SOUTH WAYNE — Darlington entered a nonconference game against Black Hawk with all the checkmarks on its side of the paper.

The second-ranked Redbirds had a better record (11-0 to 4-7) in a larger division, knocked off ranked teams in Mineral Point, New Glarus and Fennimore, and boast a slew of players with length and strong court IQs.

Holding a 16-point lead with just over eight minutes to play was just another feather in the cap of a 12th straight victory.

That is, until Black Hawk made a late run and took the game to the wire. In the end, Darlington escaped with a 59-56 win that had teaching points for both sides.

“We never gave up — we came to play from the start,” Warriors coach Charlie Anderson said. “I thought we played a good first half. There’s a lot we can build off from this game and get better. I thought the 1-3-1 looked good, and hopefully that’s something we can build on.”

Leading 33-29 after an even first half, Darlington opened the second half like a team on a mission. The Redbirds went on a 16-4 run through the first six-and-a-half minutes after halftime to get ahead 49-33. The major factor was senior Stryker Fitzsimons, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half. Fitzsimons’ partner in crime down on the blocks, Carter Lancaster, scored 17 of his 24 in the first half.

“We needed a spark from somewhere. We had a two-man show there doing a lot of the scoring. We need somebody to come in every night and be that third scorer,” Darlington coach Tom Uppena said.

With the score 51-35 with just over eight minutes to play, Black Hawk switched to a 1-3-1 zone on defense and began heaving 3-pointers with desperation. The thing was, with Darlington struggling against the zone, the shots started falling for the Warriors.

“At first the shots wouldn’t fall for us. I was telling them, ‘guys, we’re playing good ‘D’ with the zone — just keep shooting,’” Anderson said.

Conner Meyer hit a jumper and a 3 on back-to-back possessions, then stole the ball on defense and hit Colby Argall in stride in transition to make it 51-42. The atmosphere in the stands went from watching a game with a forgone conclusion to wondering if the hot streak would keep going.

Bryce Stone then entered off the bench and connected on a 3 and a jumper for Darlington, with Lucas Flanagan and Avery Baumgartner knocking down 3s for Black Hawk to keep the pendulum from swinging back into Darlington’s favor with less than four minutes remaining.

“It’s huge when you can get some contributions from a guy like that,” Uppena said of Stone.

Meyer then hit a 3 of his own off a dish from Lovelace to make it 56-51, and on the next possession Meyer fed Lovelace who drained a shot from deep to bring the score to within two points with 2:54 left to play.

“When they went to the 1-3-1 the wheels fell off. We didn’t attack it well and we had guys that went into a hole and disappeared. We can’t have that happen against good teams like this. This is a dangerous Black Hawk team with some solid players,” Uppena said. “Give credit to them — they didn’t give up and they made something happen to turn it into a game.”

With 1:31 left in regulation, Colby Argall drove the paint and hit a layup to tie the score at 56, completing Black Hawk’s comeback.

With 1:15 left, Fitzsimons hit a bucket in the paint to give his team a two-point lead. After a failed offensive by Black Hawk, the Warriors were forced to foul Fitzsimons and send the senior to the free throw line for bonus throws. Fitzsimons missed the front end of the 1-and-1, and Black Hawk suddenly had a chance to tie the game again or take the lead. 

Anderson, with two timeouts in his back pocket, decided to let his team play out the waning seconds for a final shot, only for an errant pass from the wing to go across the half-court line for an over-and-back turnover with 8.5 seconds left. Lancaster was fouled immediately after the inbound and hit the front end of his bonus tries, but missed the second. Black Hawk’s final attempt to tie the game — a desperation 3-point heave by Baumgartner — was blocked by Cayden Rankin, who stands 6-foot-5.

“We tied it up and they did a good job down the stretch of getting the ball inside for a basket to give them the lead. We tried to push the tempo a little bit to get an easy one, but it didn’t happen. I am proud of the way we fought,” Anderson said. “You have to see every game as a challenge. I thought we were up to the challenge, but it just didn’t go our way.”

Meyer led Black Hawk with 18 points, while Baumgartner finished with 10, Lovelace nine and Argall seven. Lovelace had three 3s and Baumgartner and Meyer each hit two 3s. Matthew Douglas scored all seven of his points in the first half. Each team attempted just six free throws in the game despite its physicality. 

Darlington 58, Southwestern 52

HAZEL GREEN — Two days before the win over Black Hawk, the Redbirds fended off Southwestern to stay at the top of the SWAL standings. 

Lancaster had 22 points while Trae Schilling added 12 for Darlington. Stone scored nine and Fitzsimons and Carson Evenstad each chipped in with six.

The Redbirds (12-0, 6-0) lead No. 6 Mineral Point (8-3, 5-1) by just a game. The two teams face off Jan. 18 in Darlington. Fennimore (10-2, 4-2), Cuba City (8-3, 4-2) and Southwestern (8-4, 3-3) all sit within three games of the top spot in the SWAL.

“It’s a grind of a season, and when you’re undefeated there is sometimes a complacency that sets in. I’m trying to not let that happen, but I think it has at times,” Uppena said. “We’ve got to get things figured out, because we’ve got the second half of the conference starting here next week with Mineral Point coming to town. Our conference is so tough, there is no easy nights.”