JEFFERSON — The Rock Valley Champion Brodhead Cardinals sealed their out-right league title with an 84-54 drubbing of Jefferson (1-23, 1-17 RVC) Feb. 24 in the regular season finale. The Cardinals finished the regular season 18-6 overall record with a 15-3 mark in the Rock Valley, winning the league by two games over East Troy (17-7, 13-5) and McFarland (15-8, 13-5).
Four senior Cardinals reached double figures, and another was a point away. Brady Malkow had a triple-double, tallying 12 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists in the final regular season game of his career. Josiah Engen scored 21 points, and Owen Leifker finished with 22 on a perfect 10-for-10 night from the floor, which included a pair of 3-pointers. Gage Boegli also hit two 3s to finish with 13, and junior Aidyn Vondra added nine points for Brodhead, which led 44-29 at halftime.
Brodhead shared the ball with efficiency all night, assisting on 32 of 35 baskets (91.4%) while turning the ball over just nine times. Leifker averaged 21.1 points per game this season, third most in the conference. Malkow’s 10.4 rebounds per game were a conference-best.
Up next for the Cardinals is a WIAA Division 4 regional quarterfinal at home against Parkview (8-15) on March 1. The winner will travel to No. 3-seed Marshall (18-6) in the second round on March 4, with the regional championship the following day.
Pecatonica 58, Juda 43
BLANCHARDVILLE — The Vikings ended the regular season on a high note, knocking off Six Rivers East rival Juda Feb. 24.
Pecatonica worked its way out to a 25-18 lead at halftime, and outpaced the Panthers 33-25 in the second half.
Senior Hunter Enloe led the Vikings (10-13, 7-5 Six Rivers East) with 16 points, while teammate Kegun Brunker finished the game with 15. Coy Ruegsegger chipped in with nine points.
Aaron Makos led Juda (1-23, 1-11) with 20 points, while Mason Kammerer had 11 and Ward Steinmann eight.
Pecatonica is a 10-seed in the WIAA Division 5 boys playoffs and will travel to Burlington Catholic Central (3-21, 0-16) in the first round, with the winner playing either Juda or 2-seed Cambria-Friesland (16-8).
Cuba City 82, Darlington 54
DARLINGTON — The Redbirds closed out the regular season on Feb. 24 at the mercy of hot-shooting Cuba City, which played without leading scorer Carter Olson (19.9 points per game).
The Cubans were 9 of 18 (50%) from beyond the arch, 11 of 15 (73.3%) from the free throw line and 31 of 53 from the field (58.4%). The Redbirds, meanwhile were just 3-for-17 (17.6%) from deep, 11-for-17 (64.7%) from the line and 20-for-56 (35.7%) from the field.
Cody Hautakker led the Cubans with 25 points, 18 points above his per game average this season. Max Lucey (21), Ian Hinderman (14) and Mason Reese (13) also reached double figures, with each scoring 4-6 points above their season average to cover the loss of Olson.
Carver Fitzsimons (13) led Darlington in scoring, with Hunter Hardyman (10), Easton Evenstad (10) and Will Murray (9) all at or near double figures. Fitzsimons added 10 boards for the double-double.
The Cubans (22-2, 12-2) finished tied atop the SWAL standings with Mineral Point (21-4). Darlington (17-7, 9-5) finished fourth in the league.
Cuba City was seeded fourth in its subsectional and will host Boscobel in the first round March 1. Darlington netted a 2-seed on the other side of the bracket, and received a first-round bye, with the winner of Pardeeville (16-8) and Poynette (3-21) headed to DHS n the second round on March 4.
Argyle 58, Albany 40
ALBANY — The Orioles won the regular season finale against Albany Feb. 24.
Willie Helfvogt led Argyle with 15 points, while Carson Brewer of Albany matched the high school.
The two teams battled for the opening half, with Argyle going on a 10-3 run over the final 5:30 of the half to take a 24-15 lead into the break. In the second half, the Orioles came out strong and led by 13 with nine minutes to play in regulation. The lead expanded to 56-38 just seven minutes later.
In other area season-finale games, Barneveld defeated Black Hawk 57-36 on Feb. 25, while Monticello beat Benton 62-46 the following evening.
