Reedsburg upsets Portage

Well it's tournament time for the state of Wisconsin, which is the best time of the year. Opening night of the tournament Reedsburg was able to defeat Portage in a mini upset. Portage was the three seed while Reedsburg was the six. Reedsburg made the comeback in the second half to clinch the 60-58 win. The game turned out to be a three on three match up between the top three players from each team.

Portage was able to jump out to the early first quarter lead 15-6 as they looked to their big man on the inside 6'4 senior Darrell Anderson over the smaller Reedsburg defender and 6'0 junior point guard Kevin Hurd was able to knock down the jumpers. Portage made a conscious effort to lock down Reedsburg's top player 6'3 senior Tyler Mazur, which opened the door for brother Chad Mazur, 6'2 sophomore to step up and have a big first half. Chad hit the first two baskets for Reedsburg, a pair of threes, to give Reedsburg their only points in the first quarter. The younger Mazur started off hot and carried Reedsburg through the rest of the first half. The halftime score finished with Portage having the lead 24-20.

In the second half the younger Mazur cooled off and that's when older brother and 6'2 junior Jordan Van Cleave picked up their game. Tyler Mazur and Van Cleave were able to get out in transition and make some easy baskets. On the defensive side Reedsburg made a big switch having a bigger defender in 6'6 junior Jon Stolte guard the Portage big man Anderson. This defense switched worked great as Stolte was able to get a couple blocks and Anderson was limited to mainly a couple free throws in the second half. The other switch Reedsburg made was putting Tyler Mazur on Hurd, which limited Hurd's ability to get a shot off. Portage went to their third scorer in 6'4 senior John Loomans who was able to score from the outside, as well as scoring on the inside. Unfortunately for Portage, Loomans was outshone by Reedsburgs big time scorer Tyler Mazur, who went off in the fourth quarter knocking down the long range three point shots and scoring in the transition.

Top Players
Kevin Hurd 6'0 junior Portage- Knocked down the the jumper all night long and also had a couple nice finishes in the lane.
John Loomans 6'4 senior Portage- Loomans was able to take his defender in the post all game long and knocked down a couple three pointers late in the game.
Darrell Anderson 6'4 senior Portage- Was just a beast on the inside and was very tough to stop. Has very nice free throw shot.
Chad Mazur 6'2 sophomore Reedsburg- When he can set his feet and spot up the shot is falling.
Jordan Van Cleave 6'2 junior Reedsburg- Is at his best when he's out in transition. Best assest he brings to the game is his jumping ability, can flat out jump outta the gym.
Tyler Mazur 6'3 senior Reedsburg- Flat out sharpshooter that needs no time or space to knock down the shots. Came out with extremely high energy level to carry Reedsburg to victory.

Box Score
Portage 58- Loomans 17 Anderson 15 Hurd 14 Greg Koch 6 Michael Bain 5 Tyler Olson 3 Ben Boeck 0 Kasi Schroeder 0
Reedsburg 60- T. Mazur 22 C. Mazur 17 Van Cleave 14 Jon Stolte 4 Matt Kneeland 3 Lucas Farber 0 Matt Rockweiler 0

As a Wisconsin Dells fan this game makes me extremely nervous. Reedsburg was shooting the ball very well and looked very tough to beat right now. Their big three appear to be peaking at the right time and they way they shoot the three they are a very dangerous team.