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With the game on the line in the closing minutes of Saturday’s WIAA Division 5 state championship game, Randolph did what it does best.

Like so many times before over the past couple of decades, the Rockets went out and made winning plays.

Trailing 42-41 with 3:44 left, Randolph scored the game’s final seven points to notch a 48-42 victory over Green Bay NEW Lutheran and in the process captured the school’s state-record 10^th WIAA title.

“I thought it was a fantastic high school basketball game,” said Randolph coach Bob Haffele, who has won 512 games against just 91 losses during his stellar coaching career and has led the Rockets to all 10 of their state championships. “That team (NEW Lutheran) is very, very good. I thought our kids gutted it out.

“As far as winning 10 state titles … it’s ridiculous to do what our program has done.”

This may have been Haffele’s best coaching job.

Unlike other years when Randolph boasted NCAA Division I players and frontline size to match that of any NCAA Division III team, the Rockets premier players likely will play college basketball at the Division III level and the tallest players in the regular playing rotation are no bigger than 6-foot-4.

“They have one of the best programs in the history of the state of Wisconsin,” NEW Lutheran coach Mark Meerstein said. “We were hoping to be that elite team that went 29-0, and it was anybody’s game to win. At the end of the game, they play the plays. Give them credit.”

Randolph (27-2) took the lead for good on a pretty reverse layup by junior Kyle Roberts (6-3) with 2:45 remaining.

After a couple of turnovers by each squad in a fast-paced final two minutes, senior Aaron Retzlaff made a layup with 42 seconds left to push the margin to 45-42.

Randolph’s tough defense held the rest of the way and the Rockets emerged with yet another Gold Ball for their burgeoning trophy case.

“Defense is our calling card,” said Haffele, who improved to a remarkable 18-1 on the Kohl Center floor. “Defense and team building are the keys. It’s all about our team. But don’t tell us we don’t know what we are doing. We squeezed another one out of them.”

Randolph’s Roberts steps up with huge performance

Roberts came into the WIAA State Tournament averaging a rather pedestrian 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest for a Randolph squad led by Retzlaff, senior Jay Peters and sophomore point guard Duke Vander Galien.

But it was Roberts who delivered a huge performance in the state-title game, scoring 13 points, grabbing nine rebounds and coming up with a blocked shot in 29 minutes of play.

The grandson of longtime AAU coaching legend Hugh Roberts, Kyle Roberts made 5 of 8 shots from the floor.

“I’m hard on Kyle at times and he’s still learning,” Haffele said. “But he has a nose for getting rebounds. He’s also long and athletic.”

Voigt’s career ends a bit short of a state title

NEW Lutheran senior point guard Travis Voigt (5-8) played a huge role in leading the Blazers to consecutive Packerland Conference championships.

His ability to beat defenders off the dribble and create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates is impressive, and his two huge three-point baskets in the fourth period gave the Blazers a 42-41 lead before Randolph scored the game’s final seven points.

When asked what he thought went wrong over the final minutes of the game, Voigt responded, “We had some costly turnovers that didn’t go in our favor and then we just didn’t some shots we normally hit.”

Voigt finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal in his final high school game.

Quick Hitters … When asked if he plans to return to the sidelines for Randolph next season, Haffele smiled and simply said, “My plans are finalized.” He then went on to say he won’t make those plans known for a while yet.