January 23, 2025 at 2:05 p.m.
Pointers fall from unbeaten ranks
By John Dalton
Despite being down by 19 points in the second half Friday night, the Mineral Point boys’ basketball team showed a lot of grit and determination coming back and taking the lead with thirty seconds left after a Jaxson Wendhausen 3-point basket 77-76. But Southwestern guard Everett Droessler hit a corner 3-point bucket to take back the lead 79-77. With 13 seconds left, the Pointers were unable to get a good look at a shot as they lost their first game of the season.
The Pointers were #1 in last week’s WIAA Division 4 rankings. Wendhausen started the scoring with a 3-point shot for the Pointers, which was followed by a 3-point hoop by Tucker Dannenberg and a Jacob Phillips hook shot from the lane and an early 8-2 lead.
Droessler would tie the game after a 3-point basket, and a bucket and one. It would be a see-saw game for much of the first half with both teams raining down 3-point shots from all over the court, 15 in the first half alone. Eli Lindsey’s 3-point bucket from the corner gave the Pointers a 31-24 lead with under 8:00 to play in the first half. Lindsey would hit another from the corner later giving the Pointers a 38-31 lead with 3:00 to play.
But Mineral Point stayed stuck on 38, and Southwestern went on an 11-0 run to end the half, thanks in part to a 3-point shot by Aiden Keleher, two buckets by Carsen Splinter, and a hoop by Caden Demuth and Droessler.
The drought continued in the second half for the Pointers as they would not make a basket until Lindsey made a baseline hoop at the 12:30 mark. In the meantime, Southwestern was building a big lead. Keleher had the hot hand early hitting three, 3-point shots to start the half. Buckets by Austin Furlong and Demuth helped build the lead to 19.
The Pointers, forced to press and pressure the ball, clawed their way back into the game after a Drew Aschliman bucket in the lane. Dannenberg then blocked a shot, Lindsey grabbed the ball and found Aschliman on a fast break bucket cutting into Southwestern lead 67-58. Aschliman led all scorers in the game with 22 points.
After a missed Wendhausen shot, Pointer Keaton Dempsey was in a good position for the rebound. He made the shot and was fouled. His free throw cut the lead to 68-63.
But Droessler hit another bucket in the lane for the Wildcats, and after a missed Pointer basket, it was Keleher from long range again putting Southwestern up 73-64. Keleher led Southwestern with 21 points, and Droessler had 16.
Southwestern led 76-68 with under two minutes left in the game when Wendhausen connected on another 3-point shot. He would score again after a Wildcat turnover on a drive to the hoop, and after a missed Wildcat shot, he gave the Pointers the lead, 77-76 on a 3-point bomb with under 30 seconds left in the game.
But after a Southwestern timeout, the Wildcats worked the ball around when Furlong found Droessler in the corner who hit all net on his 3-point shot as the Wildcats regained the lead 79-77. Mineral Point had 13.2 seconds to work with, but a tough Wildcat defense forced the Pointers into a bad shot by Aschliman that didn’t come close to the rim and Southwestern handed the Pointers their first loss of the season.
Mineral Point Head Coach Dan Burreson, “They (Southwestern) shot it really well. We could have guarded better in the first half but I don’t think it was one of our better defensive efforts. But credit to them, they made a lot of shots,” he said. “A lot of different guys made shots when they needed it. So you have to tip your hat to them. They got a lot of clean looks that gave them a lot of confidence.”
“But what a comeback by our guys. I’m really proud of how they battled back and hopefully, we’ll learn from this. I think last year when we got knocked off a couple of times, we learned from it,” Burreson said. “We’ve been good defensively all year, but defense has to be a constant, and we weren’t quite as good defensively as we needed to be tonight.”
Up next for Mineral Point is a game at Boscobel on Thursday, January 23rd with a scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time. They will host Belleville on Saturday afternoon January 25th. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. On Tuesday, January 28th, Mineral Point will host Dodgeville. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
For video highlights of this game, log into the Dodgeville Chronicle or The Democrat Tribune Facebook page.
BOX SCORE
Southwestern 42 – 37 – 79
Mineral Point 38 – 39 – 77
Southwestern (fg-ft-tp); Aiden Keleher 7-2-21, Everett Droessler 6-1-16, Caden DeMuth 6-1-14, Austin Furlong 4-0-10, Carson Splinter 3-2-9, Remi Lawrence 2-0-5, Bryce Pearce 2-0-4.
3-pointers; Keleher 5, Droessler 3, Furlong 2, Lawrence 1, DeMuth 1.
Mineral Point (fg-ft-tp); Drew Aschliman 9-2-22, Jaxson Wendhausen 6-3-20, Eli Lindsey 6-5-19, Jake Phillips 2-2-6, Tucker Dannenberg 2-0-5, Keaton Dempsey 1-3-5.
3-pointers; Wendhausen 5, Lindsey 2, Aschliman 2, Dannenberg 1.