NEW GLARUS — In an overtime game that featured seven ties and 12 lead changes, Darlington bested New Glarus 69-63 in its season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
In last year’s match up, New Glarus defeated Darlington 62-56 on the road. Senior Dain Walter had a double-double with 23 points and 21 rebounds. The Knights missed his presence at the rim this year, as they gave the Redbirds too many second-chance opportunities with rebounds.
“That was the difference in the game, by far,” Darlington head coach Tom Uppena said of his team’s rebounding. “We cleaned house in there. That was Carver and Will and all those other guys that just went in and got it. We talked about getting extra possessions throughout the course of the game with our defense and rebounding, and that was one of our keys tonight. They did it.”
Darlington scored first with a bucket from Reagan Jackson, lost the lead and quickly regained it with another shot from Brady Long.
Jack Leonard — who drained a three to put the Knights on the board — tied the game with a bucket, and Ethan Friedrich gave New Glarus its second lead. A fastbreak layup from Will Murray tied the game again, but the Knights maintained their lead with free throws from AC Strok.
The momentum of the game swung in favor of Darlington with key plays from Cannon Lancaster. He scored on back-to-back possessions for the Redbirds and took a charge from Strok. Murray fed off Lancaster’s energy and took a steal down to the other end for a score. With a second-chance bunny and reverse layup from Carver Fitzsimons, Darlington took a 17-12 lead.
This time, it was Max Marty’s turn to go off. In the closing minutes of the half, he got a pass from Friedrich in transition and scored. With a second bucket in the next possession, New Glarus took a 20-19 lead.
The two teams tied twice more in the half before Fitzsimons converted a 3-point play to give Darlington a 28-25 lead. With a charge taken by Jackson, the Redbirds looked to take the lead and momentum into the half.
Max Parman made a shot and, with just seconds left, Brett Warrell put up a shot from the corner. Brady Long blocked the shot, but Warrell tracked down the ball and drove untouched to the basket for a layup as time expired. The Knights took a one-point lead into the half.
With an opening score from Marty and free throw from Leonard, New Glarus took its largest lead of the game at four.
A pair of free throws from Murray gave the Redbirds the lead again, but the two teams exchanged the lead five more times before Darlington took the lead for good at 39-38.
Darlington extended its lead to six with a bucket from Long and 3-pointer from Broker Buschor. Aside from the final score, the deep shot gave the Redbirds its largest lead at six.
As they had all game, the Knights fought back. Leonard drew a foul on Buschor and went 2-for-2 from the line. In the next offensive possession, Parman tied the game with a deep three and a hand in his face. After two timeouts to set up a game-winning play, Parman’s buzzer 3-pointer hit the back of the rim and bounced out.
In overtime, Parman tied the game at 58 with a pair of free throws. Marty scored three points in the extra period, but Darlington was more aggressive.
The Redbirds drew four fouls and subsequently went 7-for-8 from the line to secure the win. Tagg Gille had two points all game, but his free throws put the nail in the coffin as Darlington won 69-63.
Murray finished with 21 points for the Redbirds, followed by 17 from Fitzsimons. Long also finished in double digits with 10 points.
Going into the game, Darlington knew they would have to limit Strok, but he still managed to score 17 points to lead the Knights.
“He’s as good as we are going to see. He’s a stud,” Uppena said of Strok. “He had his way with us a little bit. We rotated guys on him. We tried to put our best defenders on him. He got guys in foul trouble, which happens. We wanted to keep the ball out of his hands because they are a different team when he can touch it.”
Parman and Leonard added 14 points each to the total, while Marty chipped in 13. Despite the distributed offense, New Glarus head coach Travis Sykso knows his team is capable of more.
“We had contributions from a lot of different guys tonight. I still don’t feel like we’ve come close to our potential in terms of shooting,” Sysko said. “We saw some threes go in and out tonight that I think down the road will go down for us. That’s just part of it early in the season — we are getting our legs under us still.”
