MADISON — For the first time in history, the New Glarus Glarner Knights are state champions. On March 16, the Glarner Knights defeated the Oshkosh Lourdes Knights 67-62 in the WIAA Division 4 state championship at the Kohl Center in Madison.

As cousin Jaden Kreklow dribbled in the back court to wind out the final five seconds, senior Zach Feller collapsed to his knees at half-court, overcome by emotions.

“It was extremely emotional for me,” Feller said. “I know it’s my last career game, but I can’t picture a better way to go out. I felt all the emotions hit me at once and just took a knee at mid-court and my teammates came and picked me up.”

Along with Belleville as the Sugar River Raiders, New Glarus has won two track and field state championships (1996, 2012). But this boys basketball title is the first solely won by New Glarus High School.

“We’ve been working for this since third grade,” senior Trevor Gassman said. “This is what we’ve been wanting. This is what we dreamed about going to bed every single night. There’s no better feeling than putting that first state champion sign up for the school.”

New Glarus, which led most of the game, had its lead trimmed to just two points with 2:03 left after a pair of Preston Ruedinger free throws. But the Glarner Knights kept their composure with the lead — whether it was Kreklow dribbling through half-court traps, Mason Martinson snagging key defensive rebounds, or both players hitting clutch bonus free throws down the stretch run.

“Jaden, we want the ball in his hands at the end of the game. If the game is on the line, you don’t see him get too rattled. He’s as cool of a character as we’ve ever had in our program and I think he demonstrated that down the stretch today,” New Glarus coach Travis Sysko said. “He’s the best player to go through New Glarus, that’s for sure. I think he’s one of the best point guards in the state and also one of the most humble. It’s always been about winning for him, never about the numbers. And you see the numbers he puts up, they are ridiculous.”

Kreklow finished with a game-high 22 points, while Martinson had 17 points and nine rebounds. 

“He’s just so shifty. He gets you going one way and then the other. He’s the best guard we’ve faced all year, bar none,” Lourdes coach Brad Clark said of Kreklow.

As well as Kreklow, Martinson and Feller (12 points) played offensively, it was the defensive play of New Glarus that stuck out for many in the crowded arena. Gassman was tasked with guarding Henry Noone, the winner of the WisSports.net Best Shooter Award. Noone came into the contest averaging more than 21 points per game with nearly five 3s a night at an almost 60-percent shooting clip.

“Trevor Gassman did an outstanding job. He’s been one of our lock-down defenders all year,” Sysko said. “We thought Trevor would be a good matchup, because he’s got some more length than some of our guys to get out on that 3-point line.”

Noone, who went 5-for-11 in the game and just 1 of 5 from deep, said Gassman kept him out of rhythm.

“They were running me off the 3-point line a lot,” Noone said. “Gassman played great defense, so tip your hat to him. He played a great game.”

Ruedinger led Lourdes with 17 points, while Hayden Jones had 16 and Benny Huizenga 13. As a team, Lourdes was just 5-for-17 from deep (29.4 percent), which was nearly 15 percent under its average. Neither team led by more than five points and there were 18 lead changes and 12 ties in the game.

Gassman grabbed five rebounds and scored five points, but spent the final game of his high school career doing the little things that don’t show up in the box score in order to get the W.

“We knew what (Lourdes) do offensively — set screens and get a screen. They are a bunch of shooters, and the best I could do was to fight over those screens and just try to get a hand in his face and make it difficult for him to shoot the ball,” Gassman said of defending Noone.

Connor Siegenthaler struggled offensively throughout the first half, missing all four 3s he attempted. Defensively, he collected three early steals that helped keep the ball out of the hands of Lourdes’ shooters. Siegenthaler’s teammates were behind him despite the shots not falling. In the second half, the junior sharpshooter hit two big 3s that kept New Glarus in the driver’s seat.

“I kept telling Connor to keep shooting — they are going to go down,” Feller said. “That kid, every time it seems like we need a big shot, he’s the one who knocks it down.”

The first half closed with some fire, as Feller hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Knights into the locker room with a 37-35 advantage.

“That was a big shot for us. Jaden drew a lot of attention when he went into the lane, and he was able to kick it out and fortunately I was able to knock it down. It gave us some momentum going into the half,” Feller said.

As the minutes closed out in the second half, both fan bases were cautiously awaiting the conclusion. Knights junior Darris Schuett stared at the ground from the bench as Martinson attempted free throws in the final minute.

But the horn blew, and New Glarus found itself etched into the history books.

“These guys did what they have done all year — they found a way. They hit shots when they needed shots, they got stops when they needed stops,” Sysko said. “Lourdes Academy is a heck of a team — one of the best, actually probably the best shooting team I’ve ever seen. That was a fun game — back and forth. What a way to win a state championship.”

The Glarner Knights hopped on the bus almost immediately to head back to their hometown, where a caravan of fire and EMS vehicles led a procession through the village before a pep rally that drew nearly a full gym of red, white and blue supporters. The town of about 2,100 people sold 1,435 presale tickets for the tournament’s semifinal. Many of those same supporters waited around the gym for high fives, selfies and autographs after the game.

“I’m trying to soak this all in. It’s pretty amazing, to be honest with you,” Sysko said. “This team, this community, these fans — it’s just been unbelievable what they’ve done for us and these boys. It’s hard to put into words.”

WIAA Division 4 semifinal

New Glarus 44, Roncalli 41

The Glarner Knights executed a 2-3 zone to near perfection, rattling the defending state champion in the semifinal March 14.

“I thought our defense was as good as it’s been all year,” Sysko said after the game. “We’ve been preaching defense all year. It’s a focal point in practice every night.”

Roncalli entered the game unbeaten in 26 tries, but Sysko and his staff turned to a defensive scheme used only for a couple minutes in the opening game of the season. The Jets struggled to adjust and finished with its lowest scoring output of the season — by 12 points.

“The 2-3 tonight — we haven’t played a 2-3 all year. We played a couple of minutes early in the year against Monticello,” Sysko said. “But it worked. If you are going to play zone, you have to be able to guard the ball, and these guys are great defenders.”

New Glarus played nearly 12 minutes in man-to-man defense, but then switched to the zone with about six minutes to play in the first half. Sysko said he originally planned to try it earlier in the game — but forgot to implement it until an assistant reminded him during a TV timeout. The scheme worked well, and the Knights held the Jets to just two points the rest of the half.

“Watching their films … I saw (when) some teams zone them, I just thought they played a more traditional zone offense. They didn’t do as much screening or cutting, and I thought maybe that could be to our advantage,” Sysko said. “We talked about coming out in our zone during TV timeouts, and if it worked stay with it for a couple of possessions. We never came out of it until the last possession of the game.”

In the first half, New Glarus found itself down by six, but Feller rattled off an 8-0 run on his own — a drive to the rim and two deep 3s — to put the Knights up 29-27 with 2:52 to go before halftime.

Kreklow took over in the second half, scoring 11 points including the go-ahead basket on a putback with 1:11 left. He added another free throw with 22 seconds left to seal the win.

“I think that in the second half they were starting to come out on me a little bit more, and I was able to get into the lane a little bit more and get my shot up,” said Kreklow, who added he will likely attend UW-Platteville next year but is undecided if he will play basketball. Kreklow is the all-time leader in school history in assists and scoring.

Kreklow scored 21 points to lead all scorers, while Feller added 13 and Martinson eight. Feller was 3 of 5 from deep, while the rest of the team finished 0-for-11. The Knights also finished 1-for-3 at the free throw line and were outrebounded 36-20, including giving up 16 to Roncalli on the offensive glass.

“They made more plays down the stretch. That was it. I tip my cap off to them,” Roncalli coach Joe Garceau said of the Knights.

Chombi Lambert was held to 12 points on 4 of 17 shooting. Ian Behringer had 10 points and 14 rebounds, and Matt LeVene finished with nine points for Roncalli. Lambert averaged 22 points per game coming in. Behringer and LeVene averaged nearly 30 points per game combined, and all three players came in shooting over 39 percent from deep.

“They were up in our shorts. They weren’t giving us good looks and were trying to take Chombi away,” Garcaeu said. “I just felt like at times the ball got too sticky in our hands and we weren’t able to move it the way we’d like with the way they packed it in.”