Beaver Dam ousts Sauk Prairie

Three ties. No lead changes. Sauk Prairie’s boys basketball team spent the majority of the second half within arm’s reach of Beaver Dam last Friday, seemingly a possession or two away from flipping the script on the Golden Beavers. Because the Eagles were doing the chasing, though, they were forced to foul down the stretch, turning what was a close game into a double-digit win for the visitors. The fifth-seeded Golden Beavers finished with a 22-10 run, breaking open a tie game to win, 67-55 over the fourth-seeded Eagles in the WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal. Sauk Prairie finished the year 12-13, while Beaver Dam improved to 14-12 before losing to Brookfield Central, 77-33, the following night. “I thought when it got to 45-45, if we could take the lead we would break through,” Eagles coach Sean McGann said. “But every single time we got it to two, they’d hit a 3 and get it back to five. It just kind of kept going back and forth, and that’s a really hard team to play from behind because they knock down (free throws). And they all can shoot from 3, too.” Eagles’ senior guard Nicholas Keyser’s two free throws with 8 minutes, 41 seconds left made it 45-45. Then after Beaver Dam’s Parker Blank scored in the paint to make it 47-45, Keyser got back to the line and made two more free throws to tie the game again.   But back-to-back 3-pointers from junior guard EJ Salettel and sophomore guard Isaiah Yuenger —both from the left corner — started the Beavers’ big finish and closed the book on Sauk Prairie’s season.   The Golden Beavers went 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the final 2:14 to ice the game. “Beaver Dam is a team you don’t want to put to the line,” Keyser said. “All those guys are going 10 for 10 every night from the line. It’s’ a tough opponent.” Keyser finished with 12 points, second on the team to junior Otis Andres’ 15 points. It was a pretty impressive showing for Keyser considering  he rolled his ankle in practice just three nights earlier. “We were thinking he broke his fibula,” McGann said. “On Tuesday night we were like, ‘What a terrible way to end his career.’ And then (last Thursday) he was like, ‘What do you think of me playing?’ ” On Tuesday, Keyser didn’t think it was a possibility, either. It turns out it was a sprained ankle — “All swelled up and black and blue,” Keyser said — and the most optimistic timetable was that he’d be out at least a week. “I was seriously heartbroken for him,” McGann said. “I texted his family. This kid has been a three-year starter and finally gets a senior moment where he gets to have a home playoff game and for that to happen? I was devastated.” By the morning of gameday, though, Keyser’s outlook wasn’t quite as grim. It still hurt pretty bad, but the pain dissipated as the day went on. “And then I came in at 3:45 and got some shots up and said, ‘You know what, I’m going to give it a go,’ ” Keyser said. “I had (the trainer) tape it up as tight as he could possibly tape an ankle.” McGann added: “He said, ‘I just want to give it a go. If I’m bad, pull me.’ And he was effective. It didn’t even look like he got injured.” Unfortunately for Keyser and his teammates, his gutsy effort wasn’t enough to keep the Eagles’ season alive. They trailed most of the first half, but forged three ties before Beaver Dam took a 29-25 halftime lead. A short baseline jumper by Andres with 12:45 remaining in the second half tied the game, 35-35, the first of the three second-half ties. Sauk Prairie’s biggest deficit of the second half was five points until a press-break lay-up by freshman Ben Wittnebel with 2:35 left made it 56-49. “You’re never out of it. The game’s never over,” Keyser said. “If we would just have got five more minutes of that game and battled back (again) to tie it.” Beaver Dam’s sharpshooting, not just in the second half but overall, proved too much for Sauk Prairie. The Golden Beavers connected on 11 3-pointers — compared to nine 2-point baskets — and were 16-of-20 at the free throw line. Those shooting numbers were compounded down the stretch by some Sauk Prairie miscues. “The last eight minutes of the game, we made way too many mental mistakes,” McGann said. “We had some turnovers and we didn’t communicate switches (on defense).  “In a tight game like that, you have to be able to execute at a high level. They have guys who are super comfortable with the ball in their hands late, and we’re still kind of searching for that.” Sauk Prairie seniors Braden Schaaf and Trent Backerberg scored five points and six points apiece, respectively, while fellow senior Casey Brickl also chipped in with five points. The three of them, along with Keyser and Drew Deuman, wave goodbye to the program following this loss — but not without a memorable swan song. “We were the most bonded. We just have that chemistry,” Keyser said of what his lasting memory of his class’s impact and final year will be. “The chemistry of the 2025 class is unbeatable.” And for Keyser, he was thankful he got to finish things out on the court, and not watching from the bench. “That’s my favorite memory, that resilience and that motivation I had to play with these guys one last time,” he said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. “You’re not going to win ‘em all — only five teams in the state win their last game, so it’s bound to end at some point. I’m glad it was with them.” Meantime, it was a special season for McGann, too. The ups and downs, the .500 record, the home playoff loss — none of that will really stick with him as time goes on and the 2024-25 campaign ages. It’ll be the little things, and what this team meant to him personally. “Without getting too personal, I’m dealing with a lot of stuff outside of basketball,” McGann said. “And these guys were a massive distraction for me, in a good way. I looked forward to coming to practice with them every single day. They’re an awesome group.”   March 7 WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal Beaver Dam 67, Sauk Prairie 55 Beaver Dam .......... 29 38 — 67 Sauk Prairie .......... 25 30 — 55 BEAVER DAM — (fgm ftm-fta pts) — EJ Salettel 7 5-6 22, Parker Blank 1 3-3 5, Eli Johnson 0 0-1 0, Parker Stobbe 4 0-0 11, Isaiah Yuenger 5 5-6 19, Jeffrey Freund 0 3-4 3, Ben Wittnebel 3 0-0 7. Totals: 20 16-20 67. SAUK PRAIRIE — Braden Schaaf 2 0-0 5, Trent Backeberg 2 0-0 6, Jack Buckles 2 0-0 5, Casey Brickl 2 1-2 5, Otis Andres 6 0-0 15, Nicholas Keyser 3 6-8 12, Boden Breunig 1 0-0 3, Lincoln Ganser 2 0-0 4. Totals: 20 7-10 55. 3-pointers: BD 11 (Salettel 3, Stobbe 3, Yuenger 4, Wittnebel 1), SP 8 (Schaaf 1, Backeberg 2, Buckles 1, Andres 3, Breunig 1). Total fouls: BD 12, SP 22. Fouled out: Keyser.