G-E-T finishes regular season this in Coulee

When the high school basketball season started back in November, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau boys basketball head coach Jared McCutchen and his team had a goal in mind.

It’s a young team, they knew, but a top three finish in the Coulee Conference standings was an accomplishment they felt was feasible. With a win over Viroqua in the team’s regular season finale last Saturday, the team can cross off that goal as complete. The Red Hawks finished third behind state-ranked teams West Salem and Onalaska Luther.

“This year was not about wins and losses of course — it’s never just about that — but it was about how we progress as a team and as individuals,” McCutchen said. “And we’ve seen some really nice steps.”

Luther visited G-E-T last Thursday, leaving with a 71-44 win. The (6) Red Hawks (11-13 this season) were scheduled to host (11) Adams-Friendship (8-16) on Tuesday in a regional playoff game. The winner of that game will play at (3) Elk Mound on Friday with the regional final set for Saturday.

Luther 71 G-E-T 44

From the opening minutes in Thursday’s contest with the eighth-ranked team in Division Four, it was obvious that G-E-T wanted to avenge an earlier season blowout loss at the hands of the Knights.

And for much of the first half, the Red Hawks were in the game. 

The teams traded shots throughout the first 10 minutes of the game, G-E-T staying as close as one point down of the Knighhts with just five minutes left in the half.

But a couple of fouls late in the half led to free throws for Luther, which turned the free points into a 10-point halftime lead.

“That’s a good basketball team, and anytime they can get a little lead it’s kind of like blood in the water, and they just attack you a little bit harder,” McCutchen said of the late fouls.

The momentum carried into the second half, which saw Luther outscore G-E-T 41-24. Sophomore Cody Schmitz led G-E-T with 14 points in the game, and Will Mack added nine.

McCutchen said his team’s energy didn’t match up with Luther’s in the second half, which he felt was the big difference.

G-E-T was trying to get the ball to the middle of the court, where they drew fouls or kicked the ball back to the outside for an open three-pointer during the first half. The team seemed a bit hesitant to keep going to the ‘hard’ areas of the court later in the game.

When the shots stopped falling, though, the defensive play got a bit loose, McCutchen said.

“Sometimes we let our shooting dictate how we’re playing on the defensive end as well and the energy level goes down a little bit. So we can’t let things like that dictate our defensive end.”

As the Red Hawks prepare for playoffs, McCutchen thought it was a good reminder late in the season to his group that their defense for an entire game will be what gets them through the closest games.

“We want to make some noise in playoffs, and to do that you gotta have a lot of energy, and I’m hoping that we can learn from this game,” he said.

G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/free throws missed-rebounds-fouls-points)—K. Seiling 1/4-0/0-2-0-2, Mack 4/11-0/0-2-3-9, Burns 2/5-1/2-2-1-7, Stoner 1/4-0/0-2-2-3, Beedle 0/3-1/2-4-1-1, Sorenson 0/1-0/0-1-1-0, B. Seiling 0/3-0/0-3-1-0, Andre 1/3-0/0-1-0-2, Schmitz 5/18-4/5-11-1-14, Anibas 2/5-0/0-1-0-6.

G-E-T 61 Viroqua 48

The game that secured a third-place finish in the Coulee Conference was much closer than Thursday’s game, and it was G-E-T who held the edge in second half scoring this time.

The Red Hawks held a two-score lead at the break before holding off Viroqua in the second half.

Schmitz scored a game-high 40 points for G-E-T, and Mack scored 15.

G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/free throws missed-rebounds-fouls-points)—K. Seiling 0/3-0/0-2-1-0, Mack 5/13-3/4-6-2-15, Burns 1/9-0/0-3-0-3, Beedle 1/5-0/0-4-2-3, Sorenson 0/0-0/0-1-0-0, B. Seiling 0/1-0/0-1-0-0, Schmitz 14/20-10/10-7-1-40, Anibas 0/0-0/0-1-0-0, Jimenez 0/0-0/0-1-0-0.