Sauk Prairie captures No. 4 seed

Play tough competition. Hopefully, get rewarded for it. That’s always been the philosophy of Sauk Prairie boys basketball coach Sean McGann, and it certainly paid off this season. The Eagles received the No. 4 seed in their half of the WIAA Division 2 Baraboo Sectional. Sauk Prairie earned a first round bye, then will host either fifth-seeded Beaver Dam or 12th-seeded Milwaukee Marshall in a regional semifinal on March 7 at 7 p.m. If the Eagles win there — and seeds hold — they’d head to top-seeded Brookfield Central for a regional final March 8 at 7 p.m. The sectional semifinals are March 13 and the sectional finals are March 15. Brookfield Central was the top seed, followed by Wauwatosa West, Milwaukee Lutheran, Sauk Prairie, Beaver Dam, Baraboo, Golda Meir, Reedsburg, DeForest, Milwaukee Arts, Portage and Milwaukee Marshall. Mount Horeb is the No. 1 seed on the opposite side of the bracket. Sauk Prairie is 12-11 overall and 5-8 in the Badger Small Conference. So many — including McGann — were a little surprised the Eagles landed the No. 4 seed. But Sauk Prairie’s non-conference schedule was extremely strong, which played a role in their seed. “I think the seeding had to factor in our strength of schedule,” McGann said. “We play a great non-conference schedule and were able to beat some teams with good records. I was not necessarily expecting the (No.) 4 seed, but at times I think people get too caught up on the number next to the teams name. At the end of the day, you need to beat the best teams if you want to advance.” The Eagles had an up and down week before finding out about their lofty seed Sunday morning. Sauk Prairie went to Baraboo and toppled the Thunderbirds, 63-49, on Feb. 18. The Eagles then fell to Stoughton, 61-39, on Senior Night on Feb. 21. Just six weeks earlier, Baraboo came to Sauk Prairie and posted a 25-point win. So the Eagles were thrilled to return the favor. Boden Breunig led the Eagles with 16 points, while Nicholas Keyser had 14 points and seven rebounds. Lincoln Ganser added 10 points and four rebounds, Brendan Marquardt had nine points, Jake Buckles had five points and five rebounds and Braden Schaaf added five points. The Eagles also prevailed without standout Otis Andres. “We had a great win against a Baraboo team who beat us up last time,” McGann said. “For us to lose by 25 and then come back and beat them by 14 on their home floor was awesome. Doing that without Otis Andres who has carried us at times this year, speaks to our team. Lincoln Ganser, Nic Keyser, Brendan Marquardt, and Boden Breunig were all awesome in that game.” The Eagles then stumbled against Stoughton on an evening where the ‘Senior Night’ emotions ran high. The visiting Vikings jumped to a 16-0 lead and never looked back. “We got off to an awful start,” McGann said. “Being down 16-0 took a lot of wind out of our sails.  “We didn’t take care of the ball and threw a lot of our defensive principles out the window unfortunately. So it will be back to our fundamentals and being solid in those that will be key for us.”