MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Dec. 11–18)
SWAL BOYS BASKETBALL: D4 #1 Mineral Point 64, Darlington 61
By Casey Lindecrantz, Republican Journal
#1 Pointers beat Redbirds on buzzer beater
DARLINGTON — In a battle of powerhouses between last season’s SWAL co-champions, Darlington fell 64-61 against the Pointers on Dec. 13.
The Redbirds (2–2, 2–1) won the tip and set the pace quickly. A pair of passes led to Broker Buschor draining a lightly contested three on a step back during the opening possession. Top-ranked Mineral Point (4–0, 3–0) returned the favor, but Darlington regained the lead on a two from Dante Glendenning.
The Pointers then claimed the lead and cemented it with a pair of threes by 15:30. Over the opening 2:30, Drew Aschliman, Eli Lindsey, and Jaxson Wendhausen were responsible for a score each, and they tallied 58 of the Pointers’ points throughout the night. Wendhausen and Aschliman also combined to shoot 11-for-20 from three throughout the night.
“Defensively, we wanted to take away the interior first and close out on shooters,” Darlington head coach Tom Uppena said. “Up until our game, Mineral Point hadn’t shot the three well, and were doing most of their scoring inside. As it turns out, they shot the three extremely well against us. Something we will evaluate and look at for the next game.”
The trio continued causing problems for Darlington, pushing the host team to a 14-8 deficit, but the Redbirds rallied.
Taggart Gille snagged two straight steals, preventing second-chance points each time. He also tallied the basket resulting from the first.
Buschor got his turn next, rallying for two shots in the paint after a pair of Mineral Point turnovers, as well as a jumper from the free-throw line. The score put Darlington ahead of the defending state champions, 16-14, eight minutes into the contest.
The closing 10 minutes of the half featured a 21-15 run favoring the Pointers, with five different Redbirds athletes contributing at least one basket apiece.
The second half was more of the same as the first. Mineral Point earned a quick, 11-point lead thanks to a 13-7 run, but Darlington didn’t relent. The Redbirds regularly worked within 7-point deficits to within two minutes remaining.
After a pair of free throws for the Pointers with 1:45 to play put the game at 61-53 favoring the traveling team, the Redbirds got hot. Zeke Zuberbuhler worked three-quarters of the width of the court, as he marched to the hoop for a basket at 1:24.
A reaching penalty against Glendenning with 50.7 to play resulted in a miss on the opening charity shot that the sophomore scooped up. He got the ball to Gille, and Darlington wasted no time in getting down the court. Gille found Zuberbuhler, who bolted to the baseline, feigning a layup. As he went to the air, Zuberbuhler shot a pass to a wide-open Buschor outside the arc.
The leading scorer proved his worth yet again, hitting a three despite a towering defensive effort from Pointers Lindsey. Buschor’s shot was nothing but net, prompting roars from his team’s bench and a timeout as the scoreboard showed 61-58 with 37.2 to play.
The Redbirds fouled six seconds later, prompting a pair of free throws from Aschliman — both of them missed. Buschor rebounded the second shot. With 11 seconds left, he side stepped to get separation from Lindsey. At 10 seconds, Buschor pulled up for a shot, and he released the ball with 9.5 seconds on the clock. The game-tying 3-pointer didn’t fall until 7.9 seconds remained.
The game seemed ready to advance to overtime, but a Mineral Point timeout halted the clock at five seconds.
Lindsey received the inbounds and fired a pass to Wendhausen from halfcourt. He put up a heavily contested 3-point shot that sailed through the hoop as time expired.
“The guys executed the game plan well. This was more just some coaching adjustments to make,” Uppena said. “The guys played extremely hard and battled the entire game. Whenever we got down, they clawed back and eventually put us in a spot to potentially win.”
Buschor was a force throughout the night, going 50% from the field (8-for-16) and perfect from the charity stripe (5-for-5). He led all scorers with 25 points. Zuberbuhler was a distant second at 11 points, and Glendenning was third at eight points. Buschor and Glendenning also tied for the team lead with eight rebounds each.
“I’m very proud of their effort all night,” Uppena said. “Moving forward, we will clean up some minor things defensively, and continue to work on building team chemistry so that by the end of the year, hopefully everything is coming together.”
