Brone caps career with second first-team All-CC honor

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau senior Mason Brone’s final year with Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau wasn’t all smooth sailing, as he battled injury and illness that both sidelined and limited him at different points in the season. But when he could be on the court at anywhere close to 100%, his massive impact was still always felt.

Despite the hurdles tossed his way this winter, Brone earned himself a spot on the All-Coulee Conference first team for a second straight year and was named honorable mention to the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division Three All-State team. He played a pivotal role in the Red Hawks reaching 23 wins, finishing second in the conference standings and coming just one win away from playing in the state tournament.

Brone, showing off his all-around ability, led the Red Hawks in a variety of categories, averaging 19.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game. When all was said and done, Brone, a four-year varsity starter, finished as the program’s all-time leader in career assists (575), third in steals (226), fourth in points (1,389) and eighth in rebounds (433).

“It’s difficult to sum up in words the impact Mason has had on the program,” said G-E-T head coach Ian Anderson. “Mason was always the hardest worker in terms of time put in in the offseason. In addition to his high-level AAU obligations, Mase was a leader in our gym throughout offseason workouts, pulling more and more guys in to not only get better but build the levels of team camaraderie and competitiveness within the program. He’s the type of player that coaches can lean on to monitor the vibes and status of the team as a whole and then be trusted when ideas are brought up to improve those things.”

Joining Brone on the All-Coulee first team this time around were junior Drew McConkey (the Coulee Player of the Year) and senior Tyson Labus from conference champion West Salem, Black River Falls junior Braylon Backaus and Westby junior Griffin Nelson.

The G-E-T duo of senior Travis Theisen and sophomore Talon Fabian landed on the all-conference second team at markedly different points in their careers.

Theisen already had varsity experience under his belt coming into this year, but he was tasked with taking on a much larger role, which was magnified even further during the points where Brone was sidelined.

“With the loss of Brecken (Ebersold) and Jackson (Burns) from last season, we knew Trav would have to step up and be more involved on both ends of the court,” Anderson said. “It was especially needed in the stretch of games that Mason was sick and/or injured. Trav was able to take advantage of teams that could only take away his shot versus his drive and vice versa, and it led to some huge scoring games and season averages of 15 points per game and 6 rebounds per game.”

Fabian was a breakout star for the Red Hawks, tallying 16.2 points per game to provide a significant scoring punch while also registering 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

“Talon improved a ton this season. He, like Trav, became much harder to guard with the ability to get to the rim in addition to shooting the three,” Anderson said. “I was most impressed with his ability to be ‘the guy’ when Mason was out for that period of time. He was able to score efficiently while also rebounding well for a guard and dishing out four assists per game. The next step and test for his game will be the fact that he’s got to be that guy the entire time next season. Teams will be keying on him, so he will have to be more aggressive and expand his game again.”

Also making it to the All-Coulee second team were Arcadia’s dynamic backcourt duo of junior Carter Wegman and sophomore Deklyn Grzadzielewski, along with West Salem senior Nathan Dillaber.

The Raider duo was as tight as could be when it came to scoring, with Grzadzielewski scoring 411 total points this winter and Wegman finishing with 410.

In addition to each averaging 15.8 points per game, Wegman recorded 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while Grzadzielewski dished out 4.1 assists per game.

“(Wegman’s) finishing ability around the hoop has improved from his sophomore year to this year. He has the potential, with a great offseason, to be one of the best players our conference and area have to offer,” said Arcadia head coach Ryan Sonnentag. “Deklyn took on a leadership role as a sophomore for us this year. From the middle of January to the end of the year, he embraced the point guard role for our team and started to control games from a tempo and coach on the floor aspect. That was a direct connection to when we started playing better as a team.”

The all-conference honorable mentions were seniors Brody Greeno and Max Huelskamp and junior Trent Berg for Luther, senior Spencer Kammel and junior Elliot Corcoran for West Salem, Viroqua junior Kolten Peterson and Westby junior Maddux Fencl.