Mature classes prove they have what it takes to win
By Ginna Young
After a day of catching up and some good-natured ribbing, throw in a basketball game and you have the Cadott Alumni tournament. Taking place April 19, the top two teams who earned their way to the championship game, met in a fierce battle.
The Black Team, made up of the Classes of 2005 and back, took on the White Team, of the Classes of 2019-20.
Although they had youth on their side, White didn’t have an easy go of it, even though Black missed their first shot on a rejection from Noah Kahl. That led to Coy Bowe putting in a lay-up under his own basket.
Kraig Western attempted to even the odds, but instead the rebound went to White and Bowe took another layup, followed by a steal on the other end, then a long pass to Andy Hinzman, for an easy basket. White was up early on, 6-2.
However, the more experienced team wasn’t backing down and on a back-door pass from Western to Tony Riley, Black cut the lead to two. Ryan Woratschka then connected on a three-point shot and Black was in the lead.
That didn’t last long, as Bowe was fouled at the other end and made one of two free throws, to tie up the game. Not long after, Bowe was fouled yet again, making both free throws this time, to go back up on top.
On the other end, Riley drained a three to take back the lead and after a missed shot by White’s Mason Poehls, Blake Pozarski was fouled for Black, making one of two from the charity stripe. Bowe was fouled on the other end, but missed both attempts, while on Black’s end, Roy Spindler kicked it out to Western, who made White pay by swishing a three.
White needed to get back in the game, so Dylan Sonnentag tried his hand at a three-pointer, to no avail and it went out-of-bounds to Black. Sonnnetag tried to redeem himself on the other end, by chasing a lose ball out-of-bounds, but it stayed with Black.
Once White got the ball back, a nice screen from Nate Schley allowed Poehls to drive to the basket, but the shot missed and Riley took advantage of it, knocking down a three on his end, to go up by five points, with 8:45 left in the first half. Pozarski then got some air on his way to the basket, to extend the lead to seven for Black.
White called a timeout to regroup, but it didn’t work, as Hinzman was stripped of the ball on the way up court. Black couldn’t capitalize and when he got the chance, Schley drove to the basket for a lay-up, to cut the lead down to five.
A couple minutes ensued of a run-and-gun with no results for either team, but finally, Western made a turnaround lay-up on a pass from Spindler. White knew time was running short before the break, with Hinzman getting a quick score from a pass ahead, cutting the lead to one, but Chris Zenner knocked down a three for Black, wiping that out.
As time ran out in the second half, Black took a fourpoint lead into the break.
When the second half started, Black knew they had some fouls to give and used them, throwing off White’s game. With some back-and-forth, Riley drove to the basket to put Black up by four, with 15 minutes left to go in the game. Western then gave a no-look pass under the basket to Riley, but on the other end, Bowe shot a turnaround jumper, to keep the game within reach.
Poehls then hit a three and the lead was down to one. After an injury to Randy Nye, who was attempting a long pass to a teammate, Black had a run of good luck and was back up by five, with just over 10 minutes to go. Both teams dried up after that and couldn’t buy a basket, until Hinzman was fouled and made one of two free throws.
White was still down by four, with 8:30 left to go, when Woratschka drew a foul going baseline. He made both the free throws, but Bowe then connected on a three on his end, to cut into the lead.
Shots just wouldn’t fall for White, while Black couldn’t go wrong, up by six, with five minutes left to play. Poehls got hot and rattled in a three, with Bowe making one of two shots at the line. Black wouldn’t quit and stayed up by five, while drawing fouls to make some easy points.
“We’re in the bonus, be strong,” yelled Riley. And strong they were, even as they got hammered by the younger players. Western took Riley’s words to heart and went down hard on his end of the court, so hard, he couldn’t knock down his free throws. White, getting desperate as seconds ticked off, couldn’t capitalize and starting fouling to stop the clock.
Poehls attempted a three-pointer on his end, but instead, was fouled in the act and knocked in three points the old-fashioned way. White had the score to within three and the momentum switched to them. Poehls threw a quick pass ahead to Kahl, who made a shot under the basket to go within one.
With 6.4 seconds left and the championship on the line, Pozarski was at the line, making one of two to seal a 49-45 victory for Black.
[caption id="attachment_333349" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Falling shy of going home with the championship trophy, were the Classes of 2019-20 and ending as the runners-up, left to right, are Andy Hinzman, Dylan Sonnentag, Noah Kahl, Mason Poehls, Coy Bowe and Nate Schley. (To the left) Playing a game while the men played basketball, the Classes of 2009-present took a 3-0 win for bragging rights and to prove they still got it. Joining together to have a fun volleyball match over alumni weekend, left to right, in front, were Tina Eslinger (1999), Taylor Davis (2018), Cheyann Seibel (2018) and Autumn Yeager (2021). In the middle, are Mandy Sullivan (1999), Zadie Oemig (2004), Stephanie Geissler (2009), Alexandra Bowe (2021), Becca Blanchette (2000) and Erin Crank (2005). In back, are Rayan Marion (2004). Alli Krucas-Peterson (2006), Deidra Rykal (2000), Lynsey Grissman (2000), Sara Raemtsma (2000), Codee Peterson (2000), Jennifer Brahn (1999) and Erin Sullivan (1999). Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]
