Division 4 four-peat complete for Dominican

An era came to an end Saturday in a most fitting way, as Diamond Stone dunked on his last prep shot in Dominican’s 75-49 win over Mineral Point for the Division 4 state title.

The 6-foot-10 senior has been a colossus over Wisconsin high school basketball for four years, winning WIAA championships with the Knights each year to match the record established by Randolph in 2002-2005. He also has been an individual standout, beginning with his triple-double debut (15 points, 15 rebounds, 14 blocks) against Colfax in the 2012 Division 4 semifinals.

“I’ve been trying to describe what he’s accomplished and it’s almost indescribable,” Dominican coach Derek Berger said Saturday. “He’s probably the most decorated player ever to come out of Wisconsin for high school basketball. The gold medals, all-state teams, all-areas, McDonald’s all-America, Mr. Basketball … I could go on and on but I forget them, there are so many of them.”

“He said his freshman year that he wanted four state championships and I didn’t let him forget about that.”

On Saturday, Stone had a typical performance: 23 points and 15 rebounds in 30 minutes against the Pointers. It completed a remarkable eight-game state tournament run where he averaged 21.2 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 6.4 blocks per game.

Mineral Point often tripled-teamed Stone throughout Saturday’s championship, which left his Dominican teammates with plenty of opportunities as the Pointers had to “give up something,” as their coach Dan Burreson said.

“They have other kids who can hurt you in other ways,” he said. “(Austin Moutry) and (Jake) Bennett can shoot the ball, 24 (Tywon Bressler Jr.) can get to the hoop and of course, you have Stone in the middle.”

Stone also dealt with the expectations of being the next great thing in state hoops over those four years.

“I came in as a freshman already with a target on my back, being 6-8, 6-9,” he said. “It was a struggle at first and I got into it with other players and coaches. My freshman year we won it and then we were with Duane (Wilson) my sophomore year, but the last two years I had to step up and be a leader.”

So, any news about next year…?

The question was inevitable for Stone in the post-championship media gathering: Did he have any news on his yet-unannounced college basketball plans?

“No news right now,” he said. “Same top four (schools: Wisconsin, Maryland, Connecticut and Oklahoma State). I’ll probably have a decision soon. I’m not sure yet.”

Lots of good help

Three other Dominican players reached double figures, as Bennett finished with 13 points, Moutry 11 and Garrison Goode 11. In addition, Bressler added nine points and nine assists.

“It’s every coach’s dream,” Berger said. “To have Austin shooting, Jake shooting, Tywon taking it to the hoop, and Garrison finishing around the rim, plus guys coming of the bench. To have that many guys who can play makes my job easier.”

Making history not a new goal

Four straight state titles is a rare achievement in WIAA history, but Berger noted that championship level is where the bar is set at Dominican going back to the Don Gosz teams of the 1970s.

“I graduated from Dominican with two state championships in 1997 and ’98,” he said. “That’s kind of the expectation. If you’re fortunate enough you can get it done. The last four years we’ve been fortunate enough to be successful.”

Stone noted that the Knights’ conference loss to Racine St. Catherine’s in February was a motivating force as well.

“There were a lot of guys on Twitter going at us,” he said. “That kind of pushed us at practice to go hard all the time.”

Pointers keeping pace

Mineral Point stayed within four points until late in the second quarter by moving the ball well and hitting timely 3-pointers.

“They have four really good and shooters and move the ball really well on offense,” Berger said.

Even at halftime, a seven-point deficit didn’t seem too daunting.

“We wanted to keep it under 10 going into the half; that was our goal. Then we could come out in the second half, hit a couple of shots and get it down to four,” said Pointers senior guard Sy Staver, who led his team with 14 points. “When I saw it was seven at halftime I thought, ‘We can work with this a little bit.’”

It was Dominican, however, that made the second half’s initial run. The Knights scored the first nine points after the break and led by at least 10 through the third quarter and by at least 15 in the fourth. Part of that was a change in defense on the Pointers’ shooters by Moutry, came over the top of screens instead of through them.

“I started chasing them over the top,” he said. “In the first half we were giving them gaps to get off shots. By going over the top, I knew that even if they drove, I had Diamond and Goode back there to stop them.”