MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Feb. 11–18)
SWC BOYS BASKETBALL: Platteville 77, Lancaster 71
By Jason Nihles
SWC three-peat: Ludlum, Langmeier lead Hillmen to SWC title-clinching win at Lancaster
LANCASTER — The Platteville boys basketball team joined a select group Thursday night with a 77–71 comeback victory at Lancaster Thursday night.
The Hillmen improved to 15–6 overall and 8–0 in the Southwest Wisconsin Conference to clinch a third-straight conference title.
Platteville won three straight SWAL titles in 1965, 1966 and 1967 under coach Royce Reeves, then won third consecutive Southern 8 titles from 1984–1986 under coach Rich Reitzner.
“Winning conference championships is difficult and to be able to win three in a row is a tremendous accomplishment for this group of players,” said current Hillmen head coach Mike Huser. “Not many teams can win three in a row and every path and journey is different for every team.
“This particular team is constructed a bit differently than the previous two teams, so this is for sure special. We have had different guys step up at different times this year and they have really bought into the team concept, as have the last two teams, but they really have relied on each other on different nights.”
This year’s Hillmen won a third-straight title by rallying from a five-point halftime deficit after juniors Taylor Williams (15 points) and Dayne Kauffman (13) combined for 28 first-half points to lead the second place Flying Arrows (12–8, 5–3 SWC) to a 41–36 halftime advantage.
Lancaster did a decent job on Platteville senior Lucas Ludlum holding the SWC’s leading scorer to just eight points in the game’s first 16 minutes, but Ludlum scored on a layup and added a pair of free throws in the final 1:29 of the first half to gain some momentum going into the break.
In the second half, Lancaster had no answer for Ludlum, who finished with a game-high 33 points, or 6-foot-7 senior center Eli Langmeier who dominated the smaller Arrows in the paint all night, posting his best game of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“I believe everyone was excited for Eli on his big night,” said Ludlum. “He has been coming on in the last several games and to see it all come together on Thursday evening was really good to see. He has worked hard at continuing to get better in all areas, so the scoring was a bonus, but he was also very active rebounding and defending; all around great effort.”
Platteville roared out of the locker room on 9–0 run on a pair of baskets by Langmeier, a breakaway layup by Ludlum and a 3-pointer by senior Nathan Mumm before Lancaster coach Brian Knapp called a
timeout with his team now trailing 45–41.
Lancaster made it a one-point game at 47–46 on a three-point by junior Zach Hermsen two minutes later, and again at 53–52 on a fastbreak layup by Kauffman with 11 minutes left, but the Arrows never again regained the lead.
Ludlum and Langmeier combined for nine points in Platteville’s 11–2 over the next three minutes at the lead ballooned to 10 at 64–54 on a steal and breakaway layup by junior Myron Reuter.
Lancaster got as close as five twice in the final minute, but Ludlum — who went 10 of 13 at the free throw line on the night —made 3 of 4 at the charity stripe in the final 33 seconds to close out the win.
Platteville fell to 15–7 on the year with a 91–59 non-conference loss to Division 4 #2-ranked Mineral Point (19–1) Monday night.
The Hillmen will travel to Dodgeville (9–11, 4–4 SWC) Friday night before closing out the regular season Feb. 27 at River Valley (11–10, 4–4).
Platteville 77, Lancaster 71
(from Thursday, Feb. 13 @ Lancaster)
Platteville...36 41 — 77
Lancaster....41 30 — 71
Platteville (15–6, 8–0) — Myron Reuter 11, Jauron Blevins 3, Jonah Vorwald 3, Lucas Ludlum 33, Nathan Mumm 4, Eli Langmeier 20, Will Zielinski 3. Totals —27 17-25 77.
Lancaster (12–8, 5–3) — Zach Hermsen 11, Schmitz 10, Dayne Kauffman 16, Michael Murphy 5, Taylor Williams 22, Brody Crubel 3, Brady Mack 4. Totals — 29 9-13 71.
3-point goals — P: 6 (Blevins 1, Vorwald 1, Ludlum 3, Mumm 1); L: 4 (Kauffman 1, Muprhy 1, Williams 1, Crubel 1). Team fouls — P: 13; L: 18. Fouled out — none.
