Halverson, Crubaugh-Lockard combine for 50 points, Dodgers down River Valley

By John Dalton

Dodgeville’s Jayce Halverson and Bryce Crubaugh-Lockard were tough to stop on Thursday night in a home conference game against River Valley as they scored 26 and 24 points respectively to lead the Dodgers over the Blackhawks 69-53.  

River Valley won the first contest between the two teams 63-60 back in early January and the Blackhawks jumped out to an early 7-1 early in the second match thanks to a 3-point hoop by Lucas Klein and baskets by Sam Pape and Caleb Drachenberg.  

But Crubaugh-Lockard quickly turned the tide with two steals that he converted into baskets and he then hit a 3-point shot to cut the River Valley lead to 9-8.  The Blackhawks went up 13-10 after a basket in the lane by Keagan Heiser, but then it was Halverson’s turn.  He hit a 3-point shot to tie it, hit two free throws to take the lead, and had a bucket in the lane and his 7-0 run put the Dodgers up 17-13, a lead they would not relinquish the balance of the game.  

The rest of the first half stayed tight.  River Valley tied it at 20 after a Quincy Blakley bucket in the lane.  But the Dodgers ended the half on a 6-1 run with hoops by Halverson, Crubaugh-Lockard, and John McGraw, and led 26-21 at the intermission.

In the second half, it was more of the same for Dodgeville.  Their pressure defense forced 24 turnovers on the night which led to fast-break baskets.  Halverson and Crubaugh-Lockard scored early and often as they both poured in 15 points each in the second half.  As a team, the Dodgers shot the ball well from the free-throw line hitting 16 on 19 attempts.  

The Dodgers were never really threatened after Dodger Brock Fockler hit a corner 3-point shot that put them up 43-33.  Each time the Blackhawks would score, the Dodgers had an answer.  Halverson hit four, 3-point shots on the night, three of those in the second half.  

“It was a really good performance tonight, the energy level was just outstanding,” said Dodgeville Head Coach Matt McGraw following the game.  “We came out and didn’t initially press until after a couple of possessions, but then we put it on, and boy, did we take them out of their game plan.”

“Tip your hat to Dodgeville,” said River Valley Head Coach Luke Thatcher.  “They made the adjustments from the last game, I thought they did an outstanding job pressuring the ball.  They turned us over 24 times and we had a really hard time getting into the flow on the offensive side of the basketball and once we did break the press, we were forced into rushed shots. We got hurried, and that isn’t our style,” he said.  

McGraw said, “We planned to make them uncomfortable and our guys did a good job on that tonight.  When we upped our pressure on the wings, we got tips which made it hard to get it in there and our big guys battled.  We were missing one player who plays in the post tonight, I thought Sawyer Garthwaite came in and did a lot of really good things, and our normal two of Andrew (Hesseling) and John (McGraw), they’re undersized, but boy do they battle, and that was a big key for us getting the win tonight,” he said.

Both the Dodgers and Blackhawks are 4-4 in SWC conference play.  Dodgeville hosts Platteville on Friday, February 21st and they travel to Cuba City on Monday, February 24th.  Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. 

The Blackhawks travel to Prairie du Chien on Friday, February 21st, and visit Darlington on Monday, February 24th.  Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m.

For video highlights of this game visit the Dodgeville Chronicle Facebook page.  

BOX SCORE

Dodgeville   26 – 43 – 69

River Valley 21 – 32 – 53

Dodgeville (fg-ft-tp); Jayce Halverson 9-4-26, Bryce Crubaugh-Lockard 9-4-24, John McGraw 2-6-10, Brock Fockler 1-0-3, Sawyer Garthwaite 1-1-3, Andrew Hessling 1-1-3.

3-pointers; Halverson 4, Crubaugh-Lockard 2, Fockler 1.

River Valley (fg-ft-tp); Sam Pape 3-5-11, Caleb Drachenberg 4-2-10, Hughson Thatcher 4-0-10, Lucas Klein 3-0-9, Quincy Blakley 2-0-4, Keagan Heiser 2-0-4, Jackson Thatcher 0-3-3, Ayden Hill 1-0-2.

3-pointers; Klein 3, Hughson Thatcher 2.