“We just always fight. We’re going to come back next year, and we’re going to be the same fighters. We’re not going to hang our heads. I mean, every single person had their head up in the locker room,” Wabasso head coach Scott Leopold said. “They’re sad that the seniors are leaving, and that we kind of have to start over for next year, but yeah their fight was good. They’ll be back next year, they want it. We will be back for sure.”

The Rabbits faced a 14-point deficit at halftime, and although getting some good looks to fall, CMCS’s offensive power and pressure were ultimately too much to halt and overcome. Wabasso faced turnover troubles throughout the night, while the Bluejays continued making their shots.

“We just wanted to try and be aggressive, play our game, maybe try and speed them [CMCS] up a little bit so that we could maybe outrun them a little, because I know they’re not very deep on the bench,” Leopold said. “That’s just kind of what we tried to do, is speed them up.”

Particularly, CMCS junior 6-foot-7 forward Asher Wieberdink had 22 first-half points and continued to be a force in the paint on the defensive end. The Bluejays also held Brayden Guetter and Caden Frericks, two of Wabasso’s primary playmakers, to single-digit scoring.

Photo by Samantha Davis: The Wabasso boys basketball team takes a picture with their silver medals after being named the Section 3A North subsection runners-up after playing Central Minnesota Christian Saturday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Rabbits conclude their season 26-4 overall.

Jayden Remiger opened the second half with a 3-pointer, just as Drew Kemp did the same a few minutes later to bring Wabasso within 55-39 with just under 14 minutes to go.

Kemp performed well at the perimeter throughout the night, finishing with a team-high 16 points on 4 of 6 shooting from deep.

Trying to get some Rabbit momentum going, Tavyn Larson drew a charge while Frericks attacked the basket on the other end to also draw a foul, making one of his free throws.

Yet CMCS often responded quickly and returned the favor whenever Wabasso got a shot to fall, continuing to pull away for the remainder of the game.

“Honestly, I think that they’re [CMCS] just a very good team. Every 50-50 ball kind of went their way,” Leopold said. “We wanted to turn them into jump shooters, and they hit every shot. So, it’s just that I think they flat out did not miss, and they’re a good team.”

Kemp made another 3 with 10:45 to go, but a Bluejays layup gave them back a 20-point lead, 63-43.

Leopold subbed out his seniors with a few minutes remaining, while also letting center Josh Timm finish out the game.

Frericks led Wabasso with 10 rebounds and 5 points, while Jack Burns finished with 6 points, shooting 2 of 3 from deep, along with a team-best four assists.

Wabasso and CMCS initially got off to a 12-12 start, with both teams seeing efficient production from the perimeter and inside.

Guetter also had 6 of the Rabbits’ first 9 points, but CMCS attempted to lock him down as the half went on and contested his shots more heavily, limiting him to 8 first-half points and didn’t allow him to score in the second.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Wabasso junior Caden Frericks grabs the offensive rebounds and begins to go back up in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North subsection championship Saturday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Rabbits fell to the Bluejays 90-64, and conclude their season 26-4 overall.

Wabasso played some zone defense coverage and light full-court pressure, but the Bluejays caught the hot hand from the 3-point line while forcing a string of Rabbit turnovers to begin pulling away to as much as a 17-point lead, 44-27.

The Bluejays went into the break with a 47-33 halftime lead.

CMCS was last ranked second in the state in the final regular-season coaches polls, and entered Saturday 27-1 on the season. The Bluejays’ last loss came nearly two months ago on Jan. 10 to Class 2A No. 5 Minnehaha Academy.

The Maroon and Gold traveled well on Saturday, packing the stands at SMSU and making its support known. Following Wabasso’s semifinal win over Dawson-Boyd on Tuesday, Guetter expressed his excitement about the team getting the opportunity to play on the Mustangs’ court.

“I wanted to come over early so that they could kind of get out there. I’ve never been here either, so it was cool for them to get in there and just feel the energy and everything before all the people got in there,” Leopold said of the atmosphere. “I think we were kind of maybe a little bit awestruck at what it was. But no, I think everybody played really well. They just loved it. They loved the atmosphere.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Wabasso senior Tavyn Larson looks to attack the basket in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North subsection championship Saturday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Rabbits fell to the Bluejays 90-64, and conclude their season 26-4 overall.

Setting the winner culture at Wabasso

Wabasso has had an impressive past two seasons under Leopold’s leadership, and has been loaded with talent between height, sharp shooters and on defense in its rebounding effort.

The Rabbits have spent the majority of this season either state-ranked in the top-10 Class A coaches poll, or have been receiving votes. They also won the Tomahawk-Valley Conference championship this season, and started the year winning their first 14 games straight.

Wabasso finished 5-22 overall in the 2023-24 season, but the team and Leopold turned things around and were 10-wins better last season, going 15-12. Fast forward another year, and the Rabbits added another 11 wins to this season’s campaign, 26-4.

“I’m just proud of everybody giving it everything they had. Like I said, they were on a mission from the get-go. They wanted to stamp their names in the history books. They wanted to do stuff that no team in Wabasso has done before,” Leopold said. “We had our goal sheet that we just went off of. We kept checking off those boxes, and I know it ends and we didn’t get to check off the last few, but I still think the ones that we did check off outweigh the ones that we didn’t.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Wabasso senior Jayden Remiger brings the ball up the court in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North subsection championship Saturday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Rabbits fell to the Bluejays 90-64, and conclude their season 26-4 overall.

Frericks broke the program’s single-game rebounding record with 34 against Minneota in the section quarterfinals, then took the single-season rebounding record in the semifinals against Dawson-Boyd, where he finished with 27. He finishes this season with 498 rebounds, and the previous record was 475 set by Tanner Bock in 2013-14.

Wabasso will graduate Guetter, Remiger, Avery Eis, Larson and Timm.

“They do a little bit of everything for us. We’ve got great rebounding, we’ve got great energy, great scoring, great effort. Brayden, Jayden, Josh Timm, Avery, Tavyn, they’re just the core of what helped drive us through,” Leopold said. “They just always came to practice with good attitudes and good fight … I just thought it was a great year. They mean the world to me.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Wabasso senior Brayden Guetter begins to go up for layup in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North subsection championship Saturday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Rabbits fell to the Bluejays 90-64, and conclude their season 26-4 overall.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Wabasso sophomore Drew Kemp begins to drive to the basket in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North subsection championship Saturday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Rabbits fell to the Bluejays 90-64, and conclude their season 26-4 overall.