Prairie boys beat Westby, defeat 2023 Division 4 state champ Luther in two overtimes
Prairie’s Sam Kramer guards Westby’s Caleb Johnson during the Hawks 67-49 victory over the Norsemen. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Owen Teynor (44) pulls down a defensive rebound during the Hawks win over the Norsemen. Prairie du Chien collected two double-digit wins for their first two victories of the year. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie du Chien’s Abe Amundson looks for a teammate after being trapped by Norse players near the Westby bench. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Brady Lenzendorf corrals a loose ball before bringing it up court for the Hawks. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Hunter Straka looks to get around his defender, Westby's Beckett Brueggen, during a close first half. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Nick McCullick waits for a teammate to get open to get the ball away from Norseman defender Gavin Larson. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Senior teammates Tyler Harris (34) and Max Schneider (50) get their hands up on defense to make passing difficult for Westby senior Quinn Bergdahl. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie senior Zach Mezera (14) looks to swing the ball away from Westby junior Zach Bjorklund as teammate Owen Teynor (44) looks on. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
By Derick Kelly
The Prairie du Chien boys basketball team turned last week’s heartbreaking losses to Dodgeville and Marshfield Columbus Catholic into two potential season changing victories this week.
The Hawks welcomed the Westby Norsemen to the Prairie du Chien Field House on Tuesday, Dec. 19 looking to capitalize on their stellar play as of late. After a back-and-forth first half that saw Prairie cling to a 27-26 halftime lead, it was all Blackhawks in the second half. The Hawks wasted little time in extending their lead to double digits as they kept the visitors at bay. Prairie outpaced the Norseman 40-23 scoring wise in the second half as they claimed a 67-49 victory.
Prairie du Chien improved their record to 1-5 on the season with the win, while Westby dropped to 3-5.
Next up for the Hawks was hosting the defending Division Four state champion Onalaska Luther Knights on Thursday, Dec. 21. The Knights also came into the game ranked sixth in Division Four in the latest Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association rankings.
Following a low scoring first half in which Luther held onto a 25-21 lead at halftime, the Hawks came out with another strong second half on both offense and defense as they outscored the visitors 36-32 to force overtime for the second time in three games.
Neither team could get much going in the first overtime as just eight total points were scored by both teams and so came overtime number two with the two teams tied 61-61.
This time it would be all Prairie. The Hawks took advantage of two Luther starters fouling out to take a quick 65-61 before stretching it to double digits by the end of the game thanks to clutch shooting from the field and at the free throw line. Prairie du Chien claimed a 78-66 lead to earn the second win in a row and improve their record to 2-5 on the season, while Onalaska Luther saw their record slip to 5-2.
According to program records, the double overtime win over Luther was Prairie du Chien boys basketball’s first victory in a multiple overtime game since the legendary quadruple overtime game at Cuba City on February 14th, 2002 in which the Hawks won 74-73 on a Joe Delagrave shot at the buzzer. It was also the Hawks first multiple overtime win at home since January 24th, 2002 when the Hawks defeated La Crosse Central 68-65 in two overtimes. As far as I can tell, this was just the fifth time in program history that PdC boys basketball has won a multiple overtime game (the other two occasions happening at Lansing Kee in 1980 and at La Crosse Central in 1987).
It also appears that this was also Prairie boys basketball’s first win over a defending state champion since December 10, 1977 when the Hawks beat Winona Cotter (MN) by a score of 72-52. Cotter was the defending Minnesota Class A state champion at the time. I believe this was just the fifth time in program history that Prairie boys basketball has beaten a defending state champion with the other three occurrences coming in the 1946-47 (Reedsville) and 1923-24 (Wisconsin High (a now-defunct high school in Madison) and Osage, Iowa).
With Prairie du Chien football defeating La Crosse Aquinas in the season opener this past August, the victory over Luther marks the second time this school year that a PdC athletic team has knocked off a defending state champion. It is not currently known if this is the first time in school history that the Hawks have beaten a defending state champion teams in two different sports in the same school year, but I strongly believe that it had never been done before.
Next up for PdC is the annual two-day Lewiston Auto Holiday Classic at Winona State on Dec. 29 and 30. The Hawks will take on Dover-Eyota, Minn at 10:00 a.m. on Friday morning and Winona Cotter at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
