NEW GLARUS — The No. 4 seed New Glarus Glarner Knights’ boys basketball season ended Friday, March 7 in a Division 3 regional semifinal loss to the River Valley Blackhawks. The No. 5 seeded Blackhawks jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the first five minutes of the first half and increased their lead to 32-8 before senior Breckyn Thompson hit a three and followed with a breakaway layup to pull the Knights to 35-13 with just over two minutes left in the first half. The Glarner Knights found themselves down 37-18 at halftime.
The Knights, who ended their season at 12-13, used a big second half rally to pull even in the first eight minutes of the second half. Sophomore Nolan Julseth and Thompson each connected on a three to get the Knights to within 37-26 with 16:12 left in the game. Thompson and senior Clayton Streiff triggered an 11-3 run that got the Glarner Knights to within 40-37. Thompson’s three-point play tied the game at 42-42 with 10:47 left. Sophomore Brent Weeden tied the game again at 44-44 with a basket with just under 10 minutes to play.
New Glarus had their chances, but just couldn’t take the lead. Junior Matt Roth’s field goal with 7:54 left got the Knights to within four points at 51-47. Junior Grady Johnson’s basket with 2:40 remaining made it 58-56 before Roth tied it at 59-59 with two minutes to go. That would be the last time the Knights scored as River Valley’s Caleb Drachenberg got a basket and made one of two free throws to put the Blackhawks on top at 62-59 with 43.7 seconds left.
The Glarner Knights were forced to foul, and twice River Valley shooters missed both free throws, giving New Glarus a chance. However, each time down the court the Knights’ three-point attempt missed. The final shot came with 2.4 seconds left as the Glarner Knights set up Julseth for a three-point attempt that hit the backboard and rim as time ran out.
“I thought the kids did a good job in the second half staying in the run and jump and we certainly made River Valley really uncomfortable out there with the trapping and rotating,” New Glarus coach Travis Sysko said.
Sysko said he was proud his team gave themselves a chance at the end.
“I think we definitely had a lot of momentum on our side. Even if we could’ve gotten to overtime, I really like our chances going to an extra frame there,” Sysko said.
Thompson led the Glarner Knights with 15 points and Julseth had 11. Roth and Streiff each scored 10 points for New Glarus.
