DARLINGTON — The third time around against Fennimore was not the charm for the No. 4-ranked Darlington Redbirds boys’ basketball team.

The fourth-seeded Golden Eagles avenged two regular season losses to Darlington by using a spirited second-half performance to rally past the top-seeded Redbirds, 47-42, in a WIAA Division 4 regional final boys’ basketball game held at Darlington High School March 2.

“The Fennimore game is a tough one to get over. We didn’t have a great night offensively and struggled to find ways to score. Our defense was really solid, but the difference between this game and the previous two was that we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole,” Darlington head coach Tom Uppena said.

The Redbirds had scored over 60 points in their two victories over the Eagles this season, but were held to a season-low 42 points in the loss. A lot of the Redbirds’ scoring woes can be attributed to the defense effort Fennimore turned in against their two leading scorers, senior Stryker Fitzsimons and sophomore Carter Lancaster.

The Fitzsimons-Lancaster combo netted 18 points in the Redbirds’ 61-50 win at Fennimore on Dec. 18, and then teamed up to score 30 points in a 60-41 win at DHS on Feb. 1. However, this time around, the Darlington duo was limited to just 10 combined points, including only two in the entire second half. 

“Credit to Fennimore for a great defensive game plan and really making things tough on us offensively,” Uppena said.

The Redbirds (20-3) scored the first five points of the game and led the whole way in the first half, but they could never pull too far in front of the Eagles (20-4).

A basket by sophomore Cayden Rankin gave the ‘Birds their largest lead of the night at 18-9 with around six minutes remaining in the half, but a 3-pointer by senior Reid Larson with 2:09 to play in the stanza capped an 11-3 run that brought the Eagles back within a point at 21-20.

Fennimore got the ball back with under a minute remaining and were trying to hold for a final shot until Lancaster swiped an errant pass and drove in for a layup at the buzzer to put the ‘Birds up 23-20 at the intermission.

A basket by senior Bryce Stone put Darlington back up by three early in the second half, but the Eagles ran off the next 10 points to turn a 25-22 deficit into a 32-25 advantage. Sophomore Adam Larson kicked off the rally with a 3 and followed with a long 2-pointer a short time later to give Fennimore its first lead of the night, then junior Kellen Kenney knocked down a pair of clutch baskets to put the Eagles up by five with 11 minutes to play.

The ‘Birds got back within one off of a trey by senior Blake Whalen with 6:39 left, and stayed right on the Eagles’ heels thanks to a pair of 3s by senior Trae Schilling and another three by Stone with 49 seconds remaining to cut the Fennimore lead to 43-42.

The Eagles went 4-for-4 from the free throw line over the final 37 seconds of play with Reid Larson and Warren Adam each sinking two foul shots to put the game away. 

Reid Larson and Kenney each finished with 12 points to lead the Eagles, while A. Larson chipped in with 10 points.

Whalen sank a pair of 3s on his way to a career-high nine points to guide the Redbirds’ attack. Stone followed with eight points, while Schilling and Lancaster chipped in with six each for the ‘Birds.

“With the success we had this season, we obviously would love to still be playing. It just wasn’t in the cards for us. We have a lot to be proud of, being outright SWAL conference champs when no one really thought we had a chance,” Uppena said. 

The Redbirds advanced to Saturday’s regional final by defeating eighth-seeded Aquinas, 55-42, in a regional semifinal game held at DHS on Friday, March 1.

Darlington started off a bit slow, but finished strong closing the game with a 16-2 scoring run to rally past the Blugolds (9-15).

The Redbirds held a 24-19 lead at the halftime break and continued to maintain the lead for much of the second half until a 3-pointer by senior Brandon Merfeld put Aquinas ahead 40-39 with 5:33 remaining.

Douglas answered back 23 seconds later with a go-ahead trey for the ‘Birds, which in turn kicked off their 16-2 run to end the game. The Redbirds’ senior finished the night with four treys on the way a season-high 14 points– one off his career high.

Lancaster led the way with a game-high 18 points for Darlington, which went 18-of-27 from the free throw stripe in the game to finish plus-16 at the line on the night. 

“I thought we maybe came out a little tight and it took us a little while to relax and play our game. Our defense was solid and we were able to keep them from making any kind of a run, and eventually our offense picked up we were able to pull away,” Uppena said. “Matt hit some big threes to jump start the offense and Carter also made some plays for us. Trae did a great job holding Merfeld well under his average.” 

Merfeld, who averaged over 18 points per game this season and went off for 28 points in Aquinas’ 61-50 win over Lancaster in their playoff opener, was the lone player in double figures for the Blugolds with 11.