LENA — Jaden Kreklow became the all-time leader in assists at New Glarus during a 92-54 win over Dodgeville Nov. 30 and then added to his total in a 67-51 win over Dakota (Illinois) the next day in Lena.

“I’m personally not too big on stats and I try not to pay attention to that kind of stuff,” said Kreklow, a who surpassed former Glarner Knight Wade Torgeson. “It’s cool looking back on it, and I’ll look back on it later and be like, ‘cool, I did this.’ That’s an accomplishment that I can be proud of, but in the moment, I’m not thinking of beating any record, I just want to win.”

Kreklow is also moving up the program’s all-time scoring list, now with over 1,200 career points. The senior point guard scored 30 in the win over Dodgeville and 28 against Dakota.

“He draws a lot of attention, and we’re pretty fortunate that we’ve got some guys that can put the ball in the basket to help him get that assist record,” New Glarus coach Travis Sysko said. 

The Knights led Dodgeville 47-25 at halftime thanks to 24 points from Kreklow and eight points each from Mason Martinson and Zach Feller.

“Jaden and Zach have been four-year players for us. Pat (Craker) and Trevor (Gassman) have been three-year players. We’ve got Mason coming back as a player from last year also. We have seven seniors on this team,” Sysko said. “It’s exciting what’s taken place right now and we’ll be happy to keep it rolling.”

New Glarus hit eight 3-pointers vs. the Dodgers and finished 16 of 24 from the free throw line. Martinson and Feller each had 13 points, while Nathan Streiff had eight. Eleven Knights scored in the game. 

“One of the things that makes us stand out a little bit is that we are pretty good under pressure,” Kreklow said. “Guys are able to keep their cool and play through the adversity and keep playing consistent.”

In the border battle win over Dakota, Kreklow got support on offense from a familiar face — Feller, a fellow 1,000-point scorer. The senior wingman hit two key 3-pointers in the first quarter and added two more 3s in the second half, totaling 20 points.

“It’s definitely nice having him there so I can get a couple easy assists just by tossing him the ball and having him make it,” Kreklow said. 

Kreklow scored just four points in the first quarter, but had 12 of his team’s 14 points in the second, including a buzzer-beating 3 to up the Knights led 27-19 at the break. 

Dakota hung with New Glarus in the third quarter, which was capped by a half-court buzzer-beater that made it 47-38. But the fourth quarter was all New Glarus, which outscored the Indians 20-13.

“I thought the tempo picked up, especially in the fourth quarter, which plays into our favor. I think we wore them down with our press and they started to take the ball away a little bit. You play good defense and get some turnovers and all of a sudden the shots start falling,” Sysko said. “We had the game last night (Nov. 30), so I don’t think the legs were quite there, but there are no excuses.”

New Glarus (4-0) has a full week of practice before facing Mauston in a nonconference game Dec. 8 at JustAgame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells.

“We’ve won all of our games, which is a pretty good sign. We’ve all been playing together for a while, so it’s just nice having that chemistry going,” Kreklow said.