Bulldog determination
Cedarburg outlasts Washington in 2OT
MADISON – John Diener had a record day, but it was Jordan Johnson who had the final say.
The senior guard hit a three and sank two free throws in the final 35 seconds Friday night to lift Cedarburg to a 73-70 doubleovertime victory over Milwaukee Washington in a WIAA Division 2 state semifinal at the Kohl Center.
Next for the Bulldogs (25-2) will be La Crosse Central in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
“There’s so many variables in a game like that,” Cedarburg coach Tom Diener said. “Shooting and passing and strategies and stuff, but a big part of winning a championship game or a game like that just comes down to mental and physical toughness and we’ve been working on that for four years. … From Day 1 we talked about mental and physical toughness.”
The championship game will be the first for Cedarburg but the eighth for Tom Diener, who took Milwaukee Vincent to the final seven times and won five titles.
John Diener was in the locker room with many of his fa-
ther’s teams over the years, and perhaps that taste of state experience helped settle him in Friday.
The 6-foot-4 junior guard finished with 46 points, the most in a state tournament game regardless of division. He beat previous all-division record of 45 set by Appleton West’s Brian Butch in 2003 and smashed the old D2 mark of 33 points that was shared by Monroe’s Brett Stangel (2007) and Mitch Tordoff (2009).
Diener entered play shooting 46.5% overall and 43% from threepoint range, numbers he lived up to with a 16for-29 night that included 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range.
“Every game I have the same approach. I try and let the game come to me, be an unselfish player and help this team win,” he said. “That’s what I did tonight. My teammates got me the ball in some good positions and I was able to knock some shots down.”
Diener’s play, however, was just one reason the game was a classic. The contest featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes and an end to remember.
A 52% shooting for the year hitting 41.6% from three-point range, Johnson had made just 2 of 9 shots before his go-ahead three from the corner. In order to get the shot, however, senior Jared Short had to run down a miss by Diener and Johnson needed the help of a screen from Clayton Van Tassel to get free.
“I struggled a little bit with my shooting all day,” said Johnson, who finished with 17 points. “My teammates continued to get me open and good looks and I was able to get one to go down in the last minute.”
“Not any one,” Tom Diener added. “The biggest one.”
Washington (22-5) wasn’t done, though. Junior guard Jordan Dinsmore got the ball inside to senior Jalen Stephen-Holmes, who scored with 12.8 seconds left.
Unlike the pros, the clock in the high school game continues to run after a made basket in the final minute. Washington didn’t immediately call a timeout and the officials didn’t make a five-second call. Washington finally stopped the clock with 2.9 seconds left, down 71-70.
“We wanted to play for the 5-second count, but I saw the clock kept running and we had to hurry up and tell them to commit a foul so the time wouldn’t run off to give us an opportunity to make a basket,” Washington coach Freddie Riley said.
“But that was crucial, those 10 seconds that ran off. But I don’t want to say that led to the deciding factor of the game."
Riley went on to point out his team’s free throw shooting — the Purgolders shot 16 for 25 (64%) for the game and 11 for 19 (57.9%) in the second half — and credited Diener’s play and lamented a first half in which his team fell behind by 10 points.
The Bulldogs won their fourth straight game by three points or less to advance to the title game.
“The ball has to bounce the right way when you win four like that,” Tom Diener said. “You’ve got to get a little break here or there. But hard work and commitment and toughness tend to get some of those breaks, too.”
La Crosse Central 78, Waunakee 56: Wisconsin recruit Kobe King finished with 28 points on 10for-17 shooting to lead the Red Raiders, who raised their record to 25-2. They led by as many as 24 points.