Photo by Sam Thiel WWG’s Ethan Mischke goes up for a shot during their Section 3A tournament game against Southwest Minnesota Christian on Saturday. The Chargers fell to the Eagles 60-48.

MARSHALL — When the Westbrook-Walnut Grove and Southwest Minnesota Christian boys basketball teams met in this spot roughly a year ago, it went down to the final seconds where the Eagles missed a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining to give the Chargers a thrilling one-point victory.

After SWC won both regular-season matchups, the two teams met up for a third time on Saturday afternoon in the same situation, with the winner getting a chance to compete for a section championship. The second-seeded Chargers went toe-to-toe with the top-seeded Eagles in the first half, but a strong push coupled with stifling defense helped lift SWC to a 60-48 victory over WWG at Southwest Minnesota State University.

WWG coach Derrick Jenniges said they knew they were going to have to play a complete game against a challenging opponent like SWC and was pleased with how they responded from an early deficit, but added they couldn’t keep up their momentum down the stretch.

“These guys can wear you down and you know going in that you’re going to have to play for 36 minutes and they really got us coming out of the gate and that was one of our biggest concerns. It was 15-5, we could have rolled over right there, and we didn’t and were able to get that lead before the half and then have that five-point lead in the second half,” Jenniges said. “That was a pretty big swing for us and we had a decent shot to maybe go up eight and it didn’t go and they turned that rebound into a layup and it kind of tailspins from there. But to keep this number at 60 [points], for them that’s their low on the year when they score 83 a night, that was important, we just didn’t have enough offense out there and sometimes that happens.”

Tight play to start

The Chargers found their backs against the wall early, as the undefeated Eagles raced out to a 6-0 lead before pushing it to 11-4. WWG struggled to find the bottom of the basket, with its only field goal in the first seven minutes coming on a 3-pointer from Nathan Ross, but the Chargers slowly drew to within five thanks to layups from Hunter Lien and Ethan Mischke to make it 18-13 midway through the half.

After the Eagles made another strong push that put themselves up nine with six minutes left in the frame, WWG quickly responded by going on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes. Mischke tied things up by connecting on a corner 3-pointer while getting fouled and later putting in the free throw to complete the four-point play before Ross drilled a triple of his own to give the Chargers their first lead of the day at 28-25. SWC would get a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, but Lien hit a floater before making a 3-pointer to close the first half and give WWG a 33-30 lead at the break.

Jenniges felt the first half was similar to their previous matchups in that it took them some time to get settled in on offense but they didn’t make any adjustments to spark their first-half rally.

“This was kind of similar to the first two times we played them where we were down and then found our way on offense and it’s just a matter of finding the spaces,” Jenniges said. “We didn’t do anything different, we just started to recognize it a little bit better and that propelled us.”

SWC surges in

second half

With the momentum now on WWG’s side, the Chargers looked to keep things rolling in the second half. The Eagles had other ideas, however, and opened the frame with a 5-0 burst before tacking on an 8-0 run a couple of minutes later to take a 46-40 lead with 10 minutes to go.

Mischke would get a layup to go with 7:30 left to stop a nearly five-minute scoreless streak for the Chargers before Nathan Kuehl brought WWG to within five again at 49-44. But that was the closest the Chargers got, as back-to-back layups and a pair of free throws by SWC pushed the Eagles advantage to 11 with 2:28 left before they sealed the game at the free-throw line to advance to the section championship game.

Mischke led the way for the Chargers with 20 points while Ross added 11 and Lien had seven. Coltin Pilaczynski led in rebounds with 13 while Mischke led in assists with three.

Reaching a milestone

In the closing seconds of Saturday’s game, Mischke got the ball and found an open lane to the basket. He went up for the dunk, helping the junior pass 1,000 points for his career. Jenniges said it was special to see Mischke reach that mark after all of the hard work he’s put in through his career.

“To do that as a junior is really something cool and there’s no guarantee for what tomorrow brings and it was nice to work with SWC in the final seconds to make that happen. I’m sure he would rather win the game, but when you have kids who love the game and put in their time, you like to see them have that acknowledgement as well. It’s a nice accomplishment for him and he’ll work hard going forward.”

Saluting the senior

With the loss, WWG ends its season with a 20-9 record and graduates one senior in Ross. Jenniges said he’s been through a lot in his career and is proud of what Ross and the team has been able to accomplish.

“Nathan is our lone senior and he’s been through a lot in his career,” Jenniges said. “He’s been a part of four 20-win seasons and his teams have won 92 games and I think that’s towards the top in WWG school history and he’s got a lot to be proud of.”

No. 1S SWC 60, No. 2S WWG 48

WWG 33 15 — 48

SWC 30 30 — 60

Scoring: WWG (Mischke 8-15, 2-2 20; N. Ross 4-11, 0-0 11; Lien 3-8, 0-0 7; Kuehl 1-6, 4-6 6; Pilaczynski 1-4, 0-0 2; B. Ross 1-1, 0-0 2).

Rebounds: WWG 28 (Pilaczynski 13; Mischke, Kuehl 6; Lien 2; N. Ross 1).

Assists: WWG 6 (Mischke 3; N. Ross 2; Kuehl 1).

Steals: WWG 6 (Mischke, Kuehl, N. Ross 2).

Blocks: WWG 1 (Mischke).