VERONA - Cuba City High School's legendary boys basketball coach Jerry Petitgoue will have to wait until next season to pick up his 900th career win.
Darlington junior Will Schwartz scored a game-high 15 points and made some key plays in crunch time to propel the Redbirds to a 38-32 win over Cuba City in a WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal Thursday at Verona High School.
Darlington (20-5), needing just one more win to advance to the state tournament, faces La Crosse Aquinas in a sectional championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Baraboo High School.
Thursday's victory marked the Redbirds' first postseason win over the Cubans in more than 15 years. The Redbirds and Cubans have faced each other in the tournament six of the past 11 years.
"At this stage any win is a big win," Darlington coach Mike Hopkins said. "We never take anything for granted. I knew we had the potential. When Hunter Johnson got injured in the state football championship there were some questions, and we have had guys like Ryan Glendenning, Trevor Johnson and Josh Soper step up."
Schwartz scored down low with about 2 minutes, 40 seconds left to give the Redbirds a 34-30 lead. Junior teammate Brayden McDonald then came up with a clutch layup with 1:15 to go to give the Redbirds a 36-30 lead.
"We were trying to spread them out a little bit, and we got passes inside," Hopkins said. "To use an expression that has been put in Malcolm Galdwell's book, "The Tipping Point." We were at the tipping point. Those were big baskets. If we wouldn't have scored those baskets we don't know what would have happened."
Schwartz came up with a steal with 33 seconds to go. The Redbirds made 2 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
The Redbirds led by as many as 10 points in the second half.
Trevor Johnson added seven points, and Josh Soper chipped in six points for Darlington.
"They played a zone which is what we expected," Hopkins said of the Cubans. "We had a hard time penetrating and struggled shooting from the outside. We made only two 3-pointers, and we have been averaging 38 percent on shots from that range this year."
The Redbirds limited Cuba City 6-foot-4 senior Benjamin Burkholder, who was averaging 20.1 points a game, to 13 points.
"It was a hard-fought game," Hopkins said. "It was a physical game because Cuba City always plays a physical style of basketball."
Now, Darlington will have a short turnaround before it takes on Aquinas on Saturday. Darlington played Aquinas in the Jerry Petitgoue Invitational tournament twice last summer, and the Redbirds beat them both times.
"I don't put too much stock in that," Hopkins said. "That is summer and this is school basketball."
Darlington junior Will Schwartz scored a game-high 15 points and made some key plays in crunch time to propel the Redbirds to a 38-32 win over Cuba City in a WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal Thursday at Verona High School.
Darlington (20-5), needing just one more win to advance to the state tournament, faces La Crosse Aquinas in a sectional championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Baraboo High School.
Thursday's victory marked the Redbirds' first postseason win over the Cubans in more than 15 years. The Redbirds and Cubans have faced each other in the tournament six of the past 11 years.
"At this stage any win is a big win," Darlington coach Mike Hopkins said. "We never take anything for granted. I knew we had the potential. When Hunter Johnson got injured in the state football championship there were some questions, and we have had guys like Ryan Glendenning, Trevor Johnson and Josh Soper step up."
Schwartz scored down low with about 2 minutes, 40 seconds left to give the Redbirds a 34-30 lead. Junior teammate Brayden McDonald then came up with a clutch layup with 1:15 to go to give the Redbirds a 36-30 lead.
"We were trying to spread them out a little bit, and we got passes inside," Hopkins said. "To use an expression that has been put in Malcolm Galdwell's book, "The Tipping Point." We were at the tipping point. Those were big baskets. If we wouldn't have scored those baskets we don't know what would have happened."
Schwartz came up with a steal with 33 seconds to go. The Redbirds made 2 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
The Redbirds led by as many as 10 points in the second half.
Trevor Johnson added seven points, and Josh Soper chipped in six points for Darlington.
"They played a zone which is what we expected," Hopkins said of the Cubans. "We had a hard time penetrating and struggled shooting from the outside. We made only two 3-pointers, and we have been averaging 38 percent on shots from that range this year."
The Redbirds limited Cuba City 6-foot-4 senior Benjamin Burkholder, who was averaging 20.1 points a game, to 13 points.
"It was a hard-fought game," Hopkins said. "It was a physical game because Cuba City always plays a physical style of basketball."
Now, Darlington will have a short turnaround before it takes on Aquinas on Saturday. Darlington played Aquinas in the Jerry Petitgoue Invitational tournament twice last summer, and the Redbirds beat them both times.
"I don't put too much stock in that," Hopkins said. "That is summer and this is school basketball."
