Sauk Prairie drops a thriller

A season to remember came down to one final shot for Sauk Prairie’s boys basketball team last Friday night. When a last-second attempt from three-point range for senior guard Tyler Uselman came up short, though, the lights went out on a memorable career for nine Eagles seniors. Fourth-seeded Madison Edgewood rallied from a five-point second-half deficit and held on for a thrilling 52-49 victory over top-seeded host Sauk Prairie in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal. “There wasn’t a whole lot to be said after the game,” said Eagles’ senior Isaac Breunig, who plans to play football at UW-Eau Claire next fall. “Everyone was sad it was over. We wanted to make a long run. “It was great that we got to play. All last summer and fall, there was uncertainty on whether we were going to be able to play or not. It was a shortened season, but it was better than nothing. I’m glad we were able to play.”  In what ended up being a best two-out-of-three matchup, the Crusaders took the rubber match. Sauk Prairie squeaked out a 37-36 win over Edgewood on Dec. 10 before the Crusaders evened the score with a 44-31 victory on Feb. 11. “They just shot the ball a little better than we did,” Sauk Prairie senior Devin Breunig said. “But we rebounded well and played hard.” Edgewood advanced to the regional finals where the Crusaders edged McFarland 55-53 on Saturday evening to secure a berth in this week’s sectional tournament. For nine Sauk Prairie seniors — Frank Ahmetaj, Kyle Been, Devin Breunig, Isaac Breunig, Kyle Breunig, Elliot Drew, Ethan Gibbs, Tyler Uselman and Brandt Wilson — it meant the end of a four-year ride with coach Sean McGann. “We literally left nothing out there, effort-wise,” McGann said. “I’m just so proud of them. “Yeah, I think some things didn’t go our way. It came down to some missed free throws and a couple of missed layups, but they just battled. That’s what we’ve done all year. Never once have our guys complained about anything all year.” With the exception of the state champions in the WIAA’s five divisions, everyone else’s season will end with a loss. That doesn’t make it any easier when the end of the line becomes a reality. “It’s hard,” McGann said. “I’m leaving with tears on my shoulder from some of the guys. It’s tough to say bye to nine seniors I’ve been with all four years. My first year coaching, I was their freshman coach. To see them grow was really rewarding for me. So it hurts.” Sauk Prairie (10-7) opened up a 24-17 lead on Uselman’s short jumper with 3 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the first half. Wilson scored eight of his team-high 15 points and junior Lucas Been added six of his 10 points to spark the Eagles’ early lead. But Edgewood (11-12) senior guard Michael Regnier fueled a 7-0 closing run with a three-pointer and a layup and senior center Charlie Clark scored on a post move as the teams entered halftime tied 24-24. “We could just feel their energy,” Wilson said of Edgewood.  “I think that’s what brought them back in the game. We had a seven-point lead and then they hit a shot and their bench was into it, their crowd was into it. We had a feeling they were going to go on a little run there.” Senior guard Isandro Jimenez led the way for Edgewood, scoring 13 of his game-high 18 points in the second half.  Wilson sank two free throws with 13:41 remaining to give Sauk Prairie its largest lead of the second half at 33-28. But Edgewood regained the lead with a 12-4 spurt behind Jimenez, who scored seven points during the run, to stake the Crusaders to a 40-37 advantage. “That’s what you hope for,” Edgewood coach Chris Zwettler said of Jimenez. “A guy who has been labeled as one of your best players, a senior, shows up and has big plays off some shots and was making some assists. He was awesome in the second half.” Isaac Breunig’s three-pointer tied the game at 42-42 with just over 5 minutes remaining. Edgewood, though, regained the lead at 45-42 on senior Ben Newton’s 3-pointer and kept Sauk Prairie at bay the rest of the way. While he was disappointed in the final outcome, Wilson said the Eagles battled to the very end. “It was obviously a different year with COVID and having two quarantines,´ said Wilson, who plans to play basketball at St. Norbert College next year. “But being able to play with this group of guys was better than any team I’ve had. “The pandemic brought us even more closer. We felt we were a strong team.” Just when it looked like Edgewood was going to put the Eagles away, Lucas Been made a big steal in the backcourt, and his layup pulled Sauk Prairie within 52-49 with 37.7 seconds remaining. “At the bottom of our board, we have this slogan for every game that means ‘give it your best and live with it,’ GIYBALWI,” McGann said. “I told them that was the definition of GIYBALWI.  “Our effort was awesome. I thought we did a phenomenal job offensive rebounding. Devin Breunig always does. But that was probably the most minutes that Lucas Been has played his whole life. He did some awesome things. I was definitely excited about his performance.” Edgewood left the door open for the Eagles when it missed the front end of bonus free throws on its next two possessions.  However, Sauk Prairie was unable to find the equalizer.  An offensive rebound by Wilson created one final opportunity and McGann was able to call a timeout with one second remaining.  McGann said the plan was to set a double screen for Wilson as Devin Breunig inbounded the ball in front of the Sauk Prairie bench with Isaac Breunig also fading to the opposite corner. But Edgewood didn’t to make it easy on Wilson, Sauk Prairie’s leading scorer at 17 points per game. Battling through a double-team, Wilson stumbled briefly forcing the ball to go to Uselman, whose rushed three-pointer from the left wing came up empty. “Brandt slipped so I went to the corner and Devin passed it to me,” Uselman said. “But I was off balance. I just hoped for the best, but it didn’t go in. That was a bummer.” McGann said the Eagles gave it their best shot, “but that’s sports.” “Brandt tripped up on the initial action, which caused us to panic a little,” McGann said. “We ended up still getting a somewhat decent look. If it went in, it would have been awesome, but it just didn’t. That’s just how it goes. “It was an awesome game to watch. It was an awesome game to coach, we just didn’t pull it out.” Uselman, a three-sport athlete, who is hoping to play baseball at UW-La Crosse next year, said despite the season-ending loss, it was a memorable season. “I was definitely glad we had a season. It was fun that we played and had playoffs,” he said. “We competed every day. We just had fun together.”  But saying goodbye is never easy, which made the Eagles’ final postgame huddle difficult for all. “Our bench was so into it. That was really fun,” McGann said. “That’s a game I’ll remember for a long time in terms of how fun it was. It was a fun atmosphere, guys made big plays and guys were excited for each other.” “Yeah, we would have loved to have won that game and I thought we played hard enough to do it, but that’s just sports. That’s life, and we’ll move on.”   Feb. 19 WIAA Division 2  regional semifinal MADISON EDGEWOOD 52, SAUK PRAIRIE 49 Edgewood ….......... 24 28 — 52 Sauk Prairie ……. 24 25 — 49 MADISON EDGEWOOD —  Jackson Trudgeon 2 0-0 6, Clay Krantz 1 0-0 2, Ben Newton 3 0-1 8, Michael Regnier 2 0-0 5, Will Klipstine 0 0-0 0, Isandro Jimenez 6 4-5 18, Al Deang 0 0-0 0, Will Schenk 1 0-0 2, Caden Thomas 0 1-2 1, Ovu Nwankwo 1 0-0 2, Charlie Clark 4 0-0 8. Totals 20 5-8 52. SAUK PRAIRIE (fg ft-fta pts) — Ethan Gibbs 0 0-0 0, Tyler Uselman 3 0-1 6, Isaac Breunig 4 0-1 9, Lucas Been 5 0-0 10, Eddie Breunig 3 0-0 6, Brandt Wilson 4 4-4 15, Devin Breunig 1 1-4 3. Totals 20 5-10 49, 3-point goals:  ME 7 (Trudgeon 2, Newton 2, Regnier 1, I. Jimenez 2); SP 4 (I. Breunig 1, Wilson 3). Total fouls: ME 12; SP 14.