Wisconsin Dells Season Ends

It has been a little while since I have been able to post but, I have been busy going to games and just haven't had the chance. This past weekend the final four state teams were set and unfortunately for the Wisconsin Dells Chiefs they weren't one of them. I have heard how good this senior class was and that they would win state for the past six years since they were in 7th grade. It was kind of a yea right until I saw these kids playing as sophomores and even more when they were juniors. All year Dells was one of the top teams in the state in D3 and spent much of the year ranked #1. End of the year the Dell just seemed to be complacent and didn't seem like the team I saw early on. All year they had shared the ball and showed some great ball movement but, since the second half of the East Troy game (at least from what I saw) there was just too much one on one play and the ball seemed to stick at times. This was very evident in the Chiefs final two games of the year.

On Thursday the Chiefs defeated Prairie du Chien but, they game wasn't pretty to say the least. Early on Dells seemed a little slow in getting out to the PDC three point shooters and the PDC shooters were knocking down the three point shot. Prairie got physical with the Dells lone big man Shane Wimann and Wimann didn't seem to like the physical play which caused him to miss some bunnies and force a few too many shots. The forcing a shots was partially because the only players really looking for their shot was Wimann and fellow star MJ Delmore. Prairie got the lead to 11 at one point and if not for a tremendous three point barrage by Delmore in the second quarter this could of been a very different outcome. Dells went on a 16-0 run to take the lead behind four Delmore threes to take the second half lead. In the second half Dells was very confident to hold the ball and just let the clock run down and hang on to a eight point lead which was mostly due to free throws late.

Against Lodi the game started much the same with Lodi knocking down all their outside shots but, this time there was no Delmore three point shooting to bail them out. Delmore never really got things going in this game and was even struggling from the free throw line where he had shot over 90 % this year. Early one Colyn Buss was hitting the three to keep the Chiefs somewhat close and in the second half he just wasn't getting his looks from three point range. Once again Wimann and Delmore were forced to take the majority of the shots. This game Lodi was just on fire and it didn't matter what the Chiefs did when they had the ball they weren't gonna be able to come back. The length and size of Lodi just bothered them too much and Lodi was able to get the ball in the middle of the Dells zone and find their team mate going baseline for easy baskets. Dells got close in the fourth quarter when Mike Dickman started getting some shots off, scoring all 13 of his points in the fourth quarter but, it was just alittle too late. Now I will just be able to set back and watch some great basketball for the three days of state which actually makes the games a little more enjoyable.