‘He did the unthinkable’
Dekker’s legendary buzzer-beater capped amazing comeback by Sheboygan Lutheran
An oral history of Sam Dekker’s legendary state-title game for Sheboygan Lutheran.
Belief is a powerful thing.
It gives people faith, even in the face of the impossible.
The 2011-12 Sheboygan Lutheran boys basketball team never lost belief despite staring at almost insurmountable odds, trailing by nine points in the state championship with under 2 minutes to go.
Racine Lutheran seemingly had the WIAA Division 5 title wrapped up. But, on St. Patrick’s Day — March 17, 2012 — the Crusaders had their greenclad, four-leaf clover: Sam Dekker.
At least one parent of a Sheboygan starter began to head for the exit. Players from Dekker’s own team even admitted Racine was the better team. Sheboygan’s second-best player was self-described as a few pounds too heavy and a few inches too short.
Then Dekker did the unthinkable. He scored 12 points in 50 seconds, including his final act of the championship-winning three-pointer from 26 feet out with a defender in his face.
By doing so, he launched his career as a basketball icon in the state of Wisconsin.
Even before stepping foot in the Kohl Center for the state tournament, there was a palpable buzz around the senior Dekker. A Wisconsinite through and through, Dekker committed to play for the Badgers and head coach Bo Ryan at the end of his sophomore year. Word about the athletic 6-foot-8 wing started to spread quickly around the state and country; one of the top recruits in the state’s history had committed to the largest state school.
Sam Dekker: “My sophomore year of high school, I really grew physically and mentally, but physically very rapidly. I felt confident in my game, felt like I was growing up and trying to dom
“I think they screwed up by not denying me the ball on the catch. They put the ball in my court, which wasn’t the best way to win the game.” Sam Dekker Becoming a state sensation
inate every day.”
Nick Verhagen, then-assistant coach and current head coach at Sheboygan Lutheran: “Internally, the buzz started when he was in middle school. We didn’t know the true extent of his talent level, though.”
Travis Wilson, Wissports.net: “There’s a story told by many people of Sam going to a Wisconsin camp after his sophomore year. The Badgers were still monitoring him, but hadn’t offered yet, weren’t quite sure where he’d end up, but then he threw a cross-court bounce pass 50 feet and Bo Ryan turned and said to his assistants, ‘This is the guy we’re going to offer.’ Things took off from there. It wasn’t always a slam dunk that Sam would be a five-star recruit. It was a little more of a slow process and he grew into his body.”
Tyler Zastrow, Sheboygan Lutheran starting sophomore point guard: “I grew up with Sam and there was a buzz around him even in the third grade. He just drew people.”
Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “There was some talk that he would get invited to the McDonald’s (All-American game). I heard through the grapevine that maybe some of the coaches at Wisconsin were a little disappointed that he didn’t. They thought he should have been there. It’s rare for the Badgers to have a guy where you look at him like, ‘Oh this guy, you can see the pro in him’ right away. That was a big part of his allure.”
Sam Dekker: “I really didn’t know anything else. (The attention) was my life the last three years of high school. Made me have a tighter circle. Wasn’t out doing high school stuff, just staying indoors and out of trouble.”
Setting the scene
Sheboygan Lutheran had Dekker, but Racine Lutheran had the top ranking in the state. Led by head coach Jeff Christensen, they boasted a deep roster that, albeit lacking star power, received contributions from all over the floor. Five players averaged at least 8.8 points per game, led by Peter Drummond’s 15.4. Racine ran roughshod over Sheboygan — winning by 18 — when the teams met earlier in the season at the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook holiday tournament. Dekker, a top-five scorer in state history with 2,593 points, scored 32.5 per game his senior year.
Zastrow: “We had a better player, but they were a better team. Sam was scoring like 35 points per game, but the other 40 points for our team were coming from sophomores and freshmen.”
Christensen: “We had great teamwork together. We had five or six guys that played together for a long time on varsity. We were very competitive defensively. We were unselfish on the offensive end and had different guys lead us in scoring game after game. We basically had the total package.”
Stewart: “For most of the year (Racine Lutheran) didn’t have any singledigit wins. They beat most opponents by double digits and did it in a tough league for small schools. They didn’t have one great player, but they had a lot of guys who could step up and score.”
Phil Leibham, Sheboygan Lutheran sophomore forward: “I remember they were really fast. A lot of good guards.”
Sam Dekker: “They played very fast, had really talented guards who gave us trouble. They played small ball, so they spread us out. They were one team to match us inch-by-inch.”
Todd Dekker, Sam’s father and then-Sheboygan Lutheran coach: “We were hoping to get a chance at them. It didn’t surprise me that they made it to state with how well they were playing, shutting people down.”
Christensen: “We played at the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook tournament at Concordia (earlier that year). Dekker had a huge game, but we did a really good job of shutting everyone else down. They were young at the time and we were experienced. Man-for-man, other than Dekker, we were better at every position.”
Zastrow: “Oh God, I knew we’d play them again. Kind of a bummer when I realized they were in our division. I really hoped Racine Lutheran wouldn’t make it. It pains me to say this, but I had no doubt we were going to lose that game. My dad said if we play Racine Lutheran 100 times, we lose 99. They kicked our a-- at the holiday tournament.”
Sam Dekker: “(Racine Lutheran) beat us by nearly 20 points earlier in the season, but we got so much better by state. I had a lot of confidence in our team, our coaching staff and myself. Once we got there, there was no way we were leaving without a championship.”
Stewart: “My leaning, and this might have been because they were the team I saw play more that year, was that Racine
Lutheran was going to win. And for almost 32 minutes, they were.”
Sheboygan Lutheran nearly didn’t make the title game. With 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in the state semifinal, and trailing Chippewa Falls McDonell 57-56, Dekker buried a three from nearly the same spot where he would hit his state title-winner two days later. The Crusaders went on to win, 63-61, as McDonell air-balled a three at the buzzer. Dekker finished with 35 points, 16 rebounds and a state-record seven blocks. It set up the state championship game Saturday morning at the Kohl Center in Madison. Dekker was also slated to receive the Mr. Basketball award that day.
Christensen: “Yes, we wanted to avoid (Sheboygan Lutheran). They had Sam Dekker.”
Verhagen: “I remember an overwhelming confidence coming in. We knew we had the best player on the court.”
Jacob Jurss, Sheboygan Lutheran freshman guard: “That team was really good and talented. Peter Drummond was a good shooter and player. The one thing they didn’t have was Mr. Basketball. We had him.”
Sam Dekker: “When we faced them again, we didn’t think about the December game, just the chance to win state. That’s the way high school hoops should be. If we screwed up, my dad wasn’t on their case. We just moved on from mistakes. Weren’t getting pulled for missed shots or mistakes. Sometimes you lose sight that we’re 16- or 17-year-old kids and we make boneheaded mistakes.”
Jurss: “We knew Sam would have to have a big game.”
Verhagen: “To be as respectful to his teammates as I can, they’d all agree that would be true.”
Zastrow: “What game that season wasn’t a Sam-or-bust game? I was probably 20 pounds overweight and 6 inches too short as a sophomore and I was our No. 2 threat. That’s not good.”
Christensen: “You could tell there was a lot of excitement about the game coming up. We had a great record and were No. 1 in the state that year. I don’t remember the attendance but it was probably the highest Division 5 attendance ever for a state game.”
Racine Lutheran starts fast Racine Lutheran came out swinging in the first half, hitting six of 12 threepoint attempts and claiming a 33-27 lead going into halftime. Dekker kept Sheboygan Lutheran, which went 1for-10 from three, afloat with 19 points and eight rebounds. Drummond’s nine points led Racine Lutheran, which got eight from Neko Graf and seven from Ty Demuth.
Todd Dekker: “They were shooting lights-out. They were in their flow.”
Christensen: “We shot the ball extremely well from the outside. We always did this: we moved the ball great. Guys didn’t get it and hold it. They moved it from side to side and that makes an offense a lot more efficient.”
Stewart: “I thought Racine Lutheran was in pretty good shape.”
Verhagen: “I remember thinking about the (Wisconsin Basketball) Yearbook game and wanting to keep it closer than that. There was a belief because we had Sam. If you have an unwavering belief in one player, it helps.”
Sam Dekker: “Water always finds its level. But in high school, it’s not like the NBA or college where you see your box scores at halftime. We just needed to go out there and try again.”
Zastrow: “That first half we didn’t get much. The way the game was going, we relied on Sam in the first half but didn’t score much. He needed to get going if we wanted it to be close.”
Christensen: “We knew we weren’t going to shut down Sam entirely anyway. He was the best player in the state at the time. We tried to play in our team defense and hope that someone else didn’t go off on us.”
On the ropes Racine Lutheran kept adding to its lead in the second half. A Demuth layup made it 53-44 with 6:41 left. A Jurss three cut the deficit to six, but Racine Lutheran kept the foot on the gas. Dekker had scored six of his team’s nine points in the quarter, but it looked like it wouldn’t be enough as Sheboygan Lutheran trailed 60-51 following a pair of Drummond free throws with 1:50 to play.
Christensen: “Peter Drummond played really good. Ty Demuth played well. All in all, I don’t think anybody played bad. We were a really good team and we were in a position to win that game.”
Sam Dekker: “I watched the game again last year and they hit some big, tough shots. Just trying to slow each other down because the pace was insane. That was the formula to beat us.”
Jurss: “Every time we made a run, they’d hit a three or something.”
Stewart: “You’ve got to think at that point Racine is at a good point. You’re starting to write the lead to your story, even if Sheboygan Lutheran makes a little run, nine points is still three, four possessions. That’s a lot to make up.”
Zastrow: “Not in the moment did I think it was over, but if I was watching on TV, though, I’d have turned off the television. My dad was walking out the exits to the concourse to leave ... It was pretty expected, they were a better team.”
Sam Dekker: “I don’t think in high school I ever had a feeling of ‘uh oh.’ Once they start coming, the hoop looks real big. I knew I’d shoot myself out or into it one way or another.”
Jurss: “We were maybe too dumb or stupid to realize the game should be over. There was no question Sam was going to get going.”
Zastrow: “At that point, I think Vegas would give those odds 2,000 to 1 ... We were waiting for (Sam) to go off and he made us wait a long time.”
Stewart: “I do remember them sort of faltering at the end from the free throw line, but they made seven of their first eight free throws in the fourth. They were putting points on the board still.”
Dekker dominates Zastrow hit a pair of free throws and scored on a layup to raise his total to 15 points, but Sheboygan Lutheran still trailed by seven, 62-55, with 1:09 left. Racine Lutheran went to the line with 58 seconds on the clock and a chance to make it a 9-point game but missed both free throws.
Todd Dekker: “Our scouting report said that if we got them to the free throw line, that wasn’t their strength. And we knew who to foul.”
Christensen: “I had confidence in our guys at the line. We had good shooters. It wasn’t like we missed every free throw. Neko Graf hit a couple right to push our lead back up to seven after Dekker started his run in that last minute with a three.”
Leibham: “When it got closer to the end of the game and they start missing some free throws, I thought it wasn’t over. I believed in Sam’s ability to will us back.”
Sam Dekker: “We were down eight. I hit a three and then an and-one and was like, ‘We’re fine.’ My high school career, I’d be 0-for-6 from three and then make four and the box score says Sam had a good night. It would be an avalanche one way or the other. Bo Ryan said, ‘Don’t anger the basketball gods because you’ll give them a chance if you treat them right.’”
After Dekker’s three-point play, Sheboygan Lutheran fouled with 23.2 seconds left. Racine Lutheran’s first free throw clanked off the front rim. The second rolled around and fell off into the hands of Dekker. The forward brought the ball up the floor, used a ball screen to create space for a three near the top of the key. Swish. 65-64 with 14.9 seconds left.
Leibham: “You could see the nerves on their faces. Nobody looked confident or wanted to go to the line. That worked in our favor. They weren’t ready for the moment.”
Jurss: “One guy missed it early, so we kept fouling the same guy. When you miss one, it can snowball real quick.”
Sam Dekker: “You could hear the groans of the crowd. The thing is, choking free throws, they were hitting the rim but it just banged out like there was a lid on the hoop. It’s contagious and it becomes an avalanche. Tyler wasn’t afraid to let them know that either.”
Verhagen: “No doubt, they realized the situation. That many eyes watching you for a prize you’ve worked so hard for.”
Zastrow: “They went 4-for-4 to start but 4 of 9 (actually 3 of 8) in the last minute. We were getting three points each trip and they got one or zero. They looked terrified because nobody wanted to miss with a state championship on the line. You can’t replicate the pressure of 20,000 people watching you.”
After Dekker’s three-pointer to make it a one-point game, Sheboygan Lutheran fouled again almost immediately. Racine Lutheran missed the first free throw, which ensured Sheboygan Lutheran would at least have a chance to win with a three. The second free throw one went in and Sheboygan Lutheran called a timeout with 12 seconds left.
Wilson: “There was certainly some frustration, a building crescendo of ‘Sam just hit a shot, we missed free throws, Sam Dekker made another shot. Here we go.’ They tighten up just enough. Then they miss the first free throw up by one and you realize Sam Dekker will have a chance to tie or win.”
Stewart: “You’re on that stage and you’ve got that long court, the pressure’s on and then you’ve got this guy that you’re like, ‘Wow, he‘s a Big Ten recruit.’ It can be a lot.”
Leibham: “After they missed the first free throw, I knew we were going to win.”
Verhagen: “We were in the huddle, excited … Having the best player in the state on our bench, so something special happening was a real possibility.”
Stewart: “Sam was pretty hot. He had already hit two threes (in the final minute) at that point. He had probably already had his heat check moment and he was like, ‘I got it right now.’”
Jurss: “Coach was going to draw up a play and Sam says, ‘Let’s just end it here.’”
Leibham: “Sam said in the huddle he’s going to win the game, so that’s what we thought. We didn’t talk about a specific play in the huddle, just Sam saying he’s going to get the ball, hit a three-pointer and win the game.”
Zastrow: “Sam said he wasn’t taking a two. He was going to win the game. The confidence to tell your dad, who is
the coach, what was going to happen ...”
Sam Dekker: “We had an endof-game scenario we practiced, which was getting me open on a free run to score. Let’s get our 6-8 forward running to the hoop. It was a great idea. My dad was trying to set it up and I was like, ‘Nah, nah, I got this.’”
Stewart: “I can only imagine you’ve got Sam Dekker on the other side, this guy with this huge reputation, and he’s going out there and he’s putting up 40 points and hitting every big shot. It had to feel for Racine Lutheran like where, if you’re playing the Lakers back in the day, and Kobe gets it with 3 seconds left. It’s a feeling of ‘Oh goodness gracious.’”
Todd Dekker: “They double Sam. In hindsight, maybe some trouble for the inbounder but Sam knew where he was going. His physical height helped and he wasn’t going to give the ball up, I know that.”
Leibham: “Sam just ran to midcourt and I threw it to him from the inbound so easily. We had a similar situation in a game against Kiel and I almost messed it up, so I didn’t want to lose us the game from the inbound.”
Sam Dekker: “I think they screwed up by not denying me the ball on the catch. They put the ball in my court, which wasn’t the best way to win the game. In the NBA, you don’t let LeBron beat you or Bradley Beal or someone like that.”
Stewart: “It was too easy for Sam. He just gets the ball and gets to his spot. They sort of sent a double team at him late, but it wasn’t hard enough. They never got the ball out of his hands, they never really redirected him. Now, the shot was still from almost 30 feet. I wonder if Racine was thinking that this guy’s not gonna pull up from 30 feet out, that he’s not gonna have the guts to pull up from three.”
Zastrow: “I was open in the corner, Phil was open in the post. I’m a little mad he didn’t pass it. To this
Sheboygan Lutheran's Sam Dekker celebrates after his three-pointer at the buzzer defeated Racine Lutheran for the 2012 Division 5 state championship at the Kohl Center in Madison. JOURNAL SENTINEL FILES
day, I’ll joke to Sam that he wasn’t known as a very clutch player. I could still beat him in H-O-R-S-E.”
Sam Dekker: “When I shot it, I said, ‘It’s down’ right off the hand. It didn’t go through my mind that it wasn’t going in. That’s the only logical outcome.”
Todd Dekker: “You’re hoping it goes in. You’re a spectator at that point. It is what it is at that point. We practiced that play almost just for fun in practice and you just hope it doesn’t go to overtime.”
Christensen: “We did exactly what we wanted to do defensively and it wasn’t meant to be.”
Zastrow: “There was nothing Racine Lutheran could do. He was fading away to his right, 26 feet away. There is nobody in the state of Wisconsin who could contest that shot.”
Wilson: “When he hits that shot, the Kohl Center just erupted.”
Todd Dekker: “Racine Lutheran is stunned. Our fan base went nuts. That’s what makes high school basketball, or even basketball in general.”
Stewart: “I was right there, maybe a good 10 feet away from the shot. I just remember just the energy right after the shot, just like, ‘Wow.’ Sometimes, you realize you just saw something that was really great. And that was that feeling right there. The whole building, there was just an electricity.”
Leibham: “In that moment, my hands go up like he’s passing the ball, but there was no way I was getting the ball. Just wanted to get a rebound in case he missed it. After it went in, I wanted to launch the ball and rush Sam but the game wasn’t over.”
Jurss: “I started jumping up and down but realize they have a shot to win still.”
Christensen: “While they’re celebrating the shot, there’s still a couple of seconds left. The clock doesn’t stop on a made basket in high school. We alertly get the ball in. Our guys are heads-up and Clay Stevens is able to get off a pretty good look from halfcourt.”
Stewart: “Off the backboard. Game of inches. If that goes down, we’re probably doing a separate big story on that shot.”
Sam Dekker: “I spoke it into existence when I said I was going to hit a 3 and go home. When my team mobbed me I screamed to my teammates and the crowd, ‘I told you I’d do this.’ I said, ‘I’m going to get this, hit a 3 and go home.’ It was wild. It was incredible.”
Christensen: “We played great basketball for 31 minutes and 50 seconds.”
Wilson: “I think we knew right away that this had staying power. It was Sam Dekker. It was Mr. Basketball. It was a kid going to Wisconsin. Because of all those factors, it was going to live on.”
Stewart: “It was like he affirmed himself. If you had any doubt about Sam Dekker, after that moment you couldn’t say anything. All doubts had to be erased at that point.”
“Sam Dekker: Honestly, because it was for a championship, it will always be my favorite shot because of who I was doing it with and for my school and dad.”