‘Jays just short of state

Athens falls to Hurley in D-5 sectional title game

By Casey Krautkramer

The Athens varsity boys basketball team accomplished a few firsts during the 2021-22 season. Athens won backto- back Marawood North Conference championships for the first time in school history and played in its first sectional title game. The Bluejays, however, fell just short on Saturday of advancing to the state tournament for the first time in school history.

Athens’ 41-38 defeat to Hurley in the last seconds of the WIAA Division 5 sectional championship certainly doesn’t take away from the Bluejays enjoying their best season in school history. Athens concluded the 2021-22 season with a 22-7 record.

The Bluejays committed two straight turnovers on inbounds pass attempts at the end of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Northstars in the Chequamegon High School gym, which ended up costing them a shot of advancing to the WIAA Division 5 state tournament.

Athens senior point guard Cooper Diedrich’s basket tied the game at 30 points apiece with almost one minute, 50 seconds left in the sectional championship.

On Athens’ next offensive possession, head coach Jeramie Penney called a timeout with one minute, 23 seconds remaining to tell his players to play “keep away” from Hurley to take the final shot in regulation. The Bluejays passed the ball back and forth around the perimeter until coach Penney called another timeout with 21 seconds left in the game.

The problem was Hurley senior forward Matt DiGiorgio stole Athens’ sideline inbounds pass after the timeout. Hurley head coach Mike Swartz called a timeout to set up a play in which one of his team’s guards would drive down the lane and pass the ball to senior forward Tony Cummings for a shot attempt near the basket.

Cummings took the pass from his teammate and he drew Diedrich’s fifth foul that forced the Athens star player to exit the game with only 5.3 seconds remaining. Cummings made the first of two bonus free throws to give the Northstars a 39-38 lead.

Athens had another sideline inbounds attempt on offense with only 3.6 seconds remaining, but Hurley junior guard Eli Talsma stole the ball and raced down the court for a slam dunk as time expired. Hurley edged Athens, 41-38, to make its first state tournament appearance in 73 years. Hurley, 24-4, plays against Bangor, also 24-4, in a WIAA Division 5 state semifinal this Friday morning, March 18, at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Diedrich believes the Athens boys basketball team playing in the sectional championship this season will have a ripple affect on younger generations of children growing up in the small town in northwest Marathon County. He exited the locker room after the sectional title game to see his young nephew, Kash Keefe, playing with a basketball in the hallway inside Chequamegon High School.

“It just started with us trying to change the culture in Athens to make it a basketball town, and we put in the hard work to show people we can make it to this level,” Diedrich said. “I think people are going to took at Athens boys basketball a different way now, even though we came up just short of making it to the state tournament.”

Coach Penney said the team’s four seniors consisting of Diedrich, Evan Guralski, Kody Lepak and Andrew Frick have made a lasting impression on the Athens High School boys basketball program. “Our seniors have strong leadership skills,” Coach Penney said. “Our seniors might not verbally lead the younger players, but they lead by example. Sometimes telling people doesn’t work as well as showing them what to do by working hard during practices in the gym.”

It was a back-and-forth battle between Athens and Hurley in the sectional championship. Athens built a quick 5-0 advantage on Diedrich’s basket and Lepak’s three pointer. A while later, another Lepak three pointer tied the game at eight points for each team. Lepak played a strong first half by scoring nine of his total 13 points in the first 18 minutes of the game. Diedrich also had a strong first half by constantly driving down the lane to score layups or convert a midrange shot off the glass like he did to give Athens a 18-16 lead. The Bluejays and Northstars were knotted up at halftime, 20-20, after Athens junior guard Connor Sheahan’s nearly full-court shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Hurley implemented a box-in-one defense during the second half to attempt to shut down Diedrich’s drives to the basket. This defense involves one defender being the chaser playing man-to-man defense on the opposition’s best offensive threat, in this case Diedrich of Athens, while the other four defenders set up a box formation and play zone. Athens’ best two players, Diedrich and junior center Aiden Janke, were also saddled with foul trouble in the second half. Even so, the Bluejays still battled neck-and-neck with the Northstars until the very end of the sectional championship.

Diedrich scored a team-high 21 points for Athens but Hurley limited Athens’ second-leading scorer, Janke, to only two points. Diedrich also led the Bluejays with three assists and nine rebounds. Eight of his nine rebounds were on the defensive end of the floor.