Regionals Edition

(…We have a few things to catch up on first though)

Hello everyone! It’s been a pretty busy few weeks for me, and I wasn’t able to write about the past few games! We’ll catch up on some things before we get started.

• 22-0.. two straight years. We never thought we’d be able to pull off an undefeated season this year. Tougher conference, tougher schedule—it was bound to be more difficult. Plus, two straight years of dominance really takes a lot. We’ve won 48 of our last 49. Shocking to type that. A 97.9% winning percentage! Something to definitely be proud of.
• Senior night was a few weeks ago and, in honor, i’ll rattle off a few sentences about each senior!

 Photo by Michael J. Smith

• Taylor Ryman: The guy that keeps us pretty relaxed. Always has a one liner up his sleeve. Loudest laugh on the team. Deadly shooter that kills us during scrimmaging and frustrates us. Nickname: Rymie
• Jordan Kittleson: The longest person on the team. His arms go on forever. He is the most laid back person in world. Imagine the most laid back person you know, and then multiply it by 100, and then you have Jordy. Does so much dirty work for us, and has showed up big time in every big game (hold that thought..more coming for Jordan). Nickname: Mad Stork, Mort, Morty, Mortimer
• Hunter Paradis: The crowd favorite!! Nothing better than hearing, “Huuuuuuunter Paradisssss for threeeeeeee!!!” Everybody’s little brother. The most loyal person i’ve ever met! Nickname: HP, and about 1,000 more
• Tarek Oellerich: On the court, the feistiest person on the team. Really wears his emotion on his sleeve. The anchor down low, rebounding machine. Makes us such a better team. Nickname: TO, Riggy, Ricky, Rick, Richard, Rich Homie Quan (it’s a rap reference for all the people over 25 reading this), Derek, Stiffy, Big Smooth.. pretty much anything that’s not his actual name is what he gets called.
• Turner Poad: The serious one. Guards the best player on the other team. THE PROM KING. A great leader. One of the best people I know. The leader in Mineral Point’s history of charges taken. Nickname: TP
• Sy Staver: The best player. The alpha dog. So quick and fast, and he uses those traits on the floor. I would hate to have to guard him. Elite scorer. Best dancer on the team. He has no nicknames really, except when he moved here in fifth grade Tarek suggested we call him S Squared…..not so shockingly, it didn’t stick.
• Joey Gorgen: Joey is so sarcastic that it frustrates the heck out of us. Always has a comment for everything. Loved by everyone on the team. Deadly shooter. Our sniper. HUGE gamer. Nickname: J-Man, because he hates it

• Back to back conference champions! An amazing feat when you look at how successful our conference was this year. 3 teams ranked in the top 10, a few amazing players throughout the league.

Photo by Michael J. Smith

Okay… ON TO REGIONALS:

Our regional was unbelievably good. Our top 4 seeds could’ve possibly been 1 seeds in the regional that we play in the sectional. We had the winner of Iowa-Grant and Lancaster, so this past Tuesday we went to watch and for those of you who haven’t heard, Isaac Anderson was an absolute problem. 24 points, two threes in the final minute, one to take the lead.. one to win it. A nasty reverse layup. Isaac is one of the best scorers in our league, but we definitely did not want to let him get rolling like that! Also, a quick shoutout to Lancaster’s Sam Frederick, one of my AAU teammates and close friends for the last eight years. I know you read this, and you had one heck of a career man! Be proud!

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So the third game vs. IG was set, and we controlled the first two. The third game could pretty much be summed up with two words…

TAAAAAAAAAARRRREEEEEKKKKKK OEEEEEELLLLEEEERRRRIIICHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Photos by Michael J. Smith

27 points for Tarek.. my goodness. We jumped out to a good lead right away. They did such a good job of containing us, though. We got up by 10 in the first quarter and they kept battling it back to six. They were never gonna let us pull away. With Anderson, Caleb Hill, and Brayden Johnson coming back, they’re going to be a tough team in the SWAL next year.

After winning Friday night, everyone waited to hear who we were playing and eventually found out it would be Cuba City. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking back to last year at all. Same exact scenario, except this year in the regional final. Last year, we lost to them on March 6th. The playoff rematch was on March 7th. 366 days separated them. Eerie. I hated the deja vu potential. It was there.

Six games against Cuba the last two years. All six games in which we were both ranked. Packed crowds in all. This game really was going to cement the legacy between our senior classes in this amazing rivalry. It could really go two ways: either we win, and save claim that we really were the best team around; or they win, and make their claim as just a more “clutch” team than us that shows up for the most important game.

As I walked into the school, the line was out to the street 90 minutes before the game even started. I thought to myself, we’re a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds playing basketball and it means this much to this area. People love to watch us play against each other. No matter what happens, our rivalries brought something special to this area. Mineral Point vs. Cuba City was literally a local event that people didn’t want to miss.

With this rivalry being as intense as it is, it’s hard not to mention that we are actually pretty close with them. Preston Droessler is one of my very close friends. We played together in AAU ball for two years, and were really close pretty much immediately. Before the games, he always reminds me that no matter what happens we’re still brothers and tells me that he loves me like a brother, which is probably weird because people only see us doing everything we can for our respective teams. But, I mean, our friendship goes way deeper than basketball, although that is how it started. Preston and I will probably be really close for life. After the game he grabbed me and hugged me and said he can’t wait to rep us at state. Love that kid.

With that being said, he will do everything he can to beat us. 29 points for Preston last night, including three three-pointers. I told him that was more than he’s made his entire career and he agreed. He made his first five free throws, after watching him on film against Darlington go 0-4. I asked him why he does this against us and he just laughed.

The start of the game had to scare the living daylights out the crowd. It was 12-2 before the game even started basically. It really should’ve just been 10-0 at tip, it happened so quickly. We called a timeout and regrouped. It’s funny how the game can work. In their gym, we got up 12-2 to start the game, and now it was them. They battled back from their deficit as well.

We were chasing them the entire first half, but another problem was everyone on our team had two fouls. Tarek, Joey, and Sy had two each early in the second. Tarek picked up a third before half. Sy had a monstrous second quarter that got us all the way back. I was being face guarded by Preston and I was frustrated as heck. I knew when the game started and he was doing that, I was going to have to be patient. It’s always hard to be taken out of a game like that, but it gave Tarek, Sy, Joey, and Turner room to operate. So it was great for us as a whole, because they had so much more space. I did get loose a few times in the fourth quarter, and unfortunately didn’t hit…but we survived and advanced so i’ll get another try. 😉

Let’s be clear, though, the first half was Jordan Kittleson’s. I couldn’t be more happy for him or more proud of him. He started off with a post finish, hit a huge three (DEJA VU), and that put back off my fast break miss was HUGE. He’s showed up in every big game, but man it was special. He had a few tips at the top of our 1-3-1. He really got us going last night. We’re so lucky to have the sixth man that we do. He was crucial in stepping up in the second half too. We battled all the way back to take the lead in the second quarter.

Photo by Michael J. Smith

Before the game, we told each other if we got up by ten at half we’ll be so happy. Once again, it’s crazy how the game works, because we were only up by two…and we were so elated. We couldn’t have been happier. The first quarter scare really gave the game a whole new perspective.

In the second half, Tarek picked up another quick foul, and we were able to make a run without him. We got up by ten, and it seemed all was going well. Of course, Cuba then went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter. We were all out of sorts.

Then in the fourth, they scored first, they took the lead. We answered right back. That made me feel good, I thought that might deflate them a bit, but they came right back down and scored. That was the first moment in the entire game I felt that we might be in trouble. They were answering, and we were really going to have to pull together.

Then, Tarek fouled out on a foul called on a loose ball rebound…which frustrates me that the officials can impact a game like that, but regardless, we were going to have to finish without him for the last six minutes. It was going to be so difficult. This was the second moment I felt nervous. How were we going to do it without him? Thankfully Jordan Kittleson and Dylan Macgilvra gave us really good minutes. Oh yeah…….and someone else….

 Joeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy Gorgeeeeeeennnnnnnnnn!!!!!

 

Photos by Michael J. Smith

Ten giant points in the fourth quarter. A beautiful three, a beautiful eurostep, and a huuuuuuge and one finish. I was so proud of him. I gave him so many hugs. He was on top of the world. It was exactly what we needed. He controlled the fourth quarter and really willed us to win. He was the MVP. He’s the reason we’re moving on!

Photo by Shannon Mumm

Also, BIG shoutout to the bench for being incredible teammates and being super live during the game. Couldn’t do it without you guys! Thanks, fellas.

Photo by Joëlle Doye

As well as our student section. We appreciate you all more than you know!

After a year of hearing, “You guys are good, but we’ll see if you guys can beat Cuba in the playoffs”, it feels good that we’ll never hear that again. It was like there was a giant asterisk next to our record until we beat them in the playoffs after last year. Now we can focus on what’s next: Deerfield.

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The crowd the last two nights was incredible. I’ve gotten so many hugs, so many texts, snapchats, taken so many pictures, even signed autographs which always makes me laugh that for young kids, we’re literally like the Badgers! But we love it so much and love the atmosphere so much. I’m really proud to be from Mineral Point, that’s for sure. Hopefully I will see everyone in Verona on Thursday night! A huge thank you to our extended family…. Pointer Nation.

This picture says it all…

 Photo by Michael J. Smith