Sullivan holds his own in D2 all-star game

DIV. 2 ALL-STAR HOOPS

Joey Sullivan had a simple goal heading into Thursday’s Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 2 All-Star Game –– just get into the scorebook.

Playing with some of the state’s top talent, Sullivan did more than that, hitting three shots from the field for seven points, playing solid defense and chipping in with a couple of rebounds and assists and added a steal in the Red team’s 124-111 victory over the White team Thursday at JustAGame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells.

One of the shots the recent Medford graduate sank was one of the biggest in the game for the Red squad. His 3-pointer from the left corner with 8:15 left gave the Red a 96-94 lead and put the team ahead for good. Before that, the game had featured 14 lead changes and 10 ties. The teams played four 12-minute quarters.

“I was happy,” Sullivan said. “I scored seven points, but I was just happy to score. My goal was just to score a basket. To get a couple of baskets was great. I thought I played pretty good.”

Led by head coach Bill Lapp of DeForest and assistants Craig Weisbrod of DeForest and Ryan DePouw of Franklin, the Red battled back from a 64-54 halftime deficit with a 34-17 third-quarter run to take an 88-81 lead into the fourth quarter. The White started the fourth quarter with a 7-0 surge to tie it at 88-88.

New Richmond’s CJ Campbell sank a 3-pointer to put the Red ahead, but the White got buckets from Josh Terrian and Ashton Janowkski, both of Pewaukee to take a 92-91 lead. Devon Fielding of La Crosse Central made two free throws to put the Red back on top, but Menasha’s Jalen Womack was able to post up Sullivan down low and score with 8:25 left to give the White its last lead at 94-93. Ten seconds later, Sullivan hit his big 3.

“I knew I was open in the corner, but I wasn’t sure if (Fielding) was going to pass it,” Sullivan said. “He got it to me and I went up with it. When I shot it, it did not feel good at all coming out of my hand, but it went in.”

Not long after that, the Red sealed it with a 13-1 run. Leading 99-96 the team got an inside score from Wauwatosa West’s Colin Hardrick, a 3-pointer from La Crosse Central’s Noah Compan, an offensive putback from Menomonie’s Noah Feddersen, a Feddersen score off a Fielding assist, a Feddersen dunk and a driving score by Fielding that made it 112-97 with 3:10 left.

Not long after entering the game early on, Sullivan got his first basket off a back cut to pull the Red within 12-10 and he got a similar basket off a back cut and assist from Tomah’s Dustin Derousseau to cut the White’s lead to 43-42 in the second quarter.

He went three for five from the field, just missing a second-quarter 3-point try and missing a contested shot in the lane in the fourth. As is typical for an all-star game, the offenses were tough to stop once they stopped settling for 3s in the first few minutes. But Sullivan’s manto- man defensive positioning was solid throughout.

“Defensively it went pretty good,” he said. “A couple of times, I didn’t really get beat, but they were able to get some little jumpers there was no way I was going to stop. For the most part I was able to keep them in front of me. Offensively, I just didn’t want to get blocked. I almost did on my first layup. They told me it was close, but I got it up there.”

The team first assembled on Tuesday and went through two practices that included scrimmage sessions with Division 1 and Division 4 teams. Sullivan said he knocked down some shots in those scrimmages, which solidified his confidence that he could hang with the talent he was playing with. The group had another practice Wednesday and had off-the-court time to get to know each other. The All-Star Banquet was Wednesday night.

The Red team gave Sullivan a unique experience of getting to know several players he and the Medford Raiders have faced in recent seasons, including Rhinelander’s Jacksen Smith, the 6-10 Feddersen, Campbell, Derousseau and Fielding and Compan of this March’s Division 2 state runner-up La Crosse Central, who beat Medford in two close games this past season, including the WIAA sectional final at Eau Claire North.

“That was really cool,” Sullivan said. “I talked to Jacksen Smith from Rhinelander a lot about the times we played against each other. Everybody knows Medford and Rhinelander don’t like each other a lot, but we were able to have fun talking about those games. CJ was another one who was like, ‘when we played you guys we didn’t like you a lot.’ I told him, with our student section, we knew we had to heckle him a little just because we knew the kind of player he is. (Fielding and Compan) were fun to talk to. They knew we played them tough. They got us twice, but they knew we gave them some good games.”

Fielding led the Red with 20 points, Compan had 17 and Feddersen and Hardrick scored 14 apiece. Smith represented Rhinelander and the Great Northern Conference with eight points, including a pair of 3s.

Jordan Glenn of Wisconsin Lutheran led the White with 25 points, while Chris Mitchell of Green Bay Notre Dame added 21. The White lost a big piece of its game plan due to an injury suffered earlier in the week by Fox Valley Lutheran’s Josiah Butler, who Medford fans will remember lit up the Raiders for 39 points in the regional final game that Sullivan won at the buzzer on March 5.

“It was a lot of fun. It was a cool experience to play with those guys,” said Sullivan, who plans to run cross country and track at UW-La Crosse starting in the fall. “My team was tall, but they were really good too. It was a good group of guys. Playing the other D2 team, they were quick. The guard from Pewaukee and their guy from Wisconsin Lutheran were so fast. But I think I was able to hold my own.

“It was fun just hanging out with my teammates, going out to eat with them,” he added. “We got out on a jet boat tour. That was pretty cool. Going through introductions and warm-ups was really fun. Like our first six guys just went out and threw down some nasty dunks, they were throwing down windmills and stuff. It was pretty crazy.”

This marked the second year in a row Medford has been represented in the boys all-star games. Peyton Kuhn and coaches Ryan Brown and Bob Komanec went last year. Before that, the last Raider to play in the boys event was Paul Henrichs in 2002. Now at Altoona, Henrichs coached with Brown and Komanec last year.

Participants are required to fundraise before playing and coaching. The event has raised nearly $3 million in its 45-year history for the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) and Camp Wawbeck of Wisconsin Dells, the longest continuously-operating Easter Seals camp in the nation, was another main beneficiary this year. Others included Camp Hometown Heroes, Camp Wawbeek, Garding Against Cancer and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern Wisconsin.

Red teams won four of the five divisional boys matchups on Thursday, while the South won four of the five girls games over the North the previous day.

Red 31 23 34 36 –– 124 White 32 32 17 30 –– 111

Red: Devon Fielding, La Crosse Central, 20; Noah Compan, La Crosse Central, 17; Noah Feddersen, Menomonie, 14; Colin Hardrick, Wauwatosa West, 14; Dustin Derousseau, Tomah, 10; Ryne Panzer, Oregon, 9; Jacksen Smith, Rhinelander, 8; Joey Sullivan, Medford, 7; Michael Skemp, Onalaska, 4; Max Weisbrod, DeForest, 4; Marcus Tomashek, Ashwaubenon, 4.

White: Jordan Glenn, Wisconsin Lutheran, 25; Chris Mitchell, Notre Dame, 21; Josh Terrian, Pewaukee, 12; Carson Leuzinger, Monroe, 11; Matt Imig, Ashwaubenon, 11; Ashton Janowski, Pewaukee, 11; Tyson Skalecki, Union Grove, 11; Jalen Womack, Menasha, 9.

Joey Sullivan is joined by Medford head basketball coach Ryan Brown after Sullivan’s appearance in Thursday’s Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 2 All-Star Game in Wisconsin Dells.PHOTO SUBMITTED BY SHAWN SULLIVAN