Dodgeville boys defeat Mineral Point 66-59, end losing streak to Pointers

By John Dalton

For the first time since the 2015-2016 season, the Dodgeville boys’ basketball team defeated Mineral Point in its annual rivalry game 66-59 in a non-conference game played at Dodgeville Friday night.  It also marked the first meeting between Dodgeville’s Head Coach Matt McGraw and first year head coach Bret McGraw for Mineral Point.  The two are first cousins.  

A large crowd was on hand, and they saw a good game which saw both teams make runs at each other in a hard-fought battle.  There were a couple times in the game that looked like either team could have opened a big lead and pulled away.  From the get-go, both teams played tough defense with plenty of energy.  

The first half was a low-scoring affair.  Dodgeville’s Brock Fockler hit a 3-point shot to put the Dodgers up 12-11 with 6:30 to play in the first half.  But Mineral Point went on a 10-0 run in the next two minutes to take a 21-12 lead.  With 4:30 left in the half, the Pointers never scored again.  Dodgeville scored the next six points thanks to a couple of shots by Bryce Crubaugh-Lockard, and a 3-point shot by Jayce Halverson.  The Pointers led at halftime 21-18.

The second half was a high-scoring, back-and-forth game as Pointer Brett Bossert scored the first bucket which was quickly answered by Dodger Elliot Hesseling.  Crubaugh-Lockard then hit a 3-point shot from the corner, then after a Pointer turnover, it was Griffin Busch finding Hessling on a fast break to tie the game at 25-25.  

Dodgeville would go up by nine, 40-31 when after a missed Dodger shot, it ended up in Halverson’s hands in the corner beyond the arc, and he buried it.  But Mineral Point Senior Drew Aschliman then went to work.  He would hit his next three shots in the paint. Later he drilled the first of his two 3-point shots, and his bucket in the lane pulled the Pointers to within one, 51-50.  After a Dodger missed shot, the Pointers regained the lead by one on Thorin Vamstad’s bucket from the corner.  

On Mineral Point’s next possession, Crubaugh-Lockard stole the ball from Keegan Wenger and he went untouched to the rack for a hoop to retake the lead.  On its next possession, off an inbound pass, Halverson found Blake Stodola in the corner, and he drained a 3-point shot putting the Dodgers up four.  

Aschliman had the answer on their next two possessions making hoops and tying the game at 56-56.  Aschliman led all scorers on the night with 27 points, 21 of those coming in the second half.  

But the Dodgers hit some free throws down the stretch, with Busch connecting on four of them.  Under a minute left, Bossert found Cole Ripp who laid it in cutting the Dodger lead down to two.  With 27.5 left in the game, and the Dodgers with the ball and up 63-59, the ball went to Crubaugh-Lockard, who raced to the hoop from half court for a bucket that all but sealed the deal for Dodgeville, as they would go onto defeat the Pointers for the first time in 10 years, 66-59.  

“As of late we have really played well in the second half of games,” said Dodgeville Head Coach Matt McGraw.  “And we played the way that makes us best, putting pressure on, getting transition points, getting to the paint.  Even when they went zone, we were able to get some early ones, and then they got a few tips and deflections on us, but we got back to what we had to do quickly tonight.”

As a long-time assistant under retired Hall of Fame Coach Dan Burreson, first-year Mineral Point Head Coach Bret McGraw said, “I thought we did a really good job in the first half of making them take difficult, contested shots. They were able to get loose on a few more opportunities to score in the second half. We got them to take some of the shots we wanted them to in the 1-3-1 but didn’t always finish the job with a rebound.”

“At times I think we looked good both on offense and defense. We just need to be consistent throughout the whole game,” said Bret.  “I really like how we battled back and showed some toughness when we got down by 6 or 8 points a couple of times. We just want to eliminate the types of plays that put us in those tough spots. We have games this week against three quality programs in Darlington, Fennimore, and Lancaster, so we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We must get back to work and move forward.”

Said Matt, “I’m really proud of the guys, they gutted it out against a really good Mineral Point team. But I’m just so thrilled with how our guys executed the scouting report.  We knew things about them based on the games that they’ve had.  They were locked in and when you can execute a scouting report to gain a few advantages. That could be the difference of why we got that win tonight.”

When both coaches were asked what it was like to coach against each other for the first time at the varsity level, Bret said, “Matt and I have been competing against each other for over 30 years - First as players and now as coaches. I have a lot of respect for him and how hard his teams play. There was a really good atmosphere tonight and I think a big portion of the crowd was a McGraw or was related to one. It was special to have so many members of our family in the stands supporting both of us.”

Matt echoed Bret’s reply.  “There were a lot of McGraw’s here tonight.  Some cheering for Dodgeville, some for Mineral Point, and some cheering neutrally.  It’s interesting because he is one of my best friends, and we’ve grown up together and we’ve played against each other, and we played together at times, we’ve had a great relationship so it’s interesting when we battle against each other.  But once we see each other, we’ll keep it going like we always do,” he said.  

Dodgeville visited Evansville on Tuesday night, while Mineral Point hosted Darlington and you can find those related stories in this edition of the newspaper.  For video highlights of this game, check out the Dodgeville Chronicle or The Democrat Facebook page.  

Box Score

Dodgeville     18 – 48 – 66

Mineral Point 21 – 38 – 59

Dodgeville (fg-ft-tp); Jayce Halverson 6-4-18, Bryce Crubaugh-Lockard 6-1-15, Elliot Hesseling 4-0-8, Blake Stodola 2-2-7, Andrew Hesseling 2-1-6, Brock Fockler 2-0-5, Griffin Busch 0-4-4, Isaiah Argall 1-0-3.

3-pointers; Halverson 2, Crubaugh-Lockard 2, Fockler 1, E. Hesseling 1, Argall 1, Stodola 1.  

Mineral Point (fg-ft-tp); Drew Aschliman 11-3-27, Keaton Dempsey 4-6-14, Cole Ripp 4-0-8, Brett Bossert 2-0-5, Aiden Patterson 1-0-3, Thorin Vamstad 1-0-2.

3-pointers; Aschliman 2, Bossert 1, Patterson 1.