left in the first half. He put in most of his second half free throw total in the last few minutes and was a perfect eight for eight.
The Pointers faced the Glarner Knights on January 7 and picked up a 72-57 win. They finished their season 17-7.
"Everyone has talked all year about how loaded our half-sectional was. Tonight it was two good teams going at it and New Glarus was a little better tonight," pointer coach Dan Burresonsaid. "We battled but it just wasn't enough."
He added, "Wes Berget completed a big weekend with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Hopefully this is something he can build off of going into the offseason and next year. There is not a better big man around when he plays the way he did this weekend. Garrett Wendhausen was outstanding in his last game scoring 18 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Rebounding is a matter of effort and no one plays any harder that Garrett night in and night out."
"Like I have said on a number of occasions I am really proud of this group and how they came together as a team through the course of the year. We will miss our three seniors: Garrett Wendhausen, Cade Steffes and Dawson Wiegman, but we have a lot coming back next year. This off season will be critical,"Burreson pointes out.
"I really want to thank the community for their support this weekend and all season. The crowds the last two nights were incredible," he concluded.
SCORE BY HALVES
MP 27 30 57
NG 37 31 68
BOX SCORE
MINERAL POINT 57: (fg-ft-tp) Berget 9-2-20, Lindsey 0-8-8, Watters 2-1-6, G. Wendhausen 8-2-18, Baehler 0-0-0, Filardo 1-0-2, Stumpf 1-0-3. Totals 21-13/19-57 Fouls-16 Fouled out-Watters
NEW GLARUS 68: Craker 0-0-0, M. Martinson 3-2-8, Feller 4-5-16, Schuett 2-0-5, Kreklow 7-4-21, Siegenthaler 2-2-6, Gassman 6-0-12 Totals 24-13/19-68. Fouls-22 Fouled out-M. Martinson
3 point goals:
MP-Stumpf 1, Watters 1
NG-Feller 3, Kreklow 3, Schuett 1