Late, Last, Night... When We Were All in Bed...*
Although I follow hockey (not basketball) , I do read the entire award-winning sports section of our local paper -- the outdoors stories are personable, knowledgeable and often, beautiful. Our basketball team never made it past sectionals the past two years, but made it to state this year and yesterday I finally got to see them play, catching the second half of the game on tv.
Wow.
Fun to watch, and you could see the love in the way the whole team played together.
I know the point guard Widdes had a sore night: he took a hit onto the hardwood floor, and basketball offers no padding. He hurt. And will feel it more this morning, and today. That's the game though, and we wish them luck and playing together at the top of their games tonight.
The strategy seemed sound: Chop away at the tallest tree and the others will tumble with it.
What Greendale boys basketball coach Ryan Johnsen didn’t know, though, is that those other trees have some strong roots, too.
Ellenson, a junior who is one of the nation’s most sought-after recruits, still led Rice Lake. He scored 21 points on 10-for-17 shooting (10-for-13 from 2-point point range), with 22 rebounds and two blocks.
Rice Lake’s 6-foot-10 Henry Ellenson was the center of attention of Greendale’s defense, but he was just one of multiple standout players who came through with big efforts as the Warriors beat the Panthers 70-58 in a WIAA Division 2 state semifinal at the Kohl Center.
But others made equally important contributions as the Warriors (23-2) earned a spot in today’s 6:35 p.m. championship game against Wisconsin Lutheran.
“Obviously, their game plan was to take Henry out of the game,” Rice Lake coach Kevin Orr said. “They had two guys on him in a box-and-one for just about the whole game.
“But when he gets double-teamed, he’s just going to skip the ball to one of his open teammates. ... (Those other) guys stepped up,” Orr said. “It’s hard to make your game plan against one player.”
Rice Lake senior wing Shawn Magee scored 18 points and had seven assists and a steal. Ben Widdes, a 6-foot junior guard, scored 18 points, hitting 6 of 11 shots (and 2 of 3 3-point tries) and notching seven assists.
“Our game plan was to limit Henry as much as possible,” Johnsen said. “(Senior Mitch) Brees and (junior Chris) Carloni did a great job face-guarding Henry. But Rice Lake has some phenomenal other players ... (and they’re) well-coached.”
UPDATE: Alas, it was not to be... This year.
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* Mrs. O'Leary left the lantern in the shed...
and when the cow kicked it over
she blinked her eyes and said:
Ther'll be a hot time, in the old town, tonight!
I suspect other people just know that tune as a Fight/Cheer song...
