Red Hawks end ‘special’ season with sectional final loss

A frenzied second-half push fell just short for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau boys basketball team in Saturday’s Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Three sectional championship game as the Red Hawks ended their season with a 63-48 loss to Prescott.

After clawing back from an early 19-4 hole and slashing their deficit to nine points by halftime, G-E-T found more momentum to open their final half of basketball this year.

The Red Hawks scored the second half’s first seven points to get within two points of Prescott (21-6), but the Cardinals responded with an 8-0 run of their own to keep G-E-T from taking the lead. 

Prescott junior Barrett Temmers hit a three-pointer following a timeout for the Cardinals to start that run.

“We just needed a little fire tonight, and in the second half we had a little bit of fire right away to get down by two. … we just couldn’t overcome that beginning of the game,” G-E-T coach Jared McCutchen said. “We were playing from behind the whole game. We liked our energy coming out of the second half, but you just get tired and it’s really tough when the shots don’t fall like tonight.”

Prescott senior Dallas Wallin scored 13 points in the first half to lead the Cardinals and continued to create offense by earning inside shots, sneaking passes to teammates and finding his way to the free throw line.

Senior Cody Schmitz and G-E-T started the second half strong, and the Red Hawks knew they needed a response for any hope of a comeback.

“We knew we dug ourselves a hole so if we wanted any shot to get back into it we had to make a run right then and right there,” Schmitz said. “We did, a couple shots didn’t fall so we never were able to get over the hump but we had a lot of grit, we battled and I’m proud of our effort today.”

Schmitz finished with a game-high 25 points for G-E-T, which ends the year with a 20-8 record.

The Red Hawks’ coach said the team’s six seniors elevated the program over the last four years.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time, and there hasn’t been a lot of groups maybe ever that have put as much time collaboratively into basketball as this group has. … those guys were hungry to get back into the gym and they held guys accountable to be there with them,” McCutchen said.

Schmitz — who will announce a college commitment in the coming months and finishes fourth in all-time career prep scoring in Wisconsin with 2,632 points — called this season “special”.

“We have a special group of guys, special group of coaches,” he said. “When you mix those two groups you get a special run, and that’s what we’ve had.”

Saturday’s postgame locker room conversation for G-E-T featured gratefulness, pride, tears and emotion. 

Though the team hoped their season would end at the state tournament, they still called this season memorable.

“I thought we played really good basketball a lot of the year. We had some adversity, some highs and lows, but our seniors kept us even-keel. And the amount of confidence growth I saw in guys like Taylor Haney, Brecken Ebersold and Mason Brone was big, and a lot of that comes back to our senior leaders,” McCutchen said.

“Us coaches, we really believe in these guys. They know it, they believe in each other, and when they know everybody has their back good things happen. I think that’s why we made this run.”

G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Seiling 3/7-0/0-7-3-6; Andre 0/1-0/0-1-0-0; Burns 2/7-0/0-1-1-4; Brone 2/11-0/0-4-1-4; Jimenez 1/1-0/0-1-1-2; Ebersold 0/1-0/0-1-1-0; Schmitz 10/22-2/4-14-3-25; Anibas 2/10-0/0-6-2-5; Haney 0/4-0/0-3-5-0; Repaal 1/1-0/0-0-3-2.

Depth The Difference In G-E-T Win Over Elk Mound

Schmitz rattled off three different names when asked which of his teammates made the biggest difference in Thursday’s boys basketball sectional semifinal against Elk Mound.

Moments after securing a 61-55 victory that put G-E-T one win away from the WIAA Division Three state tournament, McCutchen also credited multiple players for their work at Arcadia High School on Thursday.

“We have a lot of heart, a lot of grit, and we’re never going to give up,” Schmitz, G-E-T’s leading scorer, said after the Red Hawks overcame a 13-2 deficit to open Thursday’s game.

“We came back from down 10 (points) with some big shots from some of our guys. Taylor (Haney) had a couple big shots, Braden Anibas had a nice couple shots and Mason (Brone) stepped up. I trust these guys, and they came up big.”

Elk Mound (22-5 this season) was near perfect in the opening minutes on Thursday to take an 11-point advantage.

Schmitz answered with 10 first-half points before a three-pointer from Haney gave the Red Hawks their first lead of the game, 20-19, with two minutes remaining in the half.

Offense was more available for both teams after halftime, and Elk Mound again started strong.

Anibas hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 27, and the G-E-T senior hit another corner jumper moments later to notch the score at 30.

“We just kind of do our thing, go out there, play as a team and take steps in the right direction when we need to,” Anibas said of the Red Hawks not panicking when trailing in important games.

When Elk Mound reclaimed the lead 32-31, Haney hit another shot from deep to give the advantage back to G-E-T. Anibas hit two more three-pointers with less than ten minutes left in the game to help offset a strong night from Elk Mound’s Kaden Russo.

Russo scored 17 points for the Mounders while teammate Sam Wenzel led the team with 18.

Brone, a sophomore, made his presence felt in the biggest moment of the game.

A pair of free throws from Russo handed Elk Mound a one-point lead with two minutes to play, and G-E-T began to eat into the dwindling time on its next possession.

Brone drilled a shot from deep beyond the three-point line to give the Red Hawks a 55-53 advantage with less than 90 seconds remaining in the game, following it with two free throws to secure the win.

“I was hoping he shot it a little earlier, actually,” McCutchen said of Brone’s look. “I have all the confidence in the world in Mason shooting from anywhere. He’s shooting 60% in the last seven games from three, so right now we’re really good with Mason’s decisions on offense and tonight was another example of it.”

G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Seiling 1/1-0/0-2-3-2; Burns 2/4-0/2-4-3-4; Brone 4/7-4/4-7-0-14; Ebersold 0/1-0/0-1-0-0; Schmitz 4/14-9/11-11-3-18; Anibas 4/13-2/2-4-2-14; Haney 3/3-0/0-1-2-9.