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Every day, perhaps even for the rest of his life, when people ask Tom Nystom how he's doing, he can respond, "Living the dream," and be 100 percent accurate.

Nystrom, a reserve for the Columbus Catholic boys' basketball team, experienced every high school players' dream Friday at the Kohl Center in Madison.

With his Dons tied with Bangor in a WIAA Division 5 State Tournament Semi-Final and just seconds left on the clock, Nystrom took a pass from teammate Jarred Mandel and let go with a three-point basket that hit nothing but net as the horn sounded, giving the Dons an incredible 69-66 victory. Video of the shot courtesy of WSN General Manager Travis Wilson can be found below.

Nystrom had missed his other two shots in the contest prior to his game winner and entered the contest averaging just 4.8 points per game.

"I really don't remember what was going through my mind," Nystrom said of his game winner. "When I shot it, it was just like I was shooting in the Columbus gym. It took a bit for me to realize the ball went in."

Nystrom's shot, which set off a wild celebration in the Columbus Catholic student section, ended a memorable contest that saw Bangor twice rally from large deficits.

The Cardinals, who won last year's Division 5 state crown but graduated four starters from that squad, came from 10 down in the first half to take a three-point lead early in the second half. Then Bangor rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to twice tie the game in the final minute.

"It was a hard-fought battle," Bangor coach Jordan Jacob Pederson said. "Both teams were fairly physical. I am extremely proud of my team. The effort they gave today was unbelievable."

While Nystrom's shot certainly was the turning point of the contest, the Dons also got big performances from four of their seniors.

Forward Bryce Fuerlinger (6-4) had 15 points and set a Division 5 record by grabbing 25 rebounds. 

"Bryce Fuerlinger, since third grade, has gone after loose ball," Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. "He's an unheralded yet very, very good high school basketball player."

Jarred Mandel (6-2) hit three shots from outside the three-point arc early in the game and finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.  

Noah Taylor (6-1) contributed 17 points and 8 rebounds and Ethan Meece (6-4) added 8 points and 3 rebounds.

Bangor trailed 66-64 after a driving layup by Mandel with 28 seconds left. The Cardinals then received a strong offensive rebounding effort from senior Trevor Jones (5-10), who missed on a putback in the lane and then got his second shot to roll in, tying the game with :05.8 left. 

After a Columbus Catholic timeout, the Dons inbounded the ball to Meece on the right side of the backcourt. He passed over to Fuerlinger, who then hit Mandel in the center of the midcourt line. Mandel took a couple of dribbles to draw a double team and then passed off to his left to Nystrom, who rose up and sank the biggest shot to date of the 2019 WIAA State Tournament.

"With 5.8 seconds left, we ran our normal out-of-bounds play,"Konieczny said. "Jarred made a great play to get the ball over to Tom Nystrom, who lived the dream of every high school player by making a three-point shot to win a state-tournament game at the Kohl Center."

Junior Grant Manke (6-4), the Player of the Year in the Scenic Bluffs Conference, scored 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Bangor, which finished its season with a 25-2 record.

Sooner of later, the transition game of Sheboygan Lutheran was going to kick into full gear.

Though it took a while for that to happen Friday morning at the Kohl Center during the Crusaders' WIAA Division 5 state semi-final game against McDonell Central, it eventually took place and helped Sheboygan Lutheran to a 74-61 victory.

With freshman point guard Casey Verhagen (5-11) pushing the ball at every opportunity and then exploiting mismatches created by the scramble of a quick fast-break, the Crusaders slowly pulled away from a 29-25 halftime advantage to register their 26th win in 28 outings.

"Eventually, they kind of wore us down," McDonell Central coach Adam Schilling said. "Defensively, they played very well, especially in the second half. We kind of struggled to score."

Sheboygan Lutheran shot 55 percent for the contest and got 19 points and 14 rebounds from junior Jacob Ognacevic (6-7) along with 18 points and three made triples from senior Devin Barnstable (6-0). Verhagen finished with 12 points and nine assists for the Big East Conference tri-champions.

"Number 3 (JD Bohaty) got going on us early and we had to figure him out," Sheboygan Lutheran coach Nick Verhagen said. "We knew number 2 (Cory Hoglund) was a very good player, but number 3 surprised us. We faced guarded No. 3 in the second half for a while so that was an adjustment we made.

"We also got Graden (Grabowski) going a little bit since they were concentrating on Jacob so much. That was another adjustment. Casey then got into the lane a little bit more and Devin hit some big shots for us."

Sheboygan Lutheran scored 20 points off turnovers and outscored the Macks 16-10 in fast-break points. 

Hoglund had a solid all-around game for McDonell Central. In addition to scoring 18 points, he did an excellent job of guarding Ognacevic despite giving away five inches.

Hoglund is a four-year varsity player who competed in four straight WIAA state tournaments for the Macks, who finished the season with an 18-10 record.

"For how big (Ognacevic) is, he's very agile," Hoglund said. "He's a slippery guy."

Junior Eion Kressin (6-5) also had a strong outing for McDonell despite battling foul trouble. He used strong moves in the post to score six points and grab nine rebounds.

"Eion has been playing really well," Schilling said. "He's had a couple of 20-point games in the tournament."

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