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D4 championship notes
By Dick Knapinski
For Wishoops.net

In the fourth quarter of a grind-it-out Division 4 championship game, Marathon’s Cody Hanke took over the proceedings for less than a minute. That’s all the Red Raiders needed.

During that stretch, Hanke made a perfect assist, hit a jumper and finished off a thunderous dunk to break a 41-41 tie and give Marathon a six-point lead on its way to the 52-43 win.

“Cody’s efforts with the dunk on the other end was a real inspiration for us and gave us strength down the stretch,” Marathon coach Jeff Reiche said. “I thought after that we were tougher with the basketball.”

After pestering the Red Raiders and nearly overcoming a considerable size disadvantage, Hanke’s spurt was the last nail to end the Pirates’ hopes.

“The biggest kid on the floor, one of the top players on the floor, kind of sealed the deal for them today,” Grantsburg coach Nick Hallberg said.

Coming full circle

Reiche was a rookie head coach in 1984 when he succeeded the legendary Tom Weinkauf and brought the Red Raiders to state the last time. His history with the Marathon program, though, goes beyond that.

“In 1977, I was a player for Edgar and we had beaten Marathon twice that year but lost to them in the tournament and they went on to win the state championship, and it always haunted me,” he said. “When I took the job here, I thought I’d finally get a taste of it. It’s been a long time coming.”

Reiche also credited Steve Klaas, his former high school coach, for giving him tips on running the 1-3-1 zone defense Marathon used during the tournament. Klaas created a dominant team at Adams-Friendship – including five state tourney appearances – using the 1-3-1.

“I‘ve been a man-to-man coach my whole life,” Reiche said. “I studied his methods this summer, and he’s been to practices and games, and was in the locker room today. He’s a man I openly respect for what he knows about the game, and it got us over the hump.”

Prayer answered

Hanke ended the first quarter with a running one-hand lob that banked off the glass and through the net, giving Marathon a 16-14 lead.

“I got a steal and heard the crowd yelling there were five seconds left,” he said. “I’m not the best three-point shooter, but it went for me.”

Not big enough

Before Marathon’s 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter finally put away the Pirates, Grantsburg looked to have enough moxie to hang with the Red Raiders and maybe escape with the win. That came despite being greatly outsized, especially with reserve center Seth Coy out with a concussion suffered in Thursday’s semifinal win.

When David Ohnstad and Derek Bertelsen each got in foul trouble in the first half, Hallberg had to turn to little-used junior Daniel Larsen, who had appeared in only four games this season.

“When David three fouls and we were looking for a big guy to put in there, we didn’t really have one,” Hallberg said. “You can worry about those things when the game starts. You have to play with what you have. It was tough being without him but it was tough for him to watch, too.”

The Pirates still won the rebounding battle 26-25, with four players each having at least five boards.

“They were the little dog that hangs on to your pant leg and doesn’t let go, and you can’t shag them,” Reiche said. “It said a lot of what they were all about and what their team stands for.”

Motivational tool

After each of Marathon’s state tourney wins, Reiche referred to the photo of the school’s three state championship trophies from the 1970s and what he called the “Stockdale Paradox,” which was posted on the wall.

That sent reporters scrambling to find out what that was, exactly. It was named after Admiral James Stockdale, who was held as a prisoner in North Vietnam for seven years. It reads: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Quotable

“He looked like he went through a barbed-wire fence.” – Reiche, describing Hanke after the game. Hanke had a bandaged cut on his arm and had to switch jerseys in the second half when his No. 32 was spotted with blood.

“They made a nice little run at us, and we didn’t respond like we should have.” – Grantsburg senior Trevor Thompson, on Marathon’s 11-0 run in the final quarter.