skip navigation

Mount Horeb outlasts gritty Rice Lake squad for Division 2 state title

03/22/2015, 9:45am CDT
By Dick Knapinski

Preparations changed for both Mount Horeb and Rice Lake after Warriors standout and Marquette University recruit Henry Ellenson was scratched from Saturday’s championship game because of a broken bone in his hand suffered in Friday’s state semifinal. Although Mount Horeb prevailed for a 58-46 win and its first state title, the story of the game was the affect Ellenson’s loss had on the matchup.

“We first started seeing tweets about it at our team breakfast,” said Vikings junior Terek Nesheim. “But we don’t pay too much attention to that, so we tried to prepare as if he was playing. You never know.”

Rice Lake coach Kevin Orr said at first it was hoped that Ellenson would be able to play but by Saturday morning the severity of the injury became evident.

“We went to the emergency room (Friday night) but it was packed so we left,” Orr said. “In the morning we would get X-rays and maybe pad it up and we’d get through it. … When we got the results back and it wasn’t a good break, and that we could cause more damage to it if he played, we wouldn’t take any risk on that.”

When the 6-10 Ellenson appeared in street clothes during pregame warm-ups, it confirmed all the pregame chatter. It also allowed Mount Horeb to plan for an inside strategy. The Vikings’ Max Meylor drove to the hoop to lead his team with 21 points, while Nesheim added 14 points and seven rebounds to lead the way.

“I looked inside a lot,” said Meylor, a junior who is also Mount Horeb’s football quarterback. “There were some mismatches there and if there wasn’t anything in the post, I could kick it out.”

Overcoming adversity

Both coaches remarked on Rice Lake’s perseverance despite missing Ellenson, who this weekend was named Wisconsin’s Gatorade player of the year. The Warriors had the game tied at 36-36 late in the third period until the Vikings wore them down.

“They made us earn it,” Mount Horeb coach Todd Nesheim said. “They competed their tails off. That’s the way you want it to be. Those kids battled.”

Orr lauded his team’s strength overcoming Ellenson’s loss, especially with changed emphasis and starters.

“They played their hearts out and of course we had some adversity in the last 24 hours,” he said. “We don’t have Henry, we could have said we don’t have a shot. These kids are unbelievable. It was one of the grittiest performances I’ve seen in my more than 20 years that I’ve been coaching.”

One example was 6-1 senior forward Kyle Crotteau, thrust into a starting role in the post and finishing with four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes.

“He maybe plays two or three minutes a game, maybe,” Orr said. “He started in a state championship game tonight. But he works extremely hard and tonight, he did what he could do.”

Turning point

Early in the fourth quarter, Mount Horeb held a 40-36 lead, but Rice Lake continued attacking the basket. The Warriors had a good 3-point try rim out, however, and the Vikings’ Quinn Lesar hit his only three of the game with 6:15 left to boost the Mount Horeb lead to seven.

“That got us going and pushed us the rest of the way,” Terek Nesheim said. “We could hold strong after that.”

Finding other options

Mount Horeb’s leading scorer, guard Drew Fredrickson, was held to just two points on 1-for-3 shooting in the championship game. That was 12 points below his season-long average, usually a sign of doom for a team seeking a state title.

“We had heard about (Rice Lake’s Ben) Widdes and what a great defensive player he was,” Todd Nesheim said. “That wasn’t anything new because Drew had been face guarded just about every game this year. We’re a balanced team and we have several guys who have been in double digits in games this year.”

The Vikings used their transition game to take control early and continued to pound the ball inside to Meylor and Terek Nesheim throughout the evening.

“They’re pretty strong, physical guys,” Orr said of the Vikings. “Ben did an unbelievable job (on Frederickson). We probably missed Henry big time on the defensive side of the ball. We did what we could do. But if Henry had been there we could have put him on one of their bigs and it would have been a better matchup.”

Tag(s): News Archive  BBB News  Boys Hoops Playoffs