DARLINGTON — The Darlington Redbirds are back in the Division 4 sectional for the second year in a row after pounding Belleville 84-42 on Friday, March 6 and Iowa-Grant 75-42 on Saturday, March 7 to win the regional championship.
Against the Belleville Wildcats, the Redbirds jumped out to a 17-7 lead on senior Broker Buscher’s three-pointer with 13:00 to go in the first half. Senior Cagyn Paisley’s fast-break basket with 5:52 left in the first half gave the Redbirds a comfortable 37-8 lead. Senior Jackson Scholey of Belleville made two free throws to close the first half, but Darlington held a 47-23 halftime lead.
Buschor’s four-point play in the second half pushed Darlington ahead 81-41 with 7:02 to play and began a running clock. Buschor led the Redbirds with 21 points. Junior Zeke Zuberbuhler had 20 points. Sophomore Ryder Fitzsimons had 19 points for Darlington. Senior Jackson Scholey topped the Wildcats with 21 points. Seniors Hazeon Edmond, Isaac Patrow, and Cooper Nemec played in their last game for Belleville.
After the game, Buschor talked about how hard it is to stop any one of the Redbirds’ scoring options. “That’s what is great about our team this year. We’ve got multiple guys that can go off on any given night and that’s hard to scout. We’re more unselfish this year than last year and hope we’re not done,” exclaimed Buschor.
In the regional championship game against the Iowa-Grant Panthers, Darlington started out strong, taking an 11-0 lead on threes by junior Dante Glendenning and sophomore Ryder Fitzsimons, a basket on an offensive rebound by Buschor, and back-to-back baskets by Fitzsimons. The Birds got an 18-11 lead with 9:00 to play in the first half, then Zuberbuhler made five straight baskets and the Redbirds went on a 25-5 run to take a 43-16 halftime lead.
Buschor got a three-point play to begin the second half and connected on another three to put Darlington ahead 56-16. Zuberbuhler’s basket made it 60-20 with around 12:00 left. Glendenning’s three-point play sent Darlington to a 70-23 lead with 9:50 left and less than a minute later, the running clock was started.
Zuberbuhler was the top scorer for Darlington with 20 points. Glendenning notched 17 points. Buschor had 15 points and nine rebounds and Fitzsimons finished with 12 points. Iowa-Grant was led by Treaton Loeffelholz with 11 points.
Darlington coach Tom Uppena pointed out to Darlington beginning the game in attack mode and building a big lead. “We came out fast and we were ready to attack whatever they threw at us, and defensively for them they tried to mix things up and slow it down, but I thought we did a good job of attacking and keeping the pressure on them, said Uppena.
Darlington (23-3, No. 1 seed) will face the Cambridge Blue Jays (17-9, No. 2 seed) at Dodgeville in a Division 4 sectional semifinal on Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the sectional championship against either Lomira or Pardeeville on Saturday, March 14.
