MINERAL POINT — They wouldn’t know it yet, but the Darlington (20-2, 11-1) boys basketball squad’s Tuesday night victory against Mineral Point (17-4, 9-3), 55-53, would have more implications than they originally thought.

Both teams got off to slow starts in Tuesday night’s game, as neither squad eclipsed into double-digit territory until 10:30, when a two-point jumper by senior Carver Fitzsimons from inside the paint gave the Redbirds a three-point tilt, 11-8. Moments later, senior Levi Carter followed with a three to extend the lead to six.

The Pointers responded with a quick two by sophomore Eli Lindsey to bring the score within four points before senior Cannon Lancaster and Fitzsimons pushed Darlington’s lead back to nine points in a 30-second timespan, forcing Mineral Point head coach Dan Burreson to call a timeout at 8:56 to slow the game down before things got out of hand.

While the timeout slowed things down, it sent the Darlington crowd and bench into a frenzy, as they knew they were getting to the Pointers. Following the timeout, nothing about how the Redbirds played screamed that the brief break slowed them down.

Only a minute later, freshman Broker Buschor went to the free-throw line for a pair of shots that he drained, followed by senior Riggs Black draining a two-pointer along the baseline, resulting from a deflected shot that landed in his hands. 

The Pointers did their best to keep up, including a layup by junior Landon Thousand to bring the game back to a 23-12 deficit for Mineral Point. Darlington responded almost immediately with a two-pointer by junior Will Murray assisted by junior Brady Long to bring the Redbird lead back to 13 points as the game crept toward the five-minute mark.

Senior Luke Kisgen drained a two-pointer for the Pointers as the clock ticked to 5:02 before Burreson called a second timeout with the hopes of collecting his team and getting them focused — this time, it worked. 

Over the final five minutes of the half, Mineral Point picked apart the Darlington lead piece by piece, led primarily by a pair of three’s by junior Alex Ross, with Thousand tallying a two-pointer and 3-pointer, and Lindsey chipping in a pair of two’s.

While the Redbirds weren’t entirely helpless to stop the Pointers charge, they didn’t do much in the way of scoring to respond to it — the only non-free throw Darlington drained was a three by Long with over four minutes to go. The Redbirds waited nearly two minutes before scoring again a pair of free throws from Will Murray and one free throw from Long.

As the half moved through its final seconds, Mineral Point found itself with the ball and an opportunity to bring its deficit to a minimum of two points. Thousand saw his chance, firing a three that swished through the hoop as time expired, sending the Pointers into the half with only two points to make up instead of five as they were down 31-29.

As Darlington opened the second half, it’s clear the focus in the locker room was on keeping the lead at all costs, as the squad opened with six unanswered points — a pair of two-pointers by juniors Reagan Jackson and Carter Murray, and a pair of free throws by Fitzsimons.

A Mineral Point timeout allowed the Pointers time to change their game plan, and while it had limited success to start as the squads traded two’s for a few minutes, Thousand spearheaded a 10-4 run that got the Pointers within four points as they saw the clock creep to the three-minute mark. 

Carter Murray pushed the advantage to six points for the Redbirds with 2:49 remaining, as their head coach, Tom Uppena, called a timeout. The pause allowed the squad time to regroup and collect themselves ahead of the nearly three-minute gauntlet that awaited them.

Mineral Point opened from the break with a Ross two-pointer that was almost a 3-point play had he made his free-throw attempt. 

Moments later, Fitzsimons drained both of his free throws in a one-and-one trip to the line. Thousand attempted to will his team to victory by keeping the differential to four points as the clock crossed the two-minute threshold.

Will Murray kept the Pointers at arm’s length with a two of his own at 1:03 to push the score to 53-47. Thousand tossed in a quick layup only seven seconds later, as Mineral Point was forced to roll the ball when they inbounded to conserve time.

After Burreson called a timeout to fire his boys up with 56 seconds on the clock, Darlington saw two separate opportunities at the free-throw line. With 50 seconds to go, Long missed his first free throw on his one-and-one trip to the line, but with 30.5 seconds left, Fitzsimons made the second of his two attempts to push the lead to five points, 54-49.

Kisgen, largely ineffective in the game to this point, saw a two-pointer sail through the hoop for the Pointers, as the clock showed 17.5 seconds left. 

Burreson took one final timeout to collect his team. When the Redbirds inbounded the ball, they got it to Fitzsimons who was immediately fouled and sent to the line for two free throws with exactly one second removed from the clock. 

Fitzsimons’ first attempt bounced around the rim a few times before falling out. His second attempt, however, found its mark, giving Darlington a much needed four-point lead, 55-51.

As Mineral Point inbounded the ball, rolling it to just short of half-court, 16.5 seconds was all it had to come up with any combination of plays to win the game or send it to overtime. 

The first attempt was a missed three, but Kisgen rebounded and connected on the put-back. Burreson attempted to call an immediate timeout, but the roar of the crowd and final horn were too much for an official to hear his plead to stop play. This is the Redbirds’ second victory over the Pointers this season and second sweep of the Mineral Point since 2020.

“I’m incredibly proud of the effort we gave,” said Uppena. “From the guys playing almost the entire game to the guys cheering their butts off on the bench, everyone was dialed in the last few days. The focus was great at practice, and our scout team guys did a great job getting us ready.”

What Darlington didn’t know in that moment was that only 30 miles to the northwest in Fennimore, a Golden Eagle squad stunned Cuba City 65-49. The victory effectively locked down at least a share of the SWAL Conference championship for Darlington — their fourth conference championship in Uppena’s seventh season as head coach for the Redbirds.

“We needed this one to keep our one-game cushion in conference, so we were pleasantly surprised to find out Fennimore helped us out by beating Cuba City,” said Uppena. “While it’s nice to be conference champs, we prefer to be outright champs. We still have some work to do to get ready for a feisty Fennimore squad on Friday.”