Mineral Point Boys Shoot Lights Out Against River Valley in Route

By John Dalton

Mineral Points tough man-to-man defense and an 18-2 run to start the game helps the Pointers double up the score against visiting River Valley 82-42 Tuesday night.  Mineral Point would hit an uncanny seventeen 3-pointers in the contest in a game where eleven players scored.

Fresh off his 23 point performance last Friday against their win over New Glarus, Alex Ross would continue his hot shooting and along with teammate Jaxson Wendhausen, each would bury five 3-pointers in this contest.  Wendhausen led all scorers with 19 points while Ross added 16.  

River Valley would get shots off but just couldn’t find the basket early in this one.  “That’s been our M.O. this year.  When we shoot the ball at a decent clip we’re in games, but if the ball isn’t falling it becomes a little more difficult for us, we tighten up and we play more tense and don’t fly to the ball like we’re capable of doing,” said River Valley Head Coach Luke Thatcher following the game.  

Said Mineral Point Head Coach Dan Burreson, “We shot it well because we moved it well.  We caught the ball shot ready and it wasn’t by accident.  They have worked hard at it and did a really good job sharing the ball.”  

The Pointers defense did a nice job in the first half and after missed Blackhawk shots would push the ball down court quickly and find open guys either from beyond the arc or nice passing in the paint area that led to layups.  “First half defensively I thought we played pretty well and challenged everything in the first half.  Second half we let their shooters get loose a couple times but that’s going to happen, but that first half we set the tone”, Burreson would go onto say about his teams effort.

He praised his bench and their quality minutes noting that its his bench against his starters in practice that really gets his team prepared for each game.  

Said Coach Thatcher, “We know how talented Mineral Point is, they are very deserving of the number 2 rank in the State in Division 4.  They go deeper than most of the teams we’ve seen and certainly the deepest we’ve seen this year.  They put the ball in the hole.  They share the ball incredibly well.  They’re a very well rounded team.  It’s almost hard to believe that they’re only 3 games deep to compete at that level.”  

Both teams will open conference play this week.  Mineral Point will take its 3-0 record on the road this Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Southwestern.  River Valley will host Platteville Friday night.  Tip-off for that game is also set for 7:30 p.m. 

BOX SCORE

MINERAL POINT  37 – 45 – 82

RIVER VALLEY 14 – 28 – 42

Mineral Point (fg-ft-tp); Wendhausen 7-0-19, Ross 6-0-17, Sporle 3-0-8, Aschliman 3-0-8, Lindsey 3-1-8, Kennicker 2-2-7, Martin 1-2-4, Radke 1-2-4, Thousand 1-0-3, Vamstad 1-0-2, Dannenberg 1-0-2.

3-pointers; Wendhausen 5, Ross 5, Aschliman 2, Sporle 2, Lindsey 1, Thousand 1, Kennicker 1.

River Valley (fg-ft-tp); Pape 4-2-10, Thatcher 3-2-10, Nabbefeld 2-2-8, Bailey 2-1-6, Heiser 1-0-3, Meyers 1-0-2, Olson 1-0-2, Fradette 0-1-1.

3-pointers; Thatcher 2, Nabbefeld 2, Bailey 1, Heiser 1.